The famous Robert Louis Stevenson Gothic story has had many incarnations and though I profess to not have seen them all, this 1931 Fredric March version from Warner Brothers is easily the best. It is a frightening film, nightmarish in its look and atmosphere and in particular Fredric March's truly exceptional, layered Oscar-winning performance. It stands in the tradition of the Universal Monster flicks as a haunting, ghoulish classic.
The gentle Dr. Jekyll (Fredric March) helps patients with various disabilities or ailments yet he also can perform, um, well miracles to some degree (he gets a girl to give up her crutches and she starts walking - is he really a miracle worker or was this girl's disability only in her mind?) As a scientist in Victorian London, he is dedicated to proving certain thesis from the standpoint of presenting new ideas in the medical field. His latest thesis is that man has a dual nature, and the other side is the beast, the dark side that can be roused and separated from the good. Eventually Jekyll drinks a potent potion he concocted that allows him to unearth a beastly, simian-like appearance with canine teeth and an appetite for lust, women and drinks - "I am free!" he exclaims. He carries on with a top hat and cape walking the streets of London as passerby look on with disbelief, and he speaks and grunts and has no manners whatsoever at a bar and restaurant while insisting a blonde bar singer named Ivy (played by Miriam Hopkins, who has many ungentlemanly callers) sit at his table for a drink. Hyde is a carnivorous, sexual animal who performs demeaning acts unseen by the audience (even in pre-Code days, you could only suggest so much deviancy).
As Dr. Jekyll, he is kind, plays the piano proficiently, and is something of a true romantic to his fiancee Muriel (Rose Hobart). He is also in a rush to get married despite the objections of his fiancee's father. Meanwhile Jekyll's obsession over the potion gets to be overbearing and yet he can't help himself but drink from it and loosen those Victorian mores. Danger lurks when he starts changing into Hyde without drinking the potion. Uh oh. Naturally this results in disaster and an intense, chaotic ending that goes way beyond anything you would find in a Universal Horror flick of the 1930's - this Hyde means business.Director Rouben Mamoulian ("Queen Christina," "Becky Sharp") uses the camera very subjectively and it leaves you almost breathless from the start of the first sequence, shot as if from Dr. Jekyll's point-of-view and it is meant to be distracting (Note the use of "invisible" mirrors as the camera seems to face Jekyll head-on while he dresses in front of the mirror). Also noteworthy are shots, unusual for a horror flick or any flick at that time, where characters seems to be speaking directly to us (a visual motif later used by director Jonathan Demme). Sometimes Dr. Jekyll seems to break the fourth wall when things don't go his way, as if he looks at us wondering if we are thinking the same thing. This technique helps to build sympathy for Dr. Jekyll's plight and we hope he can survive his transformative ordeal, though we know he can't.
Ultimately Fredric March is amazing to watch in his performance as he shows gradations of both the good and evil nature of his psyche, giving us a character of color and depth as Dr. Jekyll and showing us a rampaging monster as Hyde - the latter of whom knows he has gone too far in his exploits especially in the abusive relationship with the mortified Ivy (Miriam Hopkins, truly stunning performance). This Jekyll and Hyde flick holds your attention and keeps you on the edge of your seat, unsure of what unspeakable horror is around the corner when Jekyll is trying to restrain his transformation. It is not just hopped up, frenetic entertainment designed to titillate - at times, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is genuinely terrifying.
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