My pick for day 2 is Rouben Mamoulian’s, Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931). This movie was made prior to the full enforcement of the Hays Code and is remembered by many for its strong sexual content. When I first saw this movie I remember being stunned by Ivy (Miriam Hopkins) the prostitute. She was quite sexually overt for the day. In the 1941 version with Spencer Tracy as Dr. Jekyll it was toned down quite a bit.
The story based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, is about a mild mannered scientist (Dr. Jekyll) played by Frederic March, who wants to get to know his alter ego. I’ve always believed that Dr. Jekyll knew there was evil within him, but it was subdued. It was as if he wanted to awaken this other side of him. He invents a potion that will turn the drinker into an evil and crude maniac (Mr. Hyde).
He meets a chirpy, and attractive prostitute in a bar, played humorously and persuasively by Miriam Hopkins. She is attracted to the doctor. In one scene Ivy hurts her ankle, and Dr. Jekyll takes her to her “flat” where she tries to seduce him. She seductively rocks her leg and with “bedroom” eyes repeatedly says “come back, come back…” You can almost see the struggle between flesh and spirit in Dr. Jekyll’s eyes. Keep in mind, the film’s undertone of bare backs, thighs, legs, and garter belts were racy for the day.
Dr. Jekyll drinks the potion and is transformed into a fiend in every sense of the word. He visits Ivy once again, only this time as the monster, Mr. Hyde. He frightens her, and convinces her to go with him. She sees him as a meal ticket and grudgingly goes with him. Mr. Hyde enslaves her. He is sadistic, physically abusive, and even intimates rape. In a scene, he growls to a petrified Ivy, “I shall go only as far as the door, and the sight of your tears will bring me back.” Her horror will only make him more sinister.
The special effects in this movie are great considering there was no computer animation, or the like. The transformations are dated by today’s standards, but it was something back in 1931. Mamoulian did not reveal his special affect secrets until decades later. The movie is fast-paced and the script is outstanding. The dialogue is typical 30′s, you’ll hear phrases like “Darling,” “life is grand,” yeah I know, a bit over the top, but it’s the 30′s. If you are a classic movie buff—it don’t mean a thing!
I enjoyed this version more than the 1941 version. This 1931 version seems to be a fan favorite and it is believed to be the most surreal version of Stevenson’s story. Mr. Hyde isn’t physically scary, but his evil is. And that is what is seen plainly and methodically in the character. The movie allows us to think of what every human being is capable of, if not guarded. One can be good, but evil will take over if we allow it.
