Jekyll and Hyde

When I was a kid, the 1940 movie of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Spencer Tracy was a staple on television, and I saw it several times. It was good, but never made a very deep impression on me. I never saw, until this week on DVD, the pre-Production Code version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, made in 1931 and starring Fredric March. It is an extraordinary film, plumbing moral and psycho-sexual depths rarely imagined in Hollywood, showing a good and high-minded man who destroys himself by giving way to the evil within, so that, even when he sincerely tries to break with the evil, it is too late, the evil has gained control over him and even prayer does not avail. It is a terrible story in the original sense of the word—causing fear and dread and terror. In particular, the film’s conception of Hyde, from his face to the animal-like way he moves to Fredric March’s astonishing portrayal of his character, is original and chilling, a work of art.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 06, 2006 06:07 PM | Send