Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian

Film Review

There have been numerous film adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, but the one that stands out from the crowd is Rouben Mamoulian's 1931 version, now considered a classic of the horror genre.  Some inspired direction and groundbreaking camerawork, complemented by outstanding performances from Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins, make this an early triumph of sound cinema, a film that is highly regarded to this day, and not just by the horror aficionados. 

Rouben Mamoulian's flair for innovation is apparent right from the very first scene of the film, with an extended point-of-view sequence which immediately puts the audience in the position of the main protagonist, Dr Jekyll.  This technique is used later in the film, very effectively, on the first occasion when Jekyll transforms into Hyde.  The spectator becomes Dr Jekyll, experiencing this first stunning transformation through his senses.  As Jekyll's laboratory spins around him (achieved by rotating the camera on its axis at high speed), a flurry of montage shots are superimposed to show us what is passing through the doctor's mind.  The outcome of the experiment is then revealed to us when we see reflected in a mirror the wondrous spectacle of Dr Jekyll slowly morphing into Mr Hyde. 

The transformation was ingeniously realised by using a series of coloured filters which gradually exposed layers of makeup on Fredric March's face.  Some seamless jump-cutting moves the transformation along to its shocking climax, with March's physiognomy completely altered to that of a sinister-looking Neanderthal.  For each successive transformation, Hyde's features are rendered increasingly repulsive until, in the final manifestation, he is a gruesome Satanic monstrosity.  It is this representation of Mr Hyde that is most often used in spoofs and comic books, one that portrays the baser side of civilised man as a throwback to his primitive ancestry.  Not surprisingly, March found the make-up extremely uncomfortable to wear and was almost permanently disfigured when the final batch of make-up was applied (in fact he was hospitalised for several weeks immediately after his work on the film had been completed). 

Paramount originally wanted John Barrymore to recreate his Jekyll and Hyde portrayal of the studio's silent 1920 version.  Although he was offered a substantial fee, Barrymore was committed to work at MGM and so was unavailable for the film.  Fredric March was offered the role mainly through his striking physical resemblance to Barrymore, although he was at the time only known for playing light comedic parts.  Just as the 1920 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde had set John Barrymore's film career in motion, this 1931 remake would establish Fredric March as one of Hollywood's most sought-after actors.   The bravura performance that is widely considered one of March's greatest won the actor his first Oscar in 1932. 

In comparison with the vast majority of films made in the early 1930s, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has an extraordinary fluidity and pace, which is achieved through extensive camera motion and some very slick editing.  Cinematographer Karl Struss reemployed some of the stylistic techniques (such as use of the subjective camera) that he had perfected on Fred Niblo's silent masterpiece Ben-Hur (1925).  Mamoulian's penchant for the sensual (which would later get him into trouble during the making of the Greta Garbo classic Queen Christina (1933)) is evidenced by the overt sexuality in the simmering scenes with Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins.  The sequence in which Hopkins strips in front of March was extremely raunchy for its day and is loaded with enough Freudian symbolism to sink a frigate.  Not surprisingly, when the film was re-issued in 1935, many scenes had to suffer substantial cuts in order to comply with the Hollywood production code, which came into force shortly after its original release.  Some overseas releases suffered even worse at the hands (or rather shears) of the censors.  It has been commented that the British version of the film was so badly cut that Miriam Hopkins is hardly seen in it.

In common with many film studios, Paramount had been badly hit by the Great Depression.  The company gambled that prestige productions such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde would improve its balance sheet and see it through a difficult economic period.  Although this film was one of the biggest box office hits of the year, its success was not enough to save Paramount from bankruptcy in 1933.  

When MGM decided to make their own version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1941, with Spencer Tracy in the leading dual role, the studio insisted on seizing and burying every surviving print of the 1931 version.   Against the odds, the film has survived and can be seen today almost as it was on its first release, with all of its naughty bits pretty well intact.

The 1931 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde deserves its reputation as one of the great horror classics of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking alongside Universal's legendary monster movies, such as The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and Frankenstein (1931).  There are Gothic thrills galore as Mr Hyde becomes increasingly wild and sadistic, terrorising women and killing without the least compunction.  But there is also an emotional realism, a humanity to the film which makes it much more than just a mindless horror flick. 

Whereas as Stevenson's novella was an exploration of the dual nature of man, exposing the vile corruption that lay beneath the surface of Victorian respectability, this film is a dark and intelligent study in desire, eloquently warning that repression can be just as dangerous as self-indulgence.  Jekyll's transformation to a lecherous fiend isn't so much the result of pent-up lust as a consequence of one man's inability to accept the fundamental truth that the pleasure-seeking savage is an inescapable component of the human psyche.  This is the one adaptation of his work of which Robert Louis Stevenson would have approved.

Film Synopsis

Dr Henry Jekyll, a renowned medical practitioner and philanthropist, is anxious to marry the woman he loves, Muriel Carew, but the latter's father insists that he must wait awhile yet for decorum's sake.   To distract himself, Jekyll immerses himself in his scientific research, convinced that he can develop a potion which will separate the two opposing sides in man's nature, the good and the evil.  This proves to be a dangerous hobby since, by drinking such a potion, Jekyll succeeds in transforming himself into an uncouth apelike monstrosity, Mr Hyde.  Relieved of Jekyll's scruples and inhibitions, Hyde cavorts around the less salubrious areas of London, and takes as his mistress a young music hall singer, Ivy Pearson.  Fortunately, the process is reversible, and, having had his bit of recreational therapy, Jekyll is able to return to his former saintly self by imbibing another potion.  When General Carew finally consents to allow his daughter to marry, Dr Jekyll is ecstatic.  He can now live the life of connubial bliss of which has dreamed for so long.  But then he receives an unexpected visit from Ivy Pearson.  Not knowing that Jekyll and Hyde are one in the same man, Ivy begs him to help her.  Jekyll assures the distressed woman that she will see no more of her tormenter.  Mr Hyde is dead and buried.  Alas, Dr Jekyll could not be more wrong...