DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (1931)
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Duration: 96 Minutes
Video: B&W 1080p HD Widescreen (1.19:1) Aspect Ratio with side mattes
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono with Optional Subtitles
Director: Rouben Mamoulian
Cast: Frederic March, Miriam Hopkins, Holmes Herbert, Rose Hobart, Halliwell Hobbes
Director Rouben Mamoulian’s adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring Fredric March (The Desperate Hours) still stands as the best of the filmic adaptations of the source material ever put to film, in my humble opinion. It's a film that was nearly lost to the masses when MGM bought the rights to it and attempted to destroy all prints so as to promote their own 1941 adaptation, which is pale shot-for-shot remake. Studio shenanigans aside, the '31 version is certainly the superior version, and despite the attempt to erase it from the minds and the movie screens it has rightfully endured.
In it a brash young scientist named Dr. Jekyll (Frederic March) has radical ideas about the duality of man and the possibility of separating our two-halves, the more bestial, darker, and impulsive side and side that makes polite society possible. His lectures draw large crowds, but his theories earn him the scorn and ridicule of his colleagues, even his best friend Dr. John Lanyon (Holmes Herbert, Mark of the Vampire). He's madly in love with his fiancée Muriel Carew (Rose Hobart, Tower of London), but is increasingly annoyed that her father Sir Danvers (Halliwell Hobbes, The Invisible Man's Revenge) will not allow them to expedite their marriage date, still eight months away, her father believing that Jekyll's insistence and impulsive nature is unflattering. When Muriel and her father travel abroad for an extended period prior to their marriage Jekyll takes the alone time to continue his experiments in his home lab, creating an elixir to separate the the two sides of man. Impulsively drinking it he flings open the doors for an alter-ego he dubs Mr. Hyde to be unleashed upon the world, not realizing the terror her has let loose, or that putting the primordial man back into the bottle will prove difficult.
As his alter ego Mr. Hyde the scientist devolves into a neanderthal man with harsh primordial features, wandering the streets at night looking for action he visits a saloon where he meets sexy chanteuse Ivy Pierson (Miriam Hopkins, Hollywood Horror House), who it is established had eyes for Dr. Jekyll. Hyde. The cruel Hyde forces her into an abusive, fearful, and controlling relationship, she being none the wiser that the cruel Hyde is actually the other side of the kind-hearted Jekyll. Eventually Jekyll is no longer able to control his bestial transformation, each time he emerges he looks more bestial, and it happens spontaneously without the aide of the elixir, resulting in multiple deaths and a manhunt for the wild-man, ending with an action-packed pursuit through the streets of London back to the Jekyll's laboratory.
I have not seen this film since I was a kid, and seeing it gloriously restored in HD was an real eye-opener, the film has a deep, shadowy style that looks phenomenal, with subjective lensing that feels ahead of it's time. The same cam be said for the fantastical special effects, Hyde's transformation is realized using a variety of methods, including a The Wolf Man-esque time lapse and prosthetic make-up effects, but the most grand, and still quite enthralling transformative process involved filtered light and subtle make-up work that allows for a seemingly seamless in-camera transformation that works incredibly well, rivaling anything Universal was doing at the tame time.
As this is a pre-code slice of horror there are some risqué elements that wouldn't have made the cut a few years later, and which were actually cut-out of later editions when the Production Code was enacted, including the sultry Miriam Hopkins as Ivy seducing Jekyll, peeling off her garters and stockings before slipping nude under the covers in a scene rife with Freudian sexuality. This is just a fantastic film, if you've not treated yourself to it previously you are missing out on a stone-cold movie masterpiece, and this gorgeous restoration trumps all previous versions, so get at it.
Audio/Video: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Warner Archive in 1080p HD framed in 1.19:1 original aspect ratio sourced from a 4K scan of best surviving Nitrate elements. This is a glorious fine-grain restoration of this classic that feels natural and filmic. Grain levels are solid, contrast is striking, blacks are deep, and the amount of fine detail and clothing textures will bring a smile to your face. There are some source related blemishes but they are minor in comparison to the obvious love poured into the restoration. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The vintage source sounds incredible, there's light hiss present that comes through at times but nothing notable.
Extras come by way of an excellent archival Audio Commentary by Greg Mank, the author/film historian is one of the best in the biz and gives a detailed and in-depth accounting of the film that covers a ton of ground, even a small technical errors I've never noticed till he pointed it out. We also get a new Audio Commentary by Dr. Steve Haberman and Constanine Nasr, which is also quite detailed and thorough in it's own right, with plenty of conversation about footage that was censored, other adaptations, and the camera trickery used in it. The disc extras are tidied up with a 50-min Theater Guild on the Air Radio Broadcast featuring Fredric March re-creating his role for an adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde”, plus the 1955 Looney Tunes Short: "Hyde and Hare" which runs about 7-min, featuring the Looney Tune rabbit encountering a pleasant man with a dark side. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork, featuring the iconic vintage poster artwork, which is also featured on the disc inside.
Special Features:
- New 1080p HD master from 4K scan of best surviving Nitrate elements!
- New Commentary by Dr. Steve Haberman and Constanine Nasr
- Archival Audio Commentary by Greg Mank
- Fredric March’s 1950 radio performance re-creating his role as “Jekyll & Hyde” (50 min)
- Looney Tunes Short: "Hyde and Hare" (1955) (7 min)
Screenshots from the Warner Archive Blu-ray:
