Wednesday 6 February 2013

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Part 1 (1931)

★★★★☆
Fredric March
Paramount
Black and White, 98 mins
Here's the Transformation!
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 
Two Faces, Two Movies

    We're going to do a double take, the 1931 Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and then the 1941 one of the same name.
    Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written by Robert Louis Stevenson and published in 1886, it's the tale about what would happen if you could split the good and the evil with a potion and let your dormant evil side take its own form.
    Fredric March is great in this film, he comes across natural as a nice guy with a little bit of mayhem inside ready to explode. The transformation sequences are top shop, I heard he wore different layers of makeup that would show only when certain lights were on, giving it that slow change that we see on the screen. I also really enjoyed the P.O.V shots and how they did showed him looking at himself in a mirror. This film is ambitious to say the least, not to mention this is actually the only version of this story where they pronounce Jekyll's name right (Jee-Kal)
    Mr. Hyde is really the star of this show, he's so off-putting  He also shows a great deal of acrobatics that caught me off guard (the scene were he swings down the staircase in particular). Over all this is a great film and it should not be missed. If you call yourself a fan of classic horror, this is a must own for your collection.
 Street Meat

No comments:

Post a Comment