Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Sigmund Freud would have approved of the first sound adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Several silent depictions had preceded, and countless sound remakes were made subsequently, but it was Russian director Rouben Mamoulian that made what is likely (excluding 'Looney Tunes' parodies) the ultimate version. What separates the lurid 1931 film from its peers is the insistence that the 'evil' in man stems purely from lust.

Critics have noted that the dynamic and sadistic Mr. Hyde adds unexpected black comedy to his character. Insulting encounters with strangers and waiters are entertaining, and you never know what he'll do next. Lengthy scenes having him torment pathetic showgirl Ivy (Miriam Hopkins) are both chilling and diabolically humorous.

It may be more difficult for this reviewer to see Fredric March's Mr. Hyde as a monster, because in his simian guise he has an uncanny resemblance to a supervisor I once had. This man had revealed to us that while in the services, he had been flown through atomic test sites, with perhaps the radiation accounting for his appearance. Mr. Hyde's makeup becomes more grotesque and his behavior more uncontrollable with each transformation, as Dr. Jekyll's disastrous experiments continue.

The special effects of the good doctor's metamorphosis into Mr. Hyde were trailblazing for their day. They were obtained by using and removing a series of color filters, which masked progressive layers of March's 'missing link' makeup. This circumvented the tedious headaches of stopping the camera, changing the appearance, resuming filming, and later attempting to edit the film such that the cuts were undetectable.

The audience can be forgiven for eagerly awaiting the entrances of Mr. Hyde. The contrast between his character and that of the dedicated, impassioned, misguided Dr. Jekyll is so great that many have been mistaken into believing that the roles were played by different actors. But then March would not have won the Oscar for Best Actor, which he shared in 1932 with burly Wallace Beery (The Champ). Dr. Jekyll's impatient, fawning pursuit of his chaste sweetheart Muriel (Rose Hobart) also has its comic aspects, with the implication that his frustration at not consummating their relationship fuels his transition to Mr. Hyde.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde received three Academy Award nominations in all. Karl Struss' cinematography was noted for its landmark first-person, room-spinning, split-screen techniques. Percy Heath and Samuel Hoffenstein were nominated for the adapted screenplay. But these accolades have not prevented the Paramount film from relative obscurity. It has long been overshadowed by Universal's Frankenstein and Dracula, horror classics both also released in 1931.

It didn't help that the advent of the restrictive 1934 production code forced revisionist cuts to the original print. Shots such as Hopkins suggestively dangling her bare leg were missing for many decades. Since restored, Mamoulian's energetic adaptation is superior to the better known 1941 remake starring the much-lauded Spencer Tracy. Mamoulian went on to make the definitive Zorro film, The Mark of Zorro (1941), and staged the original Broadway productions of Carousel and Oklahoma!. (70/100)

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Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older