Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Main Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	1941
Running Time	108:12
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Sided	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4,5	Directed By	Victor Fleming
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Spencer Tracy Ingrid Bergman Lana Turner Ian Hunter C. Aubrey Smith Donald Crisp Barton MacLane Sara Allgood
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	Franz Waxman

    It seems hardly necessary to repeat the plot synopsis from the 1932 film, but in a nutshell, Dr Henry Jekyll (Spencer Tracy) wants to find a way to cure madness. By mixing some potions, he discovers that he can liberate the evil side of his character, who promptly begins to terrorise a poor young singer, Ivy (Ingrid Bergman). But Jekyll begins to lose control over himself and cannot suppress his evil counterpart...

    In remaking the 1932 Paramount film, MGM purchased the screenplay and all available prints of the earlier film, including the negative, and suppressed it for a quarter of a century. Their remake owes a lot to the original, with whole sections of dialogue taken (uncredited) from the original script. The differences between the two versions arise out of the Production Code. This 1941 remake was made when the Code was enforced, meaning that all of the sexual motivations of the lead character had to be excised. Jekyll is no longer desperate for marriage so that he can satisfy his animal lusts, though who wouldn't lust after Lana Turner? The film is watered-down and emptily glossy in the MGM house style.

    Spencer Tracy plays a quite different Hyde to that of Fredric March. As revealed in the audio commentary to the earlier film, Tracy originally wanted to play Hyde as an identity assumed by Jekyll when he went off on a drug and alcohol binge. Under the Code the depiction of drug addiction was forbidden, so that idea did not last long. Rather than wearing wads of uncomfortable make-up, Tracy's makeup is restrained, with fake eyebrows, heavily lined features and false teeth making the lower half of his face seem wider. Tracy plays Hyde as a wide-eyed sadist, not the primitive, bestial "lover" of the earlier film. The portrayal seems to be a mistake as Hyde is therefore not as much a polar opposite of Jekyll as he was in the original, just as he is not as unrecognisable as Hyde as March was. This makes Somerset Maugham's caustic comment when visiting the set: "Which one is he playing now?" quite apt, though the fault does not necessarily lie with the actor.

    I was intrigued in reading other reviews of the film to find that some reviewers loved Ingrid Bergman as Ivy, and others thought she was severely miscast. As someone who has never responded to Miss Bergman's charms I find myself in the latter category. Aside from the unavoidable problems with her accent, a Cockney by way of Stockholm, she is just not convincing in the role. Bergman's shyness comes across too easily, whereas Ivy should be anything but shy, and as a result her coquetry seems forced. Lana Turner is always nice to watch, even if her acting talents were unformed this early in her career. There is one remarkable sequence during Jekyll's transformation where in his imagination Beatrix and Ivy substitute for a team of horses, the one moment where the film really came to life for me.

    Even reliable support actors like Ian Hunter, C. Aubrey Smith and Donald Crisp seem wasted in this film, as none are anything other than cardboard replicas of real people. The direction by Victor Fleming is unusually pedestrian, and while the film looks sumptuous, it is little more than a soufflé compared to the superb 1932 version, included on the other side of the disc and reviewed separately.

Video

    The film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, close to the original 1.37:1, and is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is very sharp and clear. Detail is good throughout, though I thought that it was lacking a little in contrast, particularly in comparison to the Paramount film. This may simply be a result of the glossy MGM look. Shadow detail is satisfactory. The black and white material used exhibits a range of solid blacks and particularly whites.

    There are no film to video artefacts that I could detect, apart from aliasing, which is very mild, for instance at 1:20.

   Film artefacts are visible but rarely disturbing. There are lots of flecks and small scratches which might have been removed by wet-gating the print. Otherwise the film was in very good condition

    Subtitles are provided in numerous languages, with English subtitles in both standard and Hard of Hearing formats. From the sample I made of the former, they tend to match the dialogue and are eminently readable in a good-sized white font.

    The film is presented on a single-layer disc, so there is no layer change to contend with.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The default audio track is English Dolby Digital 1.0.

    Obviously this is a mono track reflecting the original recording. For an early 1940s film it is a very good transfer. There is some audible hiss, but not to distracting levels. The audio sounds a little thin at times, and like the audio transfer for the earlier film, I found that the lead actor's voice sounded a little high-pitched.

    The film does benefit from a fine orchestral score by Franz Waxman, which has some stirring themes. I thought the choral segment during the opening credits was a slight lapse in taste, but Waxman even finds time to include a short pastiche piano concerto during the film.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio

    Music from Waxman's score is played while the static menu is displayed.

    This release appears to be identical to the Region 1 and Region 2 releases, so there is no reason not to buy this at your local DVD retailer.

    A reasonable version of the familiar story, this film pales beside the 1932 version.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is satisfactory.

    No substantial extras are provided on this side of the disc.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall