A
film review by Tyler Foster for DVDTalk.com on Oct. 7, 2009.
The
1941 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
is 30 minutes of a great movie, followed by an hour of disappointment and
capped by 20 minutes of pure agony and a slightly-less-painful end. I really
enjoyed Spencer Tracy's Dr. Jekyll,
who's all charm and a light sense of humor. I also liked the rough-edged charm
of Ingrid Bergman as a popular
barmaid named Ivy, who practically falls all over herself trying to romance Dr.
Jekyll. Unfortunately, Tracy also portrays Mr. Hyde, a horrible miscalculation
of makeup, wigs and performance that kills the movie's momentum. By most
accounts, the 1931 version with Frederic March is better because the actor
gives a more terrifying performance as Hyde; it's too bad the films couldn't
magically be merged, given how likable Tracy's Dr. Jekyll is.
Tracy's
transformation also ruins Bergman's character, who changes wildly from a
fighter to a helpless victim, sometimes within the same scene, not to mention
the fact that it's just depressing to watch her spirit break whenever Hyde appears.
I appreciated the occasional directorial or cinematographic flourish (like Hyde
bounding across a room to grab Ivy and the subsequent shot of her backing away)
and some of the foggy street scenes, but I was bored to death having to watch
the laborious fade-in transformation of Jekyll to Hyde, which actually insists
upon happening twice within five minutes at the very end. Still, the worst
crime the film commits is that middle hour; the movie refuses to let the viewer
give up, allowing just enough hope that the film might right itself at any
minute.
Labels:
horror, Ingrid Bergman, sci-fi
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