Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from 1941 directed by Victor Fleming is a remake of the more famous version from 1931 that starred Frederic March. There have been many Jekyll and Hyde movies over the years including the classic 1920 silent version starring John Barrymore, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll which is a Hammer film production, and a few variations such as I, Monster from Amicusstarring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee where the characters were Dr. Marlow and Edward Blake, Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde(another Hammer Film production) with Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick, and a Spanish production, Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf starring Paul Naschy who is briefly cured of becoming a werewolf only to turn into Mr. Hyde! This 1941 version of the film stars several screen icons in it, with the great Spencer Tracy as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!
In this film, screen icon Spencer Tracy (Fury, Inherit the Wind, Bad Day at Black Rock) stars as Dr. Henry Jekyll who is conducting experiments to separate the good and evil in man. Jekyll is in love with Beatrix Emery (the iconic Lana Turner, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Bad and the Beautiful) but her father disapproves of him and his theories and radical ideals. Once he becomes Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll is faced with having to give her up because he has become a hideously cruel creature.
As Mr. Hyde, he gets involved with barmaid (she is a prostitute, but it was toned down for this version) Ivy Peterson (Ingrid Bergman, Casablanca, Gaslight, Murder on the Orient Express), both verbally and physically abusing her, including rape (offscreen of course!).
This version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde doesn’t get a lot of respect from horror fans for some reason, ranging from being overlong, too slow, to the lack of makeup Tracy had as Mr. Hyde. After watching the movie a couple of times, the makeup isn’t all that bad, especially toward the later half of the film as Hyde continues to regress into something worse each time Dr. Jekyll turns into him. It might not be up to the Frederic March’s make-up of Mr. Hyde, but this movie stands on its own merits! The transformation scenes are well-done, the acting by the cast is top of the line as one would expect with Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Ian Hunter, Donald Crisp, Barton MacLane, and Ingrid Bergman. Tracy is great at the tormented Dr. Jekyll and the evil ruthless Mr. Hyde!
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of the Warner Archive Collection. As with all their releases, the image quality for this offering is nothing short of stunning and has never looked any better than it does on this Blu-ray. It wasn’t advertised, but this seems to be from a 2K or a 4K scan. The picture looks perfectly clean and smooth was hardly any dirt, lines or debris being detected. Film grain is an abundance. Close-ups show a wealth of detail to the actors’ faces and there is great depth to the image. Details for interior and exterior shots are also outstanding. Black levels are nice and inky with excellent shadow detail to go with a balanced greyscale. No DNR appears to have been used.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is perfectly fine with crisp, clear audio. Dialogue, action noises, screams and the wonderful musical score by Franz Waxman is balanced and is flawless. Nothing is overpowering or overly aggressive when it comes to the audio quality and was an excellent listening experience. English subtitles are available for this release.
The only extra for this is a theatrical trailer.
Despite the lack of extras, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is an easy pickup for the uptick in audio and video quality, plus the film itself is a classic! Recommended!
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
Director- Victor Fleming
Cast- Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – Warner Brothers/ Warner Archive
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –7/17/2022