Starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner, Donald Crisp, Ian Hunter
Directed by Victor Fleming
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
The brilliant young Dr. Jekyll risks his impending marriage and standing in society in experiments to unleash his own dark half, a hideous alter ego who is as depraved as Jekyll is good and decent.
The 1941 version of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous story isn't quite the film that the 1931 adaptation with Fredric March is, and suffers a bit due to modifications that must have been made to please the Hays Office, giving the movie's predecessor an edge due to its Pre-Code status. In this version, despite his fantastic theories, Jekyll is a clearly defined Christian, and his atrocities as Hyde are mostly hinted at and kept off screen. Nevertheless, an early fantasy sequence in the film almost makes up for some of the whitewashing with some very daring imagery. The picture may be best remembered for its unconventional casting with Turner and Bergman playing the opposite roles one would expect based on their careers. The film also takes a chance in giving Tracy a somewhat subtle makeup as Hyde, but I think the actor pulls off the role with polish and panache. It's definitely not as exciting a film as the 1931 version, but it certainly looks impressive, with good photography and some elaborate sets, and does have the advantage of a musical score by the great Franz Waxman.
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