Review of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) by Richard C — 20 Jun 2009

Despite the great cast, this version can't hold a candle to the 1931 classic. The film really drags in a lot of places and I think the roles of Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner should have been reversed - Bergman would have been better cast as the sweet and innocent wife, and Turner would have been better as the sultry temptress. As for Spencer Tracy, he's ok as Dr. Jekyll, but as Mr. Hyde he falls short. His portrayal of Hyde seems to involve smiling maniacally and rolling his eyes about constantly and it just doesn't work. Also, when he first turns into Hyde, he doesn't look that much different from Dr. Jekyll, despite his facial contortions. It's only later in the film that we get to see a more extreme version of Mr. Hyde that does look quite frightening. Simply put, Frederic March's turn as Jekyll/Hyde was endlessly fascinating, where Tracy's is at times hard to watch and at other times, even worse, boring.

Oh, I almost forgot, there are a couple dream sequences in this film that are quite excellent, it's almost worth watching for those parts alone. Too bad the rest of the film wasn't as good.