FILMS
Here we have a list of the films, for TV and cinema, "The strange case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" has inspired. This list has, almost the most important films, the best plays and productions, and the freaky ones, cartoons and comedies. It's funny to realize that the different kinds of cinema have been growing up with the same story, first there was only the drama with good actors, after, today, we can find comedies based on Jekyll and Hyde, second parts of this comedies, remakes of the first one and second parts of this remake. And the funniest is to find X-movies based on both characters Jekyll and Hyde.
1920 Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, John Stuart Robertson (Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount (Paramount-Artcraft, N); v: Kino International, Sinister Cinema, Video Yesteryear); a: *John Barrymore, Nita Naldi, Martha Mansfield, Charles Lane, Louis Wolheim, George Stevens, Brandon Hurst (Carew); sp: Clara S. Beranger (G19, K15) [Carew suggests J should ‘go on the town’, encourages an exotic dancer to seduce him - this introduction of a more libidinous female in addition to the chaste fiancée is an innovation of Beranger (N); J moved by morbid curiosity; Barrymore’s J is the first to indulge in sexual depravity (N), the pointed head and long fingers are close to Nosferatu; ‘deviates considerably from the novella, yet it… ranks as one of the definitive interpretations of a Stevenson work’ (N); 63 mins.]
1931 (listed as 1932 by G, W and MDB, but issued at the end of 1931) Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Rouben Mamoulian (Paramount Pictures; v: MGM/UA Home Video); a: Miriam Hopkins (Ivy), *Frederic March, Holmes Herbert, Halliwell Hobbes, Rose Hobart (Muriel), Tempe Piggott, Edgar Norton; sp: Samuel Hoffenstein & Percy Heath; ph: Karl Strauss; sets: Hans Dreier; script published NY 1976 (ed. Richard Anobil) (G23, K23) [earliest sound version; introduces the prostitute Ivy Pierson and J’s fiancée Muriel Carew; 97 mins. (W has 90 mins.); ‘usually regarded as the best version’, K; ‘one of the classic American cinema’s true masterpieces’, N; 10 mins removed by censor on reissue in late 1930s - these are restored in the 1988 video except for Ivy’s removal of her clothes behind a blanket in the seduction scene (S says 17 mins. restored)]
1941 Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Victor Fleming (MGM, prod.: Fleming and Saville; v: MGM/UA Home Video); a: *Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman (Ivy), Donald Crisp, Ian Hunter, Lana Turner (Beatrix), C. Aubrey Smith, Barton MacLane, Sara Allgood, Billy Bevan; sp: John Lee Mahin; ph: J. Ruttenberg (G29, K30) [remake of the Mamoulian version with more emphasis on Victorian repression and the psychological interpretation; many critics regard the Mamoulian version as superior, K; ‘a pretentious, overlong, and dramatically bankrupt imitation’ of the Mamoulian version, N; 127 mins (W and N)]
1942 Impatient Patient, Norm McCabe (Warner Bros.; v: Fox Hills Video) (G30, K31) [animated short: Daffy Duck meets Dr Jerkill]
1942 Mighty Mouse Meets Jekyll and Hyde Cat/Jekyll and Hyde Cat , Mannie Davis (Terrytoon, prod. Paul Terry; v: Terrytoon Video) (G31, K32) [animated short]
1947 Dr Jekyll and Mr Mouse, William Hanna & Joseph Barbara (MGM/UA; v: ‘Tom & Jerry Cartoon Festival’, K) (G32 (also probably G28), K33) [animated short]
1952 (K; 1953: MDB, DF, G, W) Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Charles Lamont (Universal Pictures; v: MCA/Universal Home Video); a: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, *Boris Karloff, Craig Stevens, Reginald Denny, Eddie Parker; sp: Lee Loeb & John Grant, based on stories by Sidney Fields & Grant Garrett (G35, K38) [Parodies of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein & Dracula; J tries to kill the fiancé of a girl he desires but is foiled by detectives A & C.; 77 mins]
1954 (K; 1955, G) Dr Jerkyll’s Hyde, Fritz Freling (Warner Bros.; v: Warner Home Video) (G37, K40) [animated short: Tweety Bird and Sylvester the Cat]
1955 Hyde and Hare, Fritz Freling (Warner Bros.; v: Warner Home Video) (K41) [animated short: Bugs Bunny]
1959 Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier/The Testament of Dr Cordelier/The Doctor’s Horrible Experiment/Experiment in Evil [US title]/Il Testamento del mostro, Jean Renoir (RTF/Sofirad/Compagnie Jean Renoir; v: Video Search of Miami, Foothill Video); a: *Jean-Louis Barrault, Gaston Modot, Teddy Bilis, Jean Topart, Michel Vitold, Sylviane Margolde, Jaques Catelain, Micheline Gary; sp: Jean Renoir; ph: Georges Leclerc; music: Joseph Kosma (G 40, K46) [French TV production (also produced in theatres); present-day Dr Cordelier turns into M. Opale (not physically repulsive); subtle psychological interpretation; set in 1950s Paris; one of the best versions of the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde story; N criticizes ‘the static and murky visual style’; 95 mins.]
1963 The Nutty Professor/Dr Jerkyll and Mr Hyde/Dr Jekyll and Mr Love/Le Folli notti del Dottor Jekyll, Jerry Lewis (Paramount; v: Paramount Home Video); a: *Jerry Lewis, Stella Stevens, Del Moore; sp: Jerry Lewis & Bill Richmond (G44, K52) [ugly, awkward but good Prof. Kelp drinks potion and becomes handsome but vulgar and aggressive Billy Love in order to conquer student; for DF, the best comic version of JH; not close to Stevenson's text, but there is the laboratory, transformation scenes, increasingly uncontrollable transformations (but here from 'H' back to 'J'), and even a 'trampled girl' (Stevens knocked sprawling when Kelp opens a door); colour, 107 mins.]
1968 Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’/ The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Charles Jarrott (Dan Curtis Productions/CBC/ABC; v: Thriller Videos, MPI Home Videos); a: *Jack Palance, Denholm Eliott (Devlin = Utterson), Leo Glenn (Lanyon), Billie Whitelaw (Gwyn); sp: Ian McLellan Hunter (G55, K56, R) [Canadian 2-part TV drama; nominated for an Emmy Award for ‘Outstanding Dramatic Program’, K; follows the tradition started by the 1931 film of including a prostitute character; N doesn’t like the ‘claustrophobic’ TV drama style and the added characters and traditional accretions (J as humanitarian researcher, final chase etc.) but praises the excellent cast and Palance’s ‘surprisingly effective performance’: ‘a gentle, understated, asexual scientist’ as J, and emphasizing ‘the joyful glee’ as H (so similar to the Hydes of March and Lee)]
1971 (G & N) (1970, K) I, Monster, Stephen Weeks (Amicus-British Lion, UK (W has Cannon Films, USA; S has Amicus 1971 and Cannon Films 1973); v: Cinefear Video, Video Search of Miami); a: *Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing (Utterson), Mike Raven (Enfield), Richard Hurndall (Hearndell, N; Lanyon), George Merritt (Poole), Kenneth J. Warren; sp: Milton Subotsky (G52, K59) [Dr Marlowe becomes Mr Blake, accent on horror and Freudianism; produced in 3D but released in 2D; ‘the film is highly successful on several levels’, especially the ‘intelligent screenplay’ and ‘Lee’s credible acting’; it includes most of Stevenson’s characters and much of the dialogue, N; 75 mins.]
1971 Dr Sexual and Mr. Hyde, Tony Brzezinski (***) (G57, K63) [possibly a pornographic film]
1975 (1976, N) Dr Black, Mr. Hyde/The Watts Monster, Dr Black and Mr. Hyde, William Crain (Dimension Pictures/Hyde Productions; v: United Home Video, VCI Home Video); a: *Bernie Casey, Rosalind Cash, Marie O’Henry, Milt Kogan, Ji-Tu Cumbuka (G65, K70) [black scientist transforms himself into a white man but then cannot control murderous instincts; 87 mins.]
1980 Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Alastair Reid (BBC); a: *David Hemmings; sp: Gerald Savory (K74) [Hyde is young and not physically repulsive; seduces J’s fiancée, who is also attracted to him; N dislikes the ‘claustrophobic’ TV style; S has dir. J. Powell]
1990 Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde/The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Michael Craig (Las Vegas Video; v: Las Vegas Video); a: *Mike Horner (J), *Ashlyn Gere (H) (K82) [a hardcore pornographic film: Jekyll changes into female Hyde]
1996 Mary Reilly, Stephen Frears (Tristar Pictures; v: Columbia Tristar Video); a: *John Malkovich, Julia Roberts, Glen Close, Michael Gambon, George Cole; sp: Christopher Hampton; ph: Philippe Rousselot; sets: Stuart Craig (K87) [Dr Jekyll and Mr. 1996 Mary Reilly, Stephen Frears (Tristar Pictures; v: Columbia Tristar Video); a: *John Malkovich, Julia Roberts, Glen Close, Michael Gambon, George Cole; sp: Christopher Hampton; ph: Philippe Rousselot; sets: Stuart Craig (K87) [Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from the point-of-view of J’s maid, Mary Reilly. Following the novel by Valerie Martin, the film shows us incidents that occur ‘off-stage’ in Stevenson’s tale; part Gothic fable, part psychodrama, part master-and-servant sociodrama; 109 mins.]Hyde from the point-of-view of J’s maid, Mary Reilly. Following the novel by Valerie Martin, the film shows us incidents that occur ‘off-stage’ in Stevenson’s tale; part Gothic fable, part psychodrama, part master-and-servant sociodrama; 109 mins.]
1996 The Nutty Professor, Tom Shadyac (Universal; v: MCA/Universal Home Video); a: *Eddie Murphy (K88) [remake of the 1963 Jerry Lewis film]
Resources: Robert Louis Stevenson's Web site