“I
think the man had been shocked from normal good into complete evil.”
This is not the first time I have watched the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Some time ago I
watched the silent version with John Barrymore which was alright. It is weird
because I have seen the story as film form a few times and I never really
realized how deep it is. Maybe that is because I never really paid fully
attention to it before. This time I did since the cast and the direction were
worth paying attention to.
Dr. Henry Jekyll (Spencer Tracy) was sitting in church
one Sunday when a man suddenly burst out laughing and yelling uncontrollably.
Jekyll takes the poor man to the hospital he works at. He has been studying how
people can go from being good normal people to something evil. Henry wants to
try his new formula he has been working on, on the patient but the head doctor
will not let him. He has only tested it on animals. Henry goes home to his lab
and works on perfecting his formula.
In the meantime, Henry is late for a party at the home of
his fiancée Beatrix (Lana Turner). When he arrives everyone wants to know what
he has been working on. He tells the party that what he hopes his formula will
be able to not only do something for the mind but for the soul. Henry’s talk
does not please Beatrix’s father Sir Charles. Charles later tells Henry he
hopes he can stop his “flights of fancy” with his experiments and focus on
being a social success with his daughter and on his own practice as well.
After the party Henry and his friend John (Ian Hunter)
decide to go out for a drink. While walking they year a woman in an alley scream
for help. Henry and John manage to chase the attacker away. The woman of the
night Henry and John saved is named Ivy Peterson (Ingrid Bergman). Ivy can see
that Henry is rich. She fakes being really hurt in order for the men to take
her home. Henry brings Ivy up to her room and tells her to take off her top so
he can examine her. Ivy thinks he is just being quick with getting what he
wants. He lets her know that he is a doctor. Despite Henry’s confession Ivy
still hopes to make him stay. As a form of “payment” Ivy gives Henry her garter
and lustily kisses him. Henry enjoys what is happening. John walks in the room
which breaks up their kiss and embrace.
Eventually Henry gets his formula to work on animals. One
batch of formula makes the animals aggressive and another returns them to their
normal selves. Henry decides to try the experiment on himself the following
night. As he is transforming he pictures Ivy and Beatrix together as if they
were his horses or his slaves and he whips them to keep going. They are
innocence and temptation put together in Henry’s mind. Henry is transformed
into a crude and ugly looking man named Mr. Hyde. As his evil alter ego, Hyde
goes to a dancehall. He sees Ivy is the barmaid there. He requests she bring
him champagne and have a seat with him. Ivy obviously does not recognize the
doctor in the horrid looking man. She is frightened of him. Hyde creates some
trouble that makes the entire dancehall break out into a brawl. The owner thinks
Ivy is behind the chaos and fires her. Hyde is outside in a cab waiting.
Hyde gives Ivy a place of her own. He never lets her go
out and has a frightening amount of control over her. Her friend comes by
asking her to go out one night. Ivy is scared to but eventually agrees. As she
goes to change her friend can see a scar on her back given to her from Hyde.
Hyde comes back. He rushes the friend out the door. He tortures and taunts Ivy
with things they can do and then finding something wrong with the choices.
Beatrix has been away from London with her father. She
has not heard from Henry in quite some time. John wrote a letter to her that he
has been searching for Henry but has not heard from him either. Henry finally
goes back to being himself. As a kindness for all he put her through as Hyde he
sends Ivy fifty pounds.
Ivy comes to see Henry for help. She breaks down right in
his office begging for his help to keep Hyde away from her. Henry reassures Ivy
that Hyde will no longer be in her life he will see to that. Ivy believes him.
Unfortunately while Henry is walking home alone one night he suddenly turns
into Hyde without the aid of the formula. He goes right for Ivy. He kills her
in her apartment. The whole building heard her scream. Hyde manages to escape
the building into the night. He gets to the lab but he realizes he does not
have a key. He writes a letter to John to come open the door and that a friend
of Henry’s will come for it. John does not simply hand over the formula since
he does not know Hyde who is claiming to be an old friend of Henry’s. Henry
does not want to change in front of John but does so.
Henry goes to Beatrix to tell her they can no longer be
together. Beatrix is upset she cannot understand why he is leaving her when
they were so in love. Henry returns as Hyde. Beatrix screams and her father
runs out. Hyde attacks her father and beats him with his cane. Before he can
run away with his cane John and the police come to the house. They chase Hyde
to Henry’s lab. He turned back into his normal self but John and the police
come. John tells the police that Henry is one they are looking for. As Henry
repeatedly says that he is Dr. Henry Jekyll he turns into Hyde. Hyde lashes out
at the men. He corners John who has a gun. Hyde is shot. When he falls dead to
the ground he turns back into Henry Jekyll.
So I mentioned how I realized just how deep the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is. Took me long
enough I know. I think this version being a talking one made it easier for me
to focus (damn my ADHD!). I always like a story about good versus evil. It intrigues
me how there is a good and evil side to the human race. I always wonder with
the people who are evil what it is in their brain that makes them so. There is
an interesting point that this story brings up: even good people have bad
thoughts once in a while. That to me is the whole idea of the story. Jekyll
knew everyone has those evil thoughts or lustful temptation. He had his lustful
moment with Ivy and when he was turned into Hyde by his formula that was the “evil”
he went for. The story also has a sad side because Henry was a very good man
but he died as a bad man.
The cast was fantastic. Spencer Tracy I am not too crazy
about. He does nothing for me in the films I have seen him in. Same with this
film but in an odd way he was a good Jekyll and Hyde. Tracy was oddly paired
with Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner. Speaking of Ingrid Bergman… I want to know
how she perfects. Seriously the woman could do nothing wrong. Ivy is not one of
her best roles but she was very good. The reason Bergman worked in the role for
me is because Lana Turner was originally cast as Ivy. If you have ever seen
Turner in a film from the 1930s she was never the tart character or the
scandalous character. She was the sweet girl all the good boys wanted. She had
a sweet face. Bergman did too but there was also that glint in her eyes and
that wickedness to her face she could do. Turner never would have worked as
Ivy. She also never would have worked as Ivy because she was not even in the
same league of acting as Bergman. Bergman could have acted out the damn phone
book and won an Oscar. She had the range while Turner did not. I like Turner as
an actress I have seen quite a few of her films but she would have been
terrible as Ivy.
This version of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde I had seen a few years ago when I was first becoming a
fan of Old Hollywood. I knew who Ingrid Bergman was but I did not really know
who Spencer Tracy or Lana Turner were. I cannot remember if I liked it then or
not. I just remember cringing whenever Bergman had to say things in Cockney
slang with her Swedish accent. Still did a little bit just not as bad as
before. The 1941 version of Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde is definitely worth seeing especially for the cast and Victor
Fleming’s direction.
