esrosedotblog

NO PLACE TO HYDE

Frederic March was a great actor. We have already seen him in Best Years of Our Lives. And there will be some more in the Best Films series.

I saw him work with his wife Florence Eldridge along with Jason Robards Jr. in the Oneill play Long Day's Journey Into Night while I was in college.

It seems that he was always around in films and theater as I grew up. He took me along with him in a way.

Today he was the main man in one of the Best Films Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932). This is before my time so it is fun to see him younger than in my mind. He was always the quintessential father figure. In this, he doesn't seem much like a papa.

The film is regarded as the best of many many versions. It is before the code and therefore faces the id/superego duality directly. It is pretty clear about the sexual aspect. The transformations are really amazing given the techniques available at the time.

Rouban Mamoulian directed and the use of point of view photography, play with mirrors, lighting and the dramatic but not over the top character shifts are all just the best. It is just a great film to watch.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

Incidentally, on the disc, it is paired with the Spencer Tracy version which came in 1941. I am not that fond of Tracy so we didn't watch to compare. Enough is enough.

And another thing.

I always thought that you pronounced it jekyll as in heckle. In the film it is jeeeekul. Which does not rhyme with anything.