Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - DVD

Dr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.

Laurence Olivier once observed that he "learned more about acting from watching [Spencer] Tracy than in any other way." Undertaking the dual title role in Robert Louis Stevenson's Victorian science-fiction thriller, Tracy fulfilled that compliment by abandoning his characteristic down-to-earth image for the most terrifying portrayal of his career. Also cast "against type" are "Sweater Sweetheart" Lana Turner as Jekyll's fiancee and Ingrid Bergman, who plays Hyde's victimized Cockney mistress. Tracy and director Victor Fleming (Gone with the Wind) decided to break with convention by interpreting Hyde from a Freudian perspective instead of portraying him as the usual physically grotesque monster, and he emerges as a menacing distortion of the sexually frustrated Jekyll. To Tracy fans, this amazing piece of virtuosity will come as an unforgettable revelation.

It took John Barrymore to bring class to the American horror film, at least in the eyes of the industry. Dignified and virtuous as Dr. Henry Jekyll in this 1920 silent, Barrymore transforms into id incarnate as the lascivious Mr. Hyde. With almost no makeup beyond his gnarled, knobby fingers and greasy hair, Barrymore relies almost solely on a bug-eyed grimace, a spidery body language, and pure theatrical flourish. He tends to be hammy as the leering beast of a thug but brings a tortured struggle to the repressed doctor, horrified at the demon he's unleashed, guilty that he enjoys Hyde's unrestrained life of drinking and whoring, and terrified that he can no longer control the transformations. Martha Mansfield costars as his pure and innocent sweetheart, and Nita Naldi (the vamp of Blood and Sand) has a small but memorable role as the world-weary dance hall darling who first InchwakensInch Jekyll's Inchbaser natureInch.