Friday 8 February 2013

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Part 2 (1941)

★★★☆☆
Spencer Tracy
MGM
Black and White, 113 mins
Here's the Transformation!
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 
Two Faces, Two Movies 

     The very first thing I noticed when I threw this movie in was the fact that it was produced by MGM, were as the other film from only 10 years past was produced by Paramount. 
     Spencer Tracy this time portrays Dr. Jekyll and does so convincingly I still prefer the Fredric March version. There's just something so honest about his portrayal. 
     What both these films have in common is the story they are almost scene for scene, from the scene were Dr. Jekyll saves Ivy to the marriage troubles which is odd because if I can remember correctly the book had no love interests at all,  that was added into the story for a stage adaptation in the 19th century. 
     Really what let this film down for me though was Mr. Hyde. He was just nowhere near as dark and twisted looking as his 1931 counterpart, I even read somewhere that they covered his face during the trailer in fear that people would laugh at it.   
        Overall these two films are both charming in they're own right I love the 1931 adaptation for Fredric March, but at the same time I preferred the Ivy Character when it was played by Ingrid Bergman. These films are both available on a Classic Double Feature Disk that runs for about 40 to 60 bucks. I was lucky and found the dvd I watched at the local library.  

Street Meat

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Part 1 (1931)

★★★★☆
Fredric March
Paramount
Black and White, 98 mins
Here's the Transformation!
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 
Two Faces, Two Movies

    We're going to do a double take, the 1931 Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and then the 1941 one of the same name.
    Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written by Robert Louis Stevenson and published in 1886, it's the tale about what would happen if you could split the good and the evil with a potion and let your dormant evil side take its own form.
    Fredric March is great in this film, he comes across natural as a nice guy with a little bit of mayhem inside ready to explode. The transformation sequences are top shop, I heard he wore different layers of makeup that would show only when certain lights were on, giving it that slow change that we see on the screen. I also really enjoyed the P.O.V shots and how they did showed him looking at himself in a mirror. This film is ambitious to say the least, not to mention this is actually the only version of this story where they pronounce Jekyll's name right (Jee-Kal)
    Mr. Hyde is really the star of this show, he's so off-putting  He also shows a great deal of acrobatics that caught me off guard (the scene were he swings down the staircase in particular). Over all this is a great film and it should not be missed. If you call yourself a fan of classic horror, this is a must own for your collection.
 Street Meat

Monday 4 February 2013

Man of a Thousand Faces (1957)

★★★☆☆
James Cagney, Dorothy Malone, Jane Greer
Universal
Black and White, 122 mins
Here's the Trailer!

Man of a Thousand Faces 
     So I decided to go to the public library the other day and lo and behold I return with this. I knew I was going to love it. How could you hate anything about Lon Chaney? Phantom of the opera is one of my favorite stories and his 1925 silent version is my favorite interpretation of it.
      Cagney plays Chaney and tells the loosely based tale of his Lon Chaney's rise to fame. I'm not going to lie they're remake of Quasimodo and the Phantom's face were lacking, they looked just like masks (which is what they were).
      This being said the story is still wonderfully told. the characters are charming and it ends with you wanting to watch all of his films.
     Definitely check this out if you got some time. 
                   
                                                         Street Meat