After a hiatus much longer than any of us intended, Lyz Kingsley of And You Call Yourself A Scientist! once again joins forces with Zack Handlen of The Duck Speaks and Chad Denton of The Good, The Bad, The Ugly for another round of That Was Then, This Is Now. In what shows every sign of being the first part of a three part epic, we examine the four surviving silent versions of the seminal science fiction story, Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde.
Lyz reviews Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde (1912), starring James Cruze, and Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde (1913), starring King Baggot; Zack reviews Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde (1920), starring John Barrymore; and Chad reviews Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde (1920), starring Sheldon Lewis.
And afterwards, the three of us get together over a refreshing bubbling potion and debate the pros and cons of these four films.
#1 by El Santo on December 16, 2007 - 1:51 am
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A question– every description I’ve ever read of the IMP/Universal Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde claims that it has one of those damnable all-just-a-dream endings, in which a “reformed” Dr. Jekyll awakens in time to abandon his experiments and apologize to heaven for his “impiety.” You mention no such thing, however, and it would be most unlike you to refrain from grousing about such an affront. Shall I take it, then, that a whole lot of authors have been trusting too much in earlier writers’ memories?
#2 by lyzard on December 16, 2007 - 1:54 am
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In deference to my colleagues, I shall only say….read on, and all will be revealed….
#3 by HP on December 16, 2007 - 4:06 am
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In case you wonder what Jekyll and Hyde sounded like in the days before sound film, here’s a 1904 Edison cylinder recording (YouSendIt mp3) of Len Spencer performing the final transformation scene, adapted from Sullivan’s play.
#4 by lyzard on December 16, 2007 - 3:38 pm
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Aaaaanyway, as you’ve probably figured out by now, it’s the Sheldon Lewis version that ends with him going, “Oh, I had a bad dream and now I believe in God.” Chad was suitably disgusted.
Where did you read that it was the Baggot version?
#5 by Blake Matthews on December 17, 2007 - 5:55 am
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I have downloaded the John Barrymore version and plan to watch it this weekend.
#6 by supersonic on December 18, 2007 - 1:12 am
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Now I’m gonna be imitating that guy’s orchard-of-fruit diction all day tomorrow.
#7 by Matthew Fudge on December 19, 2007 - 8:38 am
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This story is just awesomely popular isn’t it? There’s some part of me that’s still scarred by the awful 80s Michael Caine mini-series. They just did it again on television here (the UK) as an oh-so-cutting edge series set in the present, with a descendent of jekyl who changes involunatarily and has adapted his life to make it work, but has no idea why it happens to him. Can’t really explain it as it’s pretty convoluted but anyway it’s called ‘Jekyl’ and it stars James Nesbitt and I recommend it for some silly fun.
#8 by lyzard on December 19, 2007 - 1:12 pm
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There’s no end in sight for me and the guys, I can tell you. When Chad and I were first talking we were all over the place; I wanted to do the silents and Chad wanted the Spencer Tracy version; then when Zack got involved he was talking about the 60s and 70s Hammer variants. We were all over the place, and finally realised that if we were going to do this, we needed to break it up into manageable theme-chunks. And so we started with the silents, intending to move on at some point to Fredric March vs Spencer Tracy….then on into infinity, as far as we can tell.
Heh, yeah – I have that Michael Caine mini-series around somewhere, I’m sure (and his Jack The Ripper). I’ve always wondered what Richard Mansfield’s family thought of that version….
#9 by KeithA on December 19, 2007 - 1:47 pm
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What about that movie where David Hasselhoff punches Jack the Ripper in the face?
#10 by lyzard on December 19, 2007 - 7:00 pm
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Yes, yes….it’s all a rich tapestry.
#11 by Zack Handlen on December 19, 2007 - 7:58 pm
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Dammit, I _will_ review a Julia Roberts movie for this. Somehow.
(5…4…3…2…)
#12 by lyzard on December 19, 2007 - 7:59 pm
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Um….if you’re expecting me and Chad to throw ourselves heroically in the line of fire for you….
#13 by Matthew Fudge on December 20, 2007 - 3:27 am
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For a quick break, I recommend reviewing all the tv and film versions of Oliver Twist in order.
#14 by lyzard on December 20, 2007 - 1:37 pm
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Well, you can at least rest assured of this: if I ever do undertake such a project, it will certainly be IN ORDER. (FYI: the oldest surviving version of Oliver Twist was made in 1909….)
#15 by lyzard on December 20, 2007 - 3:29 pm
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HP— I didn’t get the chance earlier to listen to the MP3 you sent. Thank you! – it is fabulous!! Oh, my heart…. And did my ears deceive me, or did he actually say to God, “You were right and I was wrong”!!?? I’m imagining a huge, booming, “Well, duh!” from Up On High….
#16 by Blake Matthews on December 24, 2007 - 11:20 am
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I just got done watching the Barrymore version. I liked it. However, it shares a flaw that the version of Nosferatu that I own has: Near the end of the film, the ominous organ music is dropped and we have some more conventional orchestral music that is out of step with the tone of the film. It completely undermined the final confrontation of Hyde with Millicent. Other than that, it was a good cinematic experience.
#17 by Zack Handlen on December 24, 2007 - 2:44 pm
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Blake, you must have the Madacy release, or at least a disc that had the same problem as the Madacy disc had. I had the same issue, at any rate.
#18 by lyzard on December 24, 2007 - 3:44 pm
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This is one of the worst barriers between viewers today and silent movies. It’s all right if we’re dealing with outfits like Kino or Image, who put themselves to the trouble of either tracking down the original scores or getting new and appropriate music written and performed. The public domain companies slap anything onto these films, and it just ruins them.
#19 by Blake Matthews on December 24, 2007 - 5:35 pm
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I got the film from the Internet Movie Archive, so I’m not sure which release it corresponds to.
The first time I watched/taped “The Lost World” on AMC, they had an excellent (and varied) piano/orchestra score. It was perfect. I then bought the extended version DVD and it had a choice between the original score and a more modernized score (with some dino sound FX thrown in for good measure). It really does make a difference in the film’s watchability.
#20 by lyzard on December 24, 2007 - 5:51 pm
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Actually, I’m less bothered by cheap and tacky little outfits slapping cheap and tacky music onto these films than I am by the smug “brought up to date and thus made tolerable for sophisticated modern audiences” attitude. Remember the Giorgio Moroder version of Metropolis?
#21 by Blake Matthews on December 25, 2007 - 4:47 am
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I’m simply biding my time until they release “The Phantom of the Opera” with a rap soundtrack, in which one of the songs declares the Phantom as “the first killah in da industry / and not some fake b*****-made studio G.”