Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1941
Posted by spheer2002 | Filed under Films of the 1940's
Freudian Horses
Directed By Victor Fleming
Although this is Considered to be the lesser film of the early Juggernaut made in 1931, directed by Rouben Mamoulian that ultimately won its actor Fredric March (the Best Years of Our Lives) a tied best academy award with Wallace Beery for ”The Champ” (,a feat which has only happened twice in the history of the academy awards), The 1941 Version should not be completely Overlooked.
Set in Victorian England Circa 1889
The Film Opens with a White Gothic Cathedral and The Minister standing at the pulpit singing the praises of Queen Victoria’s Reign and the ‘Moral’ values it has to greatest pride in displaying, this is quickly Interrupted the the ravings of a Mentally disturbed man sitting in the congregation shouting back at the minister and being Dragged out of the Church.
Dr Henry Jekyll (Spencer Tracy- Guess Whos Coming to Dinner)struggles to convince his peers of his radical theory of helping those who are mentally disturbed but extracting more of , what could be described as their ‘Good” Personality with Science,
As a result for his radical beliefs of Good and evil being a product of human nature and not that of God, he is ostracized by his future Father in Law, separating him from his Fiance Beatrix (Lana Turner - The Postman Always Rings Twice) who is very much in love with him, after a night on the town he runs into a man attacking a woman on the street, a Common bar girl Named Ivy (Ingrid Bergman - Casablanca), He is Sexually attracted to her, but feeling the pressure of being unfaithful to his fiance and worrying about what people may think, he separates himself from her.
In despair about his separation from Beatrix and that the scientific body will not allow him to experiment on live cases of Disturbed Patients, Jekyll Takes the Bold Move of testing his formula on himself.
The Result of Course goes wrong or perhaps works too well, The consequences for his actions are only too clear.
Like Most Hollywood Remakes of their earlier films, Not Much has changed in Hollywood when you Think about it ,
A remake with an all Star Cast, The Hot Director with a great films under his belt .. in this case Victor Flemming with films such as The Wizard of Oz , and Gone with The Wind (or most of it anyway) A rich, slick, decadent MGM look , A And a Sumptuous Film Score Provided By Legend Franz Waxman (Sunset Bvd, Rebecca).. What could go wrong?
Apparently Plenty…
The Film was considered to be a major disappointment, even by today’s standards , this is of course due to the fact that Spencer Tracy is not in the least frightening as The Infamous Mr Hyde,
While Fredric March in the original was completely convincing as a Monster, in his transformation while he roamed the streets of London , Looking like the ‘missing link’ he was legitimately frighting and disgusting in compassion to his Alter ego, Poor Mr Tracy , who generally did a lot better in films was ok as Dr Jekyll, but while still aggressive and animalistic , looked more like Robert Smith of the Cure ,a crazy looking middle aged man who hadn’t showered for a week , but nothing more.. he wasn’t at all scary,
The Film does Bring froward some treasures though
In both films there are of course significant changes to the novel (eg there are no Female leads , and heavy suggestions of Homosexual undertones)
in the 31 version two female characters were added as love interests, one for each personality, the Good has a pretty young respectful fiance, and bad has a cockney crude, prostitute named Ivy,
Of course in 1941 due to film censorship the Character of Ivy was changed from a prostitute to a Barmaid, an essentially good girl, a little rough around the edges that makes bad decisions.
When casting, strangely Spencer Tracy prior to meeting her making the film Woman of the Year (1942) and beginning his famous affair with her Spencer Tracy wanted Katharine Hepburn to play both the Good and the Bad roles, and in the end of the film the revelation was that she was in fact the same woman, of course this never happened, When final casting was done it was decided that Ingrid Bergman would play the Good Girl and the Tarty Barmaid would be played by the blond sultry Lana Turner. But after a string of films playing wholesome saintly milkmaid roles Ingrid wanted a change an opted strangely to play out of type as the earthy Barmaid Ivy and Lana would play Beatrix , The Fiance of Dr Jekyll, although the film fared badly Most People remember Ingrid Bergman for her role saying it almost rivaled the emotional intensity that was shown by Miriam Hopkins in the 31 version playing the rough as guts Prostitute before the Rules of Censorship came through in Hollywood,
The Films greatest Redeeming Feature is the Presence of Ingrid Bergman and what she does with her character if for No Other reason watch it for that!
Also worth mentioning are the film Montages when Tracy Transforms , unlike the 31 version where Fredric Marchs’s transformation is archived through Clever UV lighting by painting marks on the actors face, Tracys Transformation is done completely out of sight, The Montages which are meant to distract us this are for a better word out of this world, almost rivaling the dream sequences in Alfred hitchcocks Spellbound and Vertigo, they have Strong Freudian subtext and are astonishing to view , the most extraordinary being when Sprencer Tracys is whipping two horses, one white, one black they are transformed into his two girlfriends, the white being his Fiance , the Black being his Lustful Desire Ivy, the close up of Ivy and the Pan to Tracys Expression has he Whips her is a harbinger of her fate towards the end of the film.
But in hind site Tracy’s performance may have been in closer examination , more concise with the original concept of the story, A man who drinks a formula , not to bring out a cave man, but his true repressed Aggression , his Violent Sexual nature, Freedom of Expression, and to be able to do anything you can in public without caring about the concerns or the approval of others , Something that like in the book Dr Jekyll deals with in his repressed Victorian society, A society more concerned with manners, class distinction and ultra conservatism .
In this way you could say Tracy is Not frighting to us now as we live in a 21st century society where we are mostly free to do what in private and in public without concerns of silly ”Victorian Garden party Rules” or ”1950s paranoia and stupidity ” .
We have purposely over the course of the 2oth Century have pushed the boundaries of freedom of expression , Sex and self censorship, Violence, Aggression ,in one way or another, The fact that Tracys Mr Hyde is Not scary then , as is now, is that Tracys Mr Hyde is Us.. a citizen of the 20th century
not an ape man that roams London terrorizing people but an uninhibited soul
If you consider the raving man inside the Church at the beginning of the film, and that his inhibitions are because of a head injury due to an accident we have the basic idea from the start,
It is said that people who have an injury to the front of their brain due to an accident may have a slight change of personality, due to the weakening of the front of the brain where we exercise control of our emotions , Something that humans develop after two years of life after instruction from parents and life experience, when this is damaged sometimes traits of our personality , that we usually keep hidden away managed to come through, This Is what Dr Jekyll Believed anyway, and wanted to prove.
Jekyll is the product of extream society repression, whn he takes the forular he does not just ease into a gradualy state of freedom, its given to him all at once, and as he is unavble to deal rationally with his new freedom , it therefor becomes an inflicter of ill, so maybe to judge Tracys Hyde as lesser is infact the easy way to exclude this film, when on closer inspection, he may have been more true to the origional concept that we may already know,
Tags: Barmaid, Based off Novel, Franz Waxman, Freudian, Gothic, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner, Love Triangle, Multiple Personality, Murder, Noir, Psychological Thriller, Remake, Robert Louis Stevenson, scientific experiment, Sexual Repression, Spencer Tracy, Victor Flemming, Victorian Era
Rebecca 1940
Posted by spheer2002 | Filed under Film, Films of the 1940's
Hitchcocks first American Film flooded with Lesbian Subtext and Gothic Noir Still Based of a Daphne du Maurier ,Novel, the troubled by the death of his first wife Rebecca,(Laurence Olivier r) falls in love with a shy introvert (Joan Fontaine “Suspicion” ). They get married, but the second Mrs. de Winter discovers that Rebecca still has a strong hold on everyone in the house, particularly on Mrs. Denvers, the housekeeper, who begins driving the young wife to madness.
rebecca Is Never seen in this film not even in a but she takes up a great chunk of it , who is this Bisexual human soul cannibal who still casts shadows on all who have lived around her and do you need to kill the living to destroy the dead?
Tags: Based off Novel, Bi, Daphne du Maurier, Franz Waxman, Gothic, Hitchcock, Mansion, Mysterious Death, Mystery, Of Lesbian Interest
The Woman in White 1947
Posted by spheer2002 | Filed under Film, Films of the 1940's
Credited as the First Real Mystery Novel and the inspiration for the writing style of Bram Stoker’s ”Dracula” The Woman in White is an Elaborate adaptation of Wilkie Collins’ 1800s novel Directed by peter Godfrey (”The Two Mrs Carrolls”, Hotel Berlin”)
Down and out drawing instructor Walter Hartwright ( Gig Young who won an oscar for ”they shoot horses dont they” 1969)
Walking up the driveway to his new house of residence , runs into a Pale panic stricken woman with dark circles under her eyes dressed entirely in White(Eleanor Parker) she Begs for his protection upon hearing someone coming she dissapers, Hartwright soon encounters a Count Fosco (Sydney Greenstreet’ Casablanca/ Maltese Falcon), a guest at the house looking for a woman whom he says has escaped a mental institution and seeks to bring her care,Hartwright denies seeing her and enters the house , The next morning he meets one of the two girls he is in charge of teaching only to see she is the very vision of the trouble woman he had meet on the drive the night before , a woman named Laura Fairlie , he soon falls for her but unknown to him she is already engaged to be married to a morally bankrupt character named Sir Percival Glyde (John Emery). Marion Holcombe the other girl Hartwright teaches (a gorgeous Alexis Smith who is in the closet in real life and seems to be visually offended by Gigs Advances) comes together with Hartwright to help Laura escape from a destructive marriage,all this time while the mysterious woman in white who roams the gardens at night also seems to have a strong interest in the future of Laura Fairlie.
Hartwright must find what the dark connection is that ties Laura and Fosco and ‘The Woman In White” together.
Its got some weird Gothic appeal and some great suspense , as well as sporting a pre Nancy drew character in Marion.
Although its been adapted before and since to film and tv notably in 1982 with Costumes by Edith Head in her last work on screen and in 1997 as well as a musical version by Andrew Lloyd Webber
this is the definitive version..
filmed in 1946, but Shelved strangely until 1948 ,It sports a score by Max Steiner (Gone With the Wind) and remains an benchmark of Gothic Horror.Eleanor Parker plays a Duel role that seems to for-run her Multiple personality character in Lizzy 1957 ten years later,Sydney Greenstreet , Usually ‘partnered’ with Peter Lorre holds his own here playing his usual sinister ”beadie eyed” self and has one of the most humorous unintentional punchlines in cinema history ”I can’t possibly be Evil,,, Im.. too fat!” and a Mostly Silent but Important role played by Anges Moorehead (Samantha’s mum in Bewitched)
As a story its well put together with twists filmed in lucious black and white , it still holds your attention
Tags: Based off Novel, Gothic, Madness, Max Steiner, Mysterious Death, Mystery, Victorian Era
My Cousin Rachel 1952
Posted by spheer2002 | Filed under Film, Films of the 1950's
Remember Melanie From Gone with the Wind..?
Imagine her now with a potential streak for homocide! When Philip Ashley’s (Richard Burton “Cleopatra” before hitting the bottle and Liz)much-loved (and rich) cousin Ambrose dies, he is convinced that Ambrose was murdered by his new wife Rachel (Olivia De Haviland “Gone With The Wind)to inherit his wealth. But when he meets Rachel he falls in love with her,He starts to second guess himself and places Rachel in Pride of place in his Household. A cloud soon descends upon the Ashley estate and it soon seems that dear Cousin Rachel is not all she says she is,Is it just paranoia or she seriously trying to use Philip to get at the estate Ambrose left to him instead of to her And will she ‘really’ capable of cold calculated murder!
Originally slated for Greta Garbo,with George Cukor Directing , Garbo which she Ultimately Rejected, next in Line was Vivian Leigh, but for what ever reason, She wasnt able to commit to it either, Enter Olivia De Haviland,having not done a film for a couple of years after her oscar winning performance in ‘The heiress” and she does a brilliant job, You spend all of the movie racking you brains wither or not she is a genuine loving human being or she is indeed out to do ill, which is the greatest thing about this film, With a score by Franz Waxman who strangely did the score for another Famous Daphne du Maurier Novel ”Rebecca” (see Blog) which Ironically starred De Haviland’s real Life Sister Joan Fontiane, Like Rebecca This is a Gothic Noir Film, that plays against the wild plains of the windswept English countryside, which is not that far removed from Wuthering Heights.
Its a Beautiful mystery but do not at any point assume anything about Rachel or what she does. all you need to remember is what Richard Burton says in the beginning of the film
Murder Begets Murder
Tags: Based off Novel, Daphne du Maurier, Franz Waxman, Gothic, Movies Garbo Rejected, Mysterious Death, Richard Burton, sickness, Victorian Era
