"Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde" is a strange movie of MGM as the studio was dedicated to glamorous films and not horror or Gothic movies. So the film has a glamor mixed with terror. This is not bad. It's a nice combination. I can not say that it's a great movie. It's good, but not stunning and it's a bit long. The action could develop quicker or maybe more things could take place. I saw the film first in a European language (Hungarian, I think) with subtitles in my language and it did not help.
However, I watched the movie a second time in English. I liked more. I saw it again and I enjoyed it even more. It's one of those movies that gets better and better with a new view.
The bright and big face of Bergman!
I've never seen the 1931 version in order to compare the performance of Fredric March with Spencer Tracy but I like Tracy's work. His Hyde doesn't need excessive make-up to be scary or convincing. Tracy scares as Hyde and, at the same time, can be lovely as Jekyll.
Tracy as Doctor Jekyll in his laboratory (the scenarios are fantastic)
Tracy as Mister Hyde
Ingrid Bergman is gorgeous. Perhaps more beautiful than in "Casablanca". I like to see her hairstyle in the Victorian style, as in Gasthlight. The accent bothers but gives a certain charm. Her performance is good and there are formidable close-ups. No actress is more luminous on a film in black and white as Ingrid Bergman. Her first close-up is very beautiful. It shows her face turning around for Tracy as she adjusts her hat on her head. Similarly, when Hyde comes back home without her expecting, the close-up of her tired face is also stunning (sexy is not a characteristic I associate with Bergman but she proved it she can be).
Sexy Ingrid!
Sexy Ingrid!
I love this face
The first appearance of Ingrid Bergman
Lana Turner doesn't have a very deep role on the movie. I love this actress. She is very beautiful. More than in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and almost as beautiful as in "Ziegfeld Girl". I admire Turner very much since she is able to interpret the sweet girl just as well as the femme fatale.
Cheryl, her daughter, in the book she wrote about her mother, says Turner was sad for not playing opposite with Bergman, except for the dream scene in which the two are whipped by Tracy. Although the role of Beatrix is flat, the scene where she cries for Tracy is very emotional. I almost cry. She is very good. The scenes with Bergman don't make me feel such a strong emotion as the scenes of Turner. Her beauty didn't allow people to see that Turner was a competent actress. Turner's beauty is greater than Bergman's. But not the charm. Bergman shines.
The dream sequence
Tracy and Turner
The story is good but I think it could have been more explored (more things, please, more happenings, more plot). It also bothers me that Jekyll doesn't feel any remorse for what he's doing to Bergman.
The actor who plays the father of Beatrix and the actress who plays the friend of Ivy (Bergman) have good performances, as well as the rest of the cast.
Photography is the best of the film: the opening scene with the church tower, the lovely and exquisite sceneries as the greenhouse where Tracy dances with Turner, the mysterious streets with the fog, the original laboratory.
The scene when Tracy said to Lana that he is no longer in love with her is moving (and the next scene creppy, but predictable)
Good Photography showing the fog and the sconces
The scenes between Ingrid and Tracy as Mister Hyde are very intense and a little creppy
Beautiful Lana Turner
Promotional photo? Beautiful
This is an essential movie for Tracy and Bergman's fans, for their hard performances, I think.
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