Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian
Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men: one that is good and one that is evil. He believes that by separating the two, man can become liberated. He succeeds in his experiments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes. When he discontinues use of the drug, it is already too late.
3 connections found
View:
3 connections, in both directions
What critics compared Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to
Looking back at the earliest years of the genre, we can see how Count Orlok in F.W. Murnau’s groundbreaking Nosferatu (1922) was a caricature of the perceived Jewish threat in Weimer Germany; the titular count in Todd Browning’s Dracula (1931) can be similarly viewed as an exotic menace to western culture; monstrosities from the manmade monster in Frankenstein (1931), to the ape-like Hyde in Rouben Mamoulian’s version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), to the giant ape himself in King Kong (1933), have been read as metaphors for the supposed threat posed by black men to white women and a culture of racial purity.
With an Oscar-winning actress, a critically acclaimed director, a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story about inner demons and ghosts from the past, a hefty bankroll, and a pop culture icon that so many remember from childhood, The Hulk had just about all the ingredients it needed to be a great superhero flick.
Though the immediate generic ancestor of Ang Lee's brainiac monster movie is the comic book, whose heroes have duked it out with all manner of bad dads for generations, The Hulk bends the knee before an illustrious lineage of male crisis, from King Kong back through Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and even to the ultimate fire-breathing father figures, the Greek gods.
Kinski plays the role with a terrifying precision -- as a kind of canny animal in human form (at times he resembles John Barrymore's spider-like Mr. Hyde in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde).