Less a horror movie than a lavish excursion into an elegant costume drama MGM-style, this version of Robert Louis Stevenson's novella still manages to hold itself well due to the presences of the three leads, Spencer Tracy, and two rising female stars Ingrid Bergman, and a very young Lana Turner.
The story behind DOCTOR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE is that Spencer Tracy wasn't one of the actors to be considered for the role, but because he knew that his looks were too masculine to be taken for a matinée idol, he tackled the dual role in his own way, but on viewing his own performance it seems he overacted whenever he was on screen as Mr. Hyde, and the makeup didn't exactly help. Nevertheless the actor he was he tackled the role and this is the performance he gave: far from his best, but not altogether unwatchable.
If anything, the culprit to blame is the direction in itself, which here is of no mention other than it's plainly bad. There is almost no atmosphere, no trepidation that Jekyll is delving into uncharted territory and unleashing his monstrous side with devastating results, and an extremely laughable sequence in which Hyde crazily flogs his horses which bear the heads of Bergman and Turner. With so much subtext to the material, this is almost its bastard incarnation, wooden and lifeless, a footnote in Tracy's, Bergman's, and Turner's acting careers.
The story behind DOCTOR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE is that Spencer Tracy wasn't one of the actors to be considered for the role, but because he knew that his looks were too masculine to be taken for a matinée idol, he tackled the dual role in his own way, but on viewing his own performance it seems he overacted whenever he was on screen as Mr. Hyde, and the makeup didn't exactly help. Nevertheless the actor he was he tackled the role and this is the performance he gave: far from his best, but not altogether unwatchable.
If anything, the culprit to blame is the direction in itself, which here is of no mention other than it's plainly bad. There is almost no atmosphere, no trepidation that Jekyll is delving into uncharted territory and unleashing his monstrous side with devastating results, and an extremely laughable sequence in which Hyde crazily flogs his horses which bear the heads of Bergman and Turner. With so much subtext to the material, this is almost its bastard incarnation, wooden and lifeless, a footnote in Tracy's, Bergman's, and Turner's acting careers.