Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde -- 1931 -- NR

This early screen adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's perenially adapted novel of good vs evil plays out very, very well in this early incarnation. The initial change was well setup, the character relationships were well defined, the actual change played out realistically rather than cheesy, and the Jekyll/Hyde struggle was very well done.

Some complaints: the silly complaint is that because this is an early talkie version of the story, the pronunciation of the name was not as standardized as it is today. In this version, Jekyll's name is pronounced "Jeekle". Made me nuts.

On a more relevant note, I felt that Hyde was occasionally too rational. He is supposed to be Jekyll's dark side, and it makes perfect sense for his dark side to have some rationale, just as his rational side has some darkness, but Hyde gave a very rationale speech and was very much Jekyll in Hyde's clothing on a scene near the end when he had to convince a friend to get the antidote for him. I can see a little rationale, but that was really too far. I had trouble believing that Hyde would be THAT rational, regardless of the situation.

That aside on a first watching, I really enjoyed it, and felt it was a worthwhile film. The version I watched on DVD also has the 1941 version, and the qualty of the recording is quite good and clear.

Finally, as a bit of trivia, this is not the first screen version of this story. There have been over 50 screen versions of the story dating back to 1908. Before this version in 1931, there were 9 different silent versions of the story, three of them in 1920.