As much as I love this movie, Kino’s Blu-Ray edition is a textbook example of how high end resolution does not always benefit older movies especially when they haven’t been restored. Of the many different versions of this title that I have seen from the 1999 Image edition to the 2001 Kino edition to this one, it is this one that most clearly shows the defects of the existing print. While some backgrounds are better defined so are the flaws.
The missing footage from the first Kino edition has been incorporated here from 16mm footage and while it’s good to have it, it looks worse than it did in the old Image edition thanks to Blu-Ray and HDTV resolution. I haven’t seen the 2014 DVD version but I imagine it’s pretty much the same. As someone who has the other versions I wish that an upgrade of the Image edition were possible combined with the fine Mont Alto score. However as this is the only Blu-Ray edition it will have to do until another comes along which won’t be anytime soon.
The film itself is one of the glories of early silent cinema. John Barrymore is 38 here and was shootng this in Paramount’s Astoria Studios during the day while performing Shakespeare’s RICHARD III at night. On closer examination there are similarities between Hyde’s mannerisms and those traditionally associated with Richard. Even the costume and posture Barrymore uses link the two together.
Brandon Hurst’s Sir George Carew borrows heavily from Oscar Wilde’s Lord Henry in THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY even having actual lines of Wilde’s (“the only way to get rid of Tempatation is to yield to it”) incorporated into the title cards. Nita Naldi’s Gina, Louis Wolheim’s proprietor, and the tragic Martha Mansfield’s Millicent add to my enjoyment. There are the Frederic March and Spencer Tracy versions and several later color ones (including two from Hammer Films and one from Amicus) but when I want to see DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE, this is the one I watch.
The Capsule Critic 