This is not part of the Universal Monster series.\u00a0 Paramount made this film and Frederic March was a pretty big star at the time so this movie was made as a serious literary drama.\u00a0 That\u2019s not to say that the movie doesn\u2019t contain scenes and effects taking advantage of the hedonistic exploits of Mr. Hyde.\u00a0 It does and to a degree that shows that this is during the pre-code period.<\/p>\n
The plot follows the usual story line and we witness the happy, virtuous and talented Dr. Henry Jekyll metamorphose into the bestial sadistic Mr. Hyde.\u00a0 And we follow as Jekyll\u2019s life and fortunes come crashing down.\u00a0 And of course, everyone around him is destroyed in the catastrophe.<\/p>\n
The story by Robert Louis Stevenson was supposed to be about the duality of the human soul.\u00a0 The theory holds that the evil side of the human psyche is also the active\/vital part and the good is the passive\/weaker part.\u00a0 And in a sense there is truth in that.\u00a0 Our basest instincts are thoroughly hard-wired and are inseparable from the rest of our selves.\u00a0 Bottling up those instincts eventually leads to them bursting out in a destructive explosion.\u00a0 The saner course is to train and channel the energies of the brute and tame them to our better nature.\u00a0 So that\u2019s the philosophy.<\/p>\n
Now about the movie.\u00a0 Well it\u2019s kind of fun.\u00a0 There are all kinds of outdated special effects and some hammy acting on display.\u00a0 But it\u2019s a pretty well-done production.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s an entertaining old monster movie.\u00a0 And I like it better than the later version with Spencer Tracy and Ingrid Bergman.\u00a0 I recommend it to fans of old monster movies.<\/p>\n
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This is not part of the Universal Monster series.\u00a0 Paramount made this film and Frederic March was a pretty big star at the time so<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,238,237,4],"tags":[190,741,417],"class_list":["post-2200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-classic-movie-reviews","category-reviews","category-sff","tag-classic-movie","tag-frederic-march","tag-universal-classic-monster-movies"],"yoast_head":"\n