How many adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson‘s classic The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde have you watched? I have seen at least five, and I’m not even counting the cartoons based on it, like Sylvester and Tweety: Hyde and go Tweet.
The Victor Fleming film based on it, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is an excellent version. Not so much for the fidelity to the original text, but for the quality of acting and the actors on it: Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner. The other highly recommend version is the Jerry Lewis comedy The Nutty Professor. It’s fantastic!
The book is usually much better than the film or other adaptations. So, why not to read it? The Project Gutenberg has two ebook versions to download or to read on-line: this and this. Wikisource has an annotated version for those that always want something more.
And after read the book, watch the film. I already made too suggestions and here is another one: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde directed by John S. Robertson. A good silent adaptation with the famous – and great – actor John Barrymore. The film also has Nita Naldi, Charles Lane and Brandon Hurst. It’s in public domain and available to download as a torrent at Public Domain Torrents. Don’t want to download it? Don’t worry, there is another option: watch it at Google Video (80 minutes).
Watch it at Videos with Bibi.
Vladimir Nabokov has a perfectly fascinating essay on “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hype” in his *Lectures on Literature*. He ranks this novella right up there with novels by Joyce, Dickens, Austen, Kafka, and Flaubert. Where it should be, of course.
There are two versions one should never miss
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) Directed by
Victor Fleming
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033553/
with an incredible Spencer Tracy (rarely he was that evil) and an absolute stunning Ingrid Bergman
and, maybe the most remarkable adaption,
Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier, Le (1959)
Directed by
Jean Renoir
with Jean-Louis Barrault (Les Enfants du paradis)
as the main actor
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053348/
dig them if you have a chance
best
pK
Thanks for the tip Bleak Mouse!
Hey PlaceboKatz, I suggested the Fleming’s version
It’s excellent.
I’m going to try to find the Renoir adaptation. Thanks for the suggestion.
(blush) I read too fast
pK
Yep, you did
Don’t worry, the film is really good.
I seem to recall a version with Jack Palance….