best jekyll
Charlotte Mendelson, a young British author, does have a way with amusingly gross descriptors, and her description of one character as looking ‘like an alcoholic baby, self-decorated with plughole hair’ provides a fine intro to John Barrymore’s portrayal of the fiendish alter ego of Doctor Henry Jekyll in a 1920 silent version of Jekyll and Hyde which I picked up on DVD a couple of months ago and promptly forgot about. Turns out it’s a real gem, the best film version I’ve seen by far.
When looking at these old movies, I tend to be impressed not so much by overall structure, or the script, or depth of character development or even acting prowess, but rather by particular images or scenes, and their visual impact. In fact I think you could almost trace the history of cinema as a very gradual shift away from this impact, as the visual language of cinema becomes more familiar to us. Or rather, the visual impacts are now quite different, the striving is different, rather less for symbolic impact…
No, actually I’m not so sure about this.
In any case, the theatrical roots of early cinema are particularly evident in this film, while the purely cinematic special effects are obviously pretty crude.
Moments I liked (some of which I have pickies for):
Barrymore as Jekyll for the first time quaffing off the potion that turns him into Hyde, and reacting as if there’s been a massive explosion inside his brainbox.
Good Jekyll treating the poor (and one young boy in particular) in ‘the human repair shop’.
handy
Nita Naldi’s absurdly perfunctory dance routine in the nightclub to which Jekyll is taken by his worldly future father-in-law, Sir George Carew.
The sheen of the Jekyll's top hat in the 'repair shop'.
Hyde’s ‘effeminate/sensual’ hands and his fascination with them.
very handy
Hyde’s hideous face as he approaches Millicent, his alter ego’s fiancée.
lovely lust
The murder of Sir George.
Barrymore is just fabulous in this dual role, elegant self-contained and magnetic as Jekyll, convincingly primal as the plughole-haired Hyde - his gait and movements clearly modelled on that of an ape. It really does show, as others have commented, that more is less, that a gifted actor’s performance can do so much more to encapsulate horror than an overblown budget of special effects.
I must say that trying to work out how to post pictures to this blog has shortened my life.
When looking at these old movies, I tend to be impressed not so much by overall structure, or the script, or depth of character development or even acting prowess, but rather by particular images or scenes, and their visual impact. In fact I think you could almost trace the history of cinema as a very gradual shift away from this impact, as the visual language of cinema becomes more familiar to us. Or rather, the visual impacts are now quite different, the striving is different, rather less for symbolic impact…
No, actually I’m not so sure about this.
In any case, the theatrical roots of early cinema are particularly evident in this film, while the purely cinematic special effects are obviously pretty crude.
Moments I liked (some of which I have pickies for):
Barrymore as Jekyll for the first time quaffing off the potion that turns him into Hyde, and reacting as if there’s been a massive explosion inside his brainbox.
Good Jekyll treating the poor (and one young boy in particular) in ‘the human repair shop’.
handy
Nita Naldi’s absurdly perfunctory dance routine in the nightclub to which Jekyll is taken by his worldly future father-in-law, Sir George Carew.
The sheen of the Jekyll's top hat in the 'repair shop'.
Hyde’s ‘effeminate/sensual’ hands and his fascination with them.
very handy
Hyde’s hideous face as he approaches Millicent, his alter ego’s fiancée.
lovely lust
The murder of Sir George.
Barrymore is just fabulous in this dual role, elegant self-contained and magnetic as Jekyll, convincingly primal as the plughole-haired Hyde - his gait and movements clearly modelled on that of an ape. It really does show, as others have commented, that more is less, that a gifted actor’s performance can do so much more to encapsulate horror than an overblown budget of special effects.
I must say that trying to work out how to post pictures to this blog has shortened my life.
posted by Stewart at 5:40 pm
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