Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) on Netflix
Passed19411h 53mDramaHorrorSci-Fi
Dr. Henry Jekyll holds that good and evil live together in a person. His serum creates a second self, Mr. Hyde, while his fiancée, Beatrix Emery, is abroad with her father.
- Netflix2.5/5
- IMDb6.8/1010,890 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes60%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1887 London, Dr. Henry Jekyll pursues research into whether a person's good and evil sides can be separated. He loves Beatrix Emery; her father, Sir Charles, doubts Jekyll's radical ideas and takes his daughter abroad. Having no one else to test on, Jekyll prepares a serum, drinks it, and his mind and face become those of a second self, Mr. Hyde. An antidote restores him, but not before he hallucinates a voice naming Mr. Hyde. Weeks earlier Jekyll had pulled Ivy Peterson, a barmaid, from an attacker in the street. Hyde enters the music hall where she works; his altered face and manner frighten her, and she does not know him.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- MGM acquired full rights to the 1931 film from Paramount before making its own version, then, according to the Robert Louis Stevenson website, studio executives "hid the film away to avoid competition with their remake". The Oscar-winning 1931 version was effectively lost for over a quarter of a century, not generally available again until 1967.
- Despite not yet having met his later co-star Katharine Hepburn, whom he met on Woman of the Year in 1942, Tracy originally wanted her to play both Bergman's and Turner's roles, the "bad" and the "good" woman, who would turn out to be the same person.
- Initial casting had Bergman as the virtuous fiancée of Jekyll and Turner as Ivy, but Bergman, tired of saintly characters and fearing typecasting, pleaded with Victor Fleming to let the two switch roles. After a screen test he agreed, and she played a grittier role for the first time.
- The Production Code Administration was very specific in characterizing Ivy as a barmaid rather than a prostitute, as she is characterized in the source material.
