REMARKABLE FILM.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 386, 31 March 1932, Page 9

REMARKABLE FILM.

“ Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 99 is Masterpiece. Those who have seen the “ silent ” film of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ” and those who have not, should see the Paramount talking picture version when it is screened at the Plaza Theatre, commencing- on Saturday. It is a most remarkable picture, the famous book having been transferred to the screen in a manner that omits no detail, nor misses the weird spirit of the dream-conceived plot. “ Hr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ” easily surpasses any creation in the macabre that has yet come to Christchurch —it is the weirdest and yet the most romantic story the screen has told—and that is saying a good deal. At a private screening this morning, it was evident that the plot, which came to Stevenson as a dream, made ideal ground in which to embody the author’s theory of a man's dual nature. Dr Jekyll, respected young doctor of London, discovers that he can separate his good and evil personalities. He effects the transformation, and the result is a bestial, devilish incarnation, bent on a life of vice and crime. Though Hyde, as the fiend calls itself, can return to the lovable Hr Jekyll, the doctor finds that though at first he had to resort to drugs to change his being, the terrible metamorphosis rules his body, and cannot be held in check. After committing one murder as Hyde, Dr Jekyll, appalled at what he has done, decides never to take the necessary drug again, but learns too late that he is impotent to stop the

change. For those who have not read the book, it would be unfair to give away the ending to the story. Those who have read the great mystery will lose nothing in seeing the picture, as it is handled in an adept and arresting manner.

It might be thought that in such a story, there would be an unpleasant element of sordidness, but that is not so. Nor is it gruesome, so expertly have the producers handled the theme. Too much cannot be said for Frederic March, who fills the role of Dr Jekyll and Hyde. As the former he has to play a lovable personality, while as Hyde he becomes a maniacal beast. Widely differing in character, these entities are portrayed by March with brilliance. His fiancee (Rose Hobart) is naturally and convincingly played, though little is seen of her on the screen. The part of Ivy Parson, the slum girl whom Hyde persecutes with unrelenting cruelty, is taken by Miriam Hopkins, and she makes of it one of the strongest roles of her career. “Hr Jekyll and Mr Hyde “ is a masterpiece of direction and acting, and too much praise cannot be given to it. The thrilling portions of the film—and there are many—heighten the love elements, and in reverse, the scenes with Jekyll make the Hyde parts the more awe-inspiring.