History Film / DrJekyllAndMrHyde1931

''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' is a 1931 movie based on the novel ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'' by Creator/RobertLouisStevenson. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian, it stars Creator/FredricMarch in the dual title role, for which he won the only tied UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Actor to date (Creator/WallaceBeery also won that year, for ''Film/TheChamp'') and also became the only actor to win for a horror film until Creator/AnthonyHopkins for Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs sixty years later. This is notably one of the few screen adaptations to use the correct pronunciation of "Jekyll" (''Jee''-kyll). The film was remade in 1941 starring Creator/SpencerTracy in the title role.

''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' is a 1931 movie based on the novel ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'' by Creator/RobertLouisStevenson. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian, it stars Creator/FredricMarch in the dual title role, for which he won the only tied UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Actor to date (Creator/WallaceBeery also won that year, for ''Film/TheChamp''). This is notably one of the few screen adaptations to use the correct pronunciation of "Jekyll" (''Jee''-kyll). The film was remade in 1941 starring Creator/SpencerTracy in the title role.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Ivy's last name is spelled Pierson in the credits and Pearson in an in-universe news article.

* GratuitousLaboratoryFlasks: Jekyll's lab features a long table of curly, curvy flasks, beakers and retorts, none of which he does anything with, focusing exclusively on the stuff on his desk at the opposite end of the room. As a bonus, there's a boiling cauldron heating over a fire for some reason.

* RedemptionInTheRain: Inverted as thoroughly as a trope can be inverted, unless one can be redeemed into evil. When Hyde leaves the laboratory for the first time, it's pouring rain. Hyde spreads his arms and turns his face to the rain in obvious joy.

* HappyRain: On his first experience outside, Mr. Hyde happily removes his top hat and feels the rain on his face, even drinking it. This is his first taste of liberation from Jekyll and his rigid world.

* PragmaticAdaptation: Jekyll wasn't the central character of the original story--the story is told from the POV of Mr. Utterson, Jekyll's old friend and lawyer who investigates the mystery. Most of the original story depicts Hyde's actions as being told about instead of shown. The twist ending was revealed in a letter where everything is again told instead of shown. The film instead focuses on depicting Jekyll's dramatic struggle between his two selves and his eventual downfall, since everybody already knew the ending.

''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' is a 1931 movie based on the novel ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'' by Creator/RobertLouisStevenson. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian, it stars Creator/FredricMarch in the dual title role, for which he won the only tied UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Actor to date (Creator/WallaceBeery also won that year, for ''Film/TheChamp''). This is notably one of the few screen adaptations to use the correct pronunciation of "Jekyll" (''Jee''-kyll).

''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' is a 1931 movie based on the novel ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'' by Creator/RobertLouisStevenson. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian, it stars Creator/FredricMarch in the dual title role, for which he won the only tied UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Actor to date (Creator/WallaceBeery also won that year, for ''Film/TheChamp''). This is notably one of the few screen adaptations of the novel to use the correct pronunciation of "Jekyll" (''Jee''-kyll).

''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' is a 1931 movie based on the novel ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'' by Creator/RobertLouisStevenson. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian, it stars Creator/FredricMarch in the dual title role, for which he won the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Actor. This is one of the few screen adaptations of the novel to use the correct pronunciation of "Jekyll" (''Jee''-kyll).

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: This didn't stop March from winning an Oscar.

* {{Fanservice}}: This film predates UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode, and has some racy for its day moments (mostly with Ivy). In the scene where she tries to seduce Jekyll, Creator/MiriamHopkins wears less clothing than any actress would have been allowed to get away with just a few years later. Her frank offer of sexual service in return for protection from Hyde also marks this as a pre-Code film. When this film was re-released in 1936, eight minutes had to be cut to meet the stricter censorship standards.
* GratuitousLaboratoryFlasks: Jekyll's lab features a long table of curly, curvy flasks, beakers and retorts, none of which he does anything with, focusing exclusively on the stuff on his desk at the opposite end of the room. As a bonus, there's a boiling cauldron heating over a fire for some reason. Pretty much ''any'' adaptation of [[Creator/RobertLouisStevenson Stevenson]]'s novel will follow this trope, although the '31 film just has the most gloriously over the top example.

* IdiosyncraticWipes: This film uses what might be described as diagonal wipes, where a wipe starts on either the left-hand side and pivots in a clockwise motion across the scene, or a wipe starts on the bottom of the frame and pivots in a counter-clockwise direction. Just to make it more idiosyncratic, the wipe usually stops in the middle for a little bit, resulting in a diagonal SplitScreen where action is going on in both corners, before restarting and finishing the transition to the new scene.

Henry Jekyll is a well-meaning doctor who believes that man is not one, but two, with good and evil fighting for supremacy. Frustrated emotionally and sexually by a postponement of his marriage to Muriel Carew (Rose Hobart), his colleague Dr. John Lanyon's (Holmes Herbert) skepticism of his theories, and barmaid Ivy Pierson's (Miriam Hopkins) temptations, he ingests a formula that transforms him into the devious Mr. Hyde. Now without any sense of moral restraint, Hyde meets and terrorizes Ivy as he awaits Muriel's return, threatening to kill her if she doesn't do as he commands.

* {{Fanservice}}: This film predates UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode, and has some racy for its day moments (mostly with Ivy). In the scene where she tries to seduce Jekyll, Miriam Hopkins wears less clothing than any actress would have been allowed to get away with just a few years later. Her frank offer of sexual service in return for protection from Hyde also marks this as a pre-Code film. When this film was re-released in 1936, eight minutes had to be cut to meet the stricter censorship standards.

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jekyll_and_hyde_1.jpg]]

* CanonForeigner: Muriel and Ivy.

* CompositeCharacter: Lanyon takes Utterson's role as Jekyll's friend who helps investigate Hyde and Lanyon's role as a skeptical doctor who first sees him transform.

* GratuitousLaboratoryFlasks: Jekyll's lab features a long table of curly, curvy flasks, beakers and retorts, none of which he does anything with, focusing exclusively on the stuff on his desk at the opposite end of the room. As a bonus, there's a boiling cauldron heating over a fire for some reason.