Return to the House of Franklin-Stein! Cindy and Chris kick off their 11th annual Halloween season series with the Oscar-winning 1931 classic, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring Fredric March as the man and the monster within!
From the comic crypt comes Wonder Woman #153 (April 1965) where the Duke of Deception steals Wonder Girl’s face, and replaces it with a monstrous Jekyll/Hyde version! It’s as crazy as it sounds!
Subscribe via iTunes. Or Spotify..
This podcast is a proud member of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK
- Visit our WEBSITE: http://fireandwaterpodcast.com/
- Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fwpodcasts
- Like our FACEBOOK page – https://www.facebook.com/FWPodcastNetwork
- Like our FACEBOOK page – https://www.facebook.com/supermatespodcast
- Use our HASHTAG online: #FWPodcasts
- Email us at supermatespodcast@gmail.com
Clip credits:
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) directed by Rouben Mamoulian
Wonder Woman TV series theme by Charles Fox
“The House of Franklinstein” by Terry O’Malley, of Stop Calling Me Frank https://www.facebook.com/rockSCMF
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
An interesting and fun show, as always. I hate to date myself, but this is actually the time I was reading comics. I guess that probably makes me one of the oldest listeners here. Anyway, it brought back a lot of fond memories for me.
Comicbooks back then cost twelve cents. I guess I had just started reading shortly after they raised the price from ten cents. They usually ran about twenty six pages. But they didn’t have a lot of continuity. Sometimes, even with
in the same series. The Atlantis of Superman looked nothing like the Atlantis of Aquaman or the Atlantis other characters might have run into. The prevailing attitude at DC was that kids probably wouldn’t care.
Then two things started to happen. The former Timely/Atlas Comics rebranded itself as Marvel and decided to bring superhero comics back. They not only brought them back but decided to put most of them in New York City instead of some fictional locale. This allowed writers to have them cross-over easily and created a somewhat cohesive back story.
Secondly, first generation comic fans like Roy Thomas began to gravitate into the comic field with their obsession and nostalgia for the past and how it fit in.
DC ignored this trend as long as they could, but when Marvel started to outsell them, you could see them start to do more cross-overs and tighten their continuity. And that is what led to the mess we have today.
That’s a really good point Hal. I think DC firmly believed comic readers turned over every 4 years or so. They thought they had them from about 8 to 12, and then they were gone. What Marvel was doing appealed to an older crowd. And that crowd demanded that stories matter, and thus…actual continuity! For good or ill.
Yea! The official beginning of the Halloween season is here!
I assumed it was the onslaught of Pumpkin Spice food items, but thank you Jim, that means a lot!
What a treat to have you back, Chris and Cindy (and Craddock and Grundy). It’s bloomin’ years since I’ve seen this version of the story but you can bet I’ll be watching it again soon. Your commentary and insight was great fun, as usual.
I really enjoyed the background on the novel and RLS – my boss starred as the great man in a play at the Edinburgh Fringe a few years ago, played out in one of the posh private gardens in the Georgian New Town. It was terrific, but focused more on how he came to write Treasure Island than The Strange Case…
There’s a street off the Royal Mile, near Edinburgh Castle, called Deacon Brodie’s Close. It’s funny, even though the novel is set in London, I always picture Hyde stalking the narrow alleys of Edinburgh.
Congratulations on insisting on the proper pronunciation of Jekyll! When I was a kid I’d spend at least a week every year on the island of Lindisfarne, off the North East coast (see Arak #1), it was my Poconos. I was always excited to see there was a special garden there with a plaque saying it was designed by Gertrude Jekyll. You should visit!
I’ve read a fair few Wonder Woman stories from the Silver Age, though this was new to me. Robert Kanigher’s view of courtship was weird, disturbing. Merboy, Birdboy, Steve Trevor – every one of them was contemptible. The little free floating not-yet-Donna head is the stuff of nightmares.
So far as modern takes on the story go, did you ever see the BBC mini-series Jekyll from 2007, written by Steven Moffat and starring James Nesbitt? I rather liked it.
Lidisfarne sounds like a wonderful place to visit, Martin. We can all sit on the front porch, read comics and sip our Scotish equivalent of Yoo-Hoos!
I haven’t seen the BBC series, but now I definitely want to. We came into Doctor Who during the Moffat era, so I’m guessing we would dig it!
Partway through, but enjoying it.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde seems like the perfect story for pre-Code Hollywood to make, and in 1931, they did, not omitting its darkly sexual elements. It’s even shocking at times. Miriam Hopkins really sells the terror as she becomes the target of Hyde’s mental, physical, and yes, sexual abuse. Along with a number of interesting camera work and editing – though I don’t think the long POV shots really work – the film uses make-up and lighting to create the transformations (looks amazing) before going full caveman on Fredric March. But March doesn’t just let the make-up do the work, he gives Hyde tics and mannerisms all his own. I’m used to werewolf movies trying to allegorize themselves into this space, but this is much more effective and troubling. Hyde is still a man, and Jekyll remembers what he did as his darker self. Remove the pseudo-science element, and you have a man who abuses a common mistress even as he courts an angelic socialite, with the abuser’s self-serving remorse that comes with it, but it doesn’t change the man (as per his failed promise to Hopkins’ character). Dark, dark stuff.
Yes, I think other versions tend to make a definite split between Jekyll and Hyde, but Hyde here is a device for Jekyll to basically get his freak on. He regrets some of the thing he does, but doesn’t want to stop until it’s far too late.
After a little research, I think it was the 1941 Spencer Tracy version of Jekyll and Hyde that terrified me as a 5-7 year-old after seeing it one Saturday afternoon on “Shock Theatre”. The appearance of Hyde’s Face during the closing credits hinted that he wasn’t really dead and could possibly jump out from the screen. Needless to say, after I woke my parents up that night so that they could reassure me that he was not “hyde-ing” (sorry couldn’t resist) in my closet or under my bed, I was not allowed to watch “Shock Theatre” for several weeks.
The whole “Wonder Woman is Wonder Girl is Wonder Tot, but they all are separate characters” deal is always just bonkers. And yes, Merboy and Birdboy may actually be creepier than Hyde himself.
I had a similar experience with Lon Chaney’s Wolf Man, but I think I’ve covered that so much, no one wants to hear it again!
Despite this Hyde being a REALLY nasty guy, I think I’d rather endure a few mintues with him over spending any time with Birdbrain and Merboy!
TCM routinely plays this on the channel for people looking to see it. And yes, there are dark themes here. It is funny how this truly embodies the old line ‘in olden day a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking’. That metronome-like swinging of the leg is completely shows how she mesmerizes the horny Jekyll into drinking something experimental. This is the superior version – the makeup stuff certainly holds up.
I am going to pitch that you cover the Spencer Tracy one next year to compare/contrast. While the sexual tones are suppressed, there is a lot more odd dream sequences like Tracy having Lana Turner and Ingrid Bergman yoked like horses while he beats them – in some ways even more lurid. And Bergman is completely shattered in that movie, a great performance.
Great to be back in the House!
We might cover the Tracy version at some point. We’ve covered plenty of Draculas, that’s for sure! it would be interesting to note the differences, but we may wait a few years so we give it a fair shake too. and not compare it TOO much.
Welcome back Grundy!
It’s stunning to me that the 1931 Jekyll movie is, basically, STILL the definitive cinematic version of this story! There have been how many big budget Dracula, Frankenstein and Wolf Man movies over the years, but not really any notable modern takes on Jekyll/Hyde? Considering the source material is out of copyright, that’s amazing. I didn’t know any of the back story on Stevenson, and how the novella features no women at all. As you mention, the original, pre-code movie is pretty saucy for 1931 (you even see Miriam Hopkins’ naked breast at one point!), and then those spoilsport Hayes Code tight asses took their scissors to it.
Thanks for the Fade Out mention re: March. I’ve been such a big fan of his for decades. It’s fun to consider that the two most famous on screen Dr Jekylls, March and Spencer Tracy, squared off in INHERIT THE WIND.
That Wonder Woman comic sounds like it broke you two mid-recording, which made for a fun listen. I think when it came to the Duke of Deception Who’s Who listing, his history was so convoluted the editors just sort of shrugged and said, “Eh, good enough. It’s just a half page.”
The last true, big budget version I can think of is Mary Reily, with Julia Roberts and John Malkovich as Jekyll/Hyde, but that’s not a true adaptation, either. He’s shown up in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Van Helsing and The Mummy, but I didn’t care for any of those takes, really, March still has the title of best Jekyll/Hyde nearly 100 years later!
Yeah, that WW comic was definitely the wildest one we’ve covered here, and I don’t think we were prepared for it!
RE the kid every victorian story needs a tiny tim, Believe the guy in a wheelchair who took two years of drama in high school. Leading too “for the love god I CAN SING you know!
I hadn’t thought of the “Tiny Tim” angle. And very sorry your roles were limited. That’s just not right.
that’s ok! I tranfered to choir!
Good on you!
I always enjoy House of Franklin-Stein, both the movie and the superhero story. I remember that Dark Shadows did a Jekyll and Hyde storyline toward the end of its run, although I don’t remember that storyline too well.
Yeah that Wonder Woman story definitely sounds “zany.” I like that you played the opening theme from the TV series that includes the sound effects for her jumping and twirl explosion. I love those types of sound effects in 1970s series like Wonder Woman and the bionic shows.
Yes, Dark Shadows indeed had a Jekyll/Hyde storyline with Christopher Pennock portraying the meek Cyrus Longworth, and the Hyde-like John Yaeger.
I always love the sound effects in opening themes. To me their part of the song!
The 1812 Overture can include cannon fire. This sound effects in songs are valid — even canon, you might say.
“This” should have been “thus.”
Good point, Captain!
I’m thrilled to have the Franklins back, especially in HoF form! I had no idea this movie existed, and I am richer for all you two taught me about it. Half of that is also true for the Wonder Woman comic — maybe more than half, ’cause I certainly appreciate the Bronze Age more now. Anyway, great episode as always! Thank you!
Thanks for listening, Captain! And glad to spread the knowledge and love about the March version of Jekyll and Hyde. It really is the gold standard!
Good to see the House is back! I’ve never been a big horror guy, but I really enjoy Cindy and Chris deep diving into these classic horror flicks. The Hyde makeup and design was incredible. I love the look. Hyde is definitely in my top 5 villains who wear a top hat and cane. Though the story was ridiculous, Ross Andru was ahead of his time working in perspective and unique camera angles. It doesn’t always work, but I respect the early efforts. Great show!
Now I want to know the other four villains in your Top 5 in top hat and cane. The Gentleman Ghost better be on there, or we’ll never hear the end of it!
Andru doesnt’ get enough credit for how dynamic his art ALWAYS was. He was pushing things forward, for sure! Thanks for listening!
Favorite Bad Guys in Top Hat and Cane (must have both, so no Penguin, Ringmaster, Mad Hatter, etc..)
1. Gentleman Ghost
2. Scrooge
3. Baron Samedi (Live and Let Die)
4. Hyde
5. Shade
Great list!
dark shadow did almost “long running superhero comic” level of using every fantasy Trope if listen very carefully there is/was a dead unicorn somewhere
Yes, I believe that came up in the Count Pertofi storyline.
it sure did count petifofi traded his unicorn to astride(satan guy) for power
Been trying to figure out if I saw some adaptation of the story as a kid, or just picked it up through cultural osmosis. The furthest back I can trace it is as a mid-teen seeing “The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll” (with whatever edits were needed to make a Hammer film appropriate for afternoon TV). Of the b&w classics, I accidentally saw them in order: Barrymore on a dollar DVD, March on TCM, and Tracy this last Halloween.
About Spencer Tracy: he’s a stockier fellow than March, and there’s a scene where he’s fighting his way through a crowd after having run over a street urchin. That was the image that struck me as the hulkier Mr. Hyde like the Marvel villian, or like Tweety Pie turns into with a drop of the formula. I wonder how successfully MGM suppressed the rest, and how much Tracy was the default Hyde for the ’40s through the early ’60s.
I appreciate the more obscure comics reference to J&H. Even pre-Crisis, DC’s Earth was a patchwork place. One thing that could’ve been carried over from the Golden Age was the sway of the god Mars over the planet Mars, but only Wonder Woman detects it. Although I doubt she ever took their conflict to the average martian-in-the-street…
“The Duke of Deception–he’s lying to you!”
“What? What would make you say that?”
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll is an odd one. I finally got to see it a few years back. Definitely a different twist on the Jekyll/Hyde dynamic, and it gives Christopher Lee a chance to play a supporting role to mix up his Hammer resume. Incredibly hedonistic given the time it was released!
As for Tracy being the default Hyde, I assume March had reclaimed the title by the 60s, because Aurora’s model kit of Jekyll changing into Hyde is clearly based on his intepretation.
Yeah, with the Duke, his untrustyworthiness is right there in his title!