ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1953)
Onwards I plod towards the completion of this blog series on the Universal Classic Horror films, started in 2008. This third "Abbot and Costello meet the monsters" installment is perhaps the most simple, primitive installment so far--and also I think it is my favorite.
Compared to MEET FRANKESTEIN (1948) and MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN (1951), the supporting characters are cardboard cutouts. There is a square-jawed newspaperman hero who falls immediately in love with the pretty ingenue, with little definition to either character and even less shared chemistry. You can tell the impetus for their relationship comes from reading about it on the script pages. Yet it is precisely the social and relationship "comedy" surrounding the supporting cast which I find so insufferable in the earlier films; I cannot be reconciled to the paternalism and classism passed off as humorousness, falling inevitably flat as a board. This movie has a different project. Boris Karloff plays Dr. Jekyll exactly as a evil mad scientist murdering maniac, ready to stop at nothing to protect his secrets and ravish his own ward. He has a couple of monologues which are worth the price of admission. The haste at which Jekyll's ward resolve to marry the newspaperman unfolds manifests as if to say this mercurial world of betrothals and romance is the world filled with artifice, while the true reality (and certainly the interest of the filmmakers) lives in Dr. Jekyll's laboratory filled with bubbling vials and rabbits mind-swapped with dogs, overseen by Jekyll's hulking murderous henchman Batley. The cinematography prefigures the visual sensibility of SCOOBY DOO, WHERE ARE YOU! (1969-1970) with long shadows and creepy rooftops and secret passages. It is the impressionism of THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920) translated into cartoon form. There are sequences in a wax museum full of monsters, back stage at a cabaret, and at a suffragette rally.
Suffragettes? Yes, the scene is England in the 1920s, before women were granted the right to vote in 1928. It's interesting that this film feels so free to lampoon the women's rights movement, as if the film were made in a much earlier era. It would seem that in 1953 the values behind women's suffrage had not yet caught on. The hero says frankly that he doesn't support the franchise for women at the start of the picture, and to the extent he changes his mind by the end it is evidently for the purpose of wooing the young lady playing triple duty as a political activist, showgirl, and mad scientist's ward.
I am inclined to say that by looking at its world through such a funhouse mirror, ABBOT AND CONSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE sees the truth of the world more clearly than its predecessors. But its skewed view is probably just more to my taste. Through artifice is artifice exposed and revealed. Abbott and Costello themselves have a smaller role in this picture and mostly stick to slapstick humor, which to my sensibility ages better than the humor found in the earlier installments.
As far as Mr. Hyde--you've got to love a monster who, before leaving his home, makes sure to collect his top hat and cane. Every time he hides his face behind his cape, he gets more delicious.
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K
Compared to MEET FRANKESTEIN (1948) and MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN (1951), the supporting characters are cardboard cutouts. There is a square-jawed newspaperman hero who falls immediately in love with the pretty ingenue, with little definition to either character and even less shared chemistry. You can tell the impetus for their relationship comes from reading about it on the script pages. Yet it is precisely the social and relationship "comedy" surrounding the supporting cast which I find so insufferable in the earlier films; I cannot be reconciled to the paternalism and classism passed off as humorousness, falling inevitably flat as a board. This movie has a different project. Boris Karloff plays Dr. Jekyll exactly as a evil mad scientist murdering maniac, ready to stop at nothing to protect his secrets and ravish his own ward. He has a couple of monologues which are worth the price of admission. The haste at which Jekyll's ward resolve to marry the newspaperman unfolds manifests as if to say this mercurial world of betrothals and romance is the world filled with artifice, while the true reality (and certainly the interest of the filmmakers) lives in Dr. Jekyll's laboratory filled with bubbling vials and rabbits mind-swapped with dogs, overseen by Jekyll's hulking murderous henchman Batley. The cinematography prefigures the visual sensibility of SCOOBY DOO, WHERE ARE YOU! (1969-1970) with long shadows and creepy rooftops and secret passages. It is the impressionism of THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920) translated into cartoon form. There are sequences in a wax museum full of monsters, back stage at a cabaret, and at a suffragette rally.
Suffragettes? Yes, the scene is England in the 1920s, before women were granted the right to vote in 1928. It's interesting that this film feels so free to lampoon the women's rights movement, as if the film were made in a much earlier era. It would seem that in 1953 the values behind women's suffrage had not yet caught on. The hero says frankly that he doesn't support the franchise for women at the start of the picture, and to the extent he changes his mind by the end it is evidently for the purpose of wooing the young lady playing triple duty as a political activist, showgirl, and mad scientist's ward.
I am inclined to say that by looking at its world through such a funhouse mirror, ABBOT AND CONSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE sees the truth of the world more clearly than its predecessors. But its skewed view is probably just more to my taste. Through artifice is artifice exposed and revealed. Abbott and Costello themselves have a smaller role in this picture and mostly stick to slapstick humor, which to my sensibility ages better than the humor found in the earlier installments.
As far as Mr. Hyde--you've got to love a monster who, before leaving his home, makes sure to collect his top hat and cane. Every time he hides his face behind his cape, he gets more delicious.
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K