Showing posts sorted by relevance for query abbott and costello meet Dr. Jekyll. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query abbott and costello meet Dr. Jekyll. Sort by date Show all posts

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1953)

I'm a monster Abbott and Costello fan, but in comparison to some of their other "Meets" flicks, I have to say that "Abbott And Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde" is kind of weak, but it's still probably better than 90% of the other dreck out there, and would make a great addition to any Halloween party!!

London, Wow! What a sight at night!

Surely I don't have to explain the story of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde" to you!! It's really a moot point as this is a very loose interpretation anyway, and, I know, don't call you Shirley!

The uncredited stock music was literally created by composers from A to B, starting with Daniele Amfitheatrof and going all the way to Eric Zeisl, with Joseph Dubin, Johnny Green, Henry Mancini, Hans J. Salter, Walter Scharf, Walter Schumann, Frank Skinner, Herman Stein, and Leith Stevens in between! What an amazing array of talent!!

For some stupid reason, women want to be able to vote!! It's not like the men are making any reasonable decisions anyway!! Welcome to the Universal version of Suffragette City!

So they've got to do whatever they can to get through to this group of dunderheads! Looks like drinkin' on the streets was legal back then just like Las Vegas today!!

So how do you get a bunch of drunk guy's attention?? Show 'em some leg!!

A small riot breaks out, and the ladies really show everybody why they deserve the right to vote!

Boris Karloff looks fantastic in the role of Dr. Jekyll!

The transformation to Mr. Hyde mask (Eddie Parker, not Boris) was created by the genius of Milicent Patrick, the woman who was also responsible for the actual creation of the "Creature From The Black Lagoon" mask! Her boss was one of the busiest guys in Hollywood, with 533 titles to his credit, Mr. Bud Westmore! There's not too many people you can tie in with a group of above and beyond classic characters like "Monster On The Campus," "Creature From The Black Lagoon," "The Mole People," and "The Munsters," but the name Bud Westmore brings them all together in a big way, and Oh, did I forget "This Island Earth," "Tarantula," and "The Leech Woman" etc. etc. etc???

All the action is down at the Jubilee Music Hall, where the same gal who was leading the charge in the Suffrage Movement was also the star of the show as Vicky Edwards and the Jubilee Dancing Girls! Vicky, of course, is also the ward of the kindly gentleman Dr. Jekyll!!

Vicky was played by the mesmerizing Helen Westcott, whose first movie was at the age of 6, and when she was about 20, she was in a movie called "13 Lead Soldiers," then after quite a few westerns etc, she went on to be in classics "The Invisible Avenger," and "Monster On The Campus," and she was Lillian Pope in the 1964 "Twilight Zone" episode "You Drive!"

Vicky and the dancers weren't the only act on the bill, there's sure no way to forget about Carmen De Lavallade as the Javanese Actress! Carmen was still working up til about two years ago!

Another monster super genius, not always credited, and working more in the background most of the time, Jack Kevan had a whole lot to do with creating the look of many of them monsters, sometimes even more than Bud Westmore himself! It's just that Bud Westmore was the top guy, so he always got credit!!

Introducing our heroes, detectives Slim and Tubby, aka Abbott and Costello!

They know there are monstrous murders going on, so Tubby accidently gets the bejeezus scared out of him by the masked Henry Corden as the male Javanese actor! Henry went on to do a buttload of cartoon voices in shows like "Johnny Quest," "Atom Ant," and "Josie and the Pussycats," and after the original voice of Fred Flintstone, Alan Reed died in 1977, Henry did Fred Flintstone's voice in all the cartoons and specials that came after, all the way until 2000!

Quite an impressive mask!!

The Wax Museum scenes are pretty cool!

It's the old cat in the hat trick, but in this case, it's a cat in a wax head!!

After a long chase, Tubby finally traps Mr. Hyde in this cell right as he is converting back to Dr. Jekyll!

Of course Slim can't believe that his partner would accuse the kindly doctor of such devious behaviour, and Tubby is beside himself in disbelief!!

6'6" John Dierkes is Batley, Dr. Jekyll's assistant! Besides tons of westerns and TV, spooky looking John had a nice run in the mid-60's in "Premature Burial, "The Raven," "The Haunted Palace," and "X:The Man With The X-Ray Eyes!"

Tubby gets a shot of serum and turns into a giant mouse!!

Nobody seems to notice except these two drunks at the bar!!

Classic shot of Tubby and Mr. Hyde!!

Tubby gets it in The End!!

And before the serum wears off, Tubby bites four more police officers and turns them all into Hyde Monsters!

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

OVER A 100 YEARS OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE VARIATIONS!

"Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde" was written by Robert Lewis Stevenson and published in 1886. In the upcoming years after that, the movie making business was just getting started, and the strange story of Dr. Jekyll was a popular subject. As far as I can tell, the first filmed version of "Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde"was in 1908 starring Hobart Bosworth! It was followed by more films in 1910 with Alwin Neuß in the lead role, 1912 starring James Cruze, and in 1913, two versions, one with King Baggot as the star, and one with Murdock MacQuarrie as the good Doctor with a split personality! What a bunch of household names today! Makes it real clear how fickle fame really is! But the ongoing tales of Dr. Jekyll didn't really get going until.....


The 1931 version starring Frederick March was a monsterpiece!
Who or what was the greatest monster of all time in the movies? Here are the choices, and you have to consider the variations like "Son of..." and "Cousin of....," Frankenstein, Dracula and/or any vampire variation, a Lycanthrope, a Mummified person, somebody Invisible, or the Doctor with a severe disorder when he drinks too much?
I think Dr. Jekyll is right up there at the top of the list!

I'm not going to attempt to list all the Dr. Jekyll movies, but here's a group of interesting variations I have compiled. This 1941 version starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, and Lana Turner, probably had the most star power of them all!

So in 1951, Dr. Jekyll managed to have a son. Happy Mother's Day!

In 1953, Abbott and  Costello met "Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde," as they had previously with Frankenstein and The Invisible Man, and after this, they would also meet The Mummy!

 In 1957 it was revealed that Dr. Jekyll not only had a son, but a daughter too!

Hammer Studios came out with a comic variation called THE UGLY DUCKLING in 1959!
Just for the record, this movie is impossible to find today as far as I can tell in any way, shape, or form!

 Also in 1959, Jean Renoir's "Le Testament Du Docteur Cordelier" aka "THE DOCTOR'S HORRIBLE EXPERIMENT came out, and it might be the last serious version for quite a while!

  The nerdy Jerry Lewis Dr. Jekyll turns into rico suave Mr. Hyde in the 1963 version called "The Nutty Professor" (which was remade in itself in the 1996 Eddie Murphy version)!

In 1964, influenced by bad grades and nicotine, The Bitsko Brothers filmed their short version in 8 millimeter! Seen by only a handful of people, all footage is lost forever!

 
 
More family woes, first the brother, then the daughter, and now the sister! "Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde" escaped from the loony bin in 1971!
This one gets both a poster and a lobby card because Martine Beswick is in it!

 
 Let no angle be unturned, in 1976, they came out with "Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde" starring Bernie Casey! Killer Poster from Thailand I think!

 DOTTOR JEKYLL E GENTILE SIGNORA (Doctor Jekyll Likes Them Hot) was directed by Steno, and came out in 1979! Edwige Fenech has all the angles in this one!

 DR. HECKLE and MR. HYPE (1980)
I've never seen this one, and I'm not really sure I want to, even though I'm a huge Oliver Reed fan!
I mean it is supposed to be "Horribly Hilarious!"

There have been many many many more versions made over the years like this 1995 comedy, many Warner Brothers cartoons, TV shows as varied as Dobie Gillis, The Dukes Of Hazard, and The Partridge Family, and why not? "Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde" is a classic tale of the inner struggles of good and bad and dark and light! It's pretty freakin' simple, and until deemed politically incorrect, will continue until there are only two people left, and then they get into a fight!

Monday, July 15, 2013

DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE / Paramount Pictures - 1931

It's another Monsterous Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. This story by Robert Louis Stevenson has created some thrilling moments in the cinema, with titles like DER JANUSKOPH (1920), DR. PYCKLE AND MR. PRYDE (1925), ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL, SON OF DR. JEKYLL, DAUGHTER OF DR. JEKYLL, THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL, DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE, including Eegah!! and Tabonga's lost 8mm comedy horror masterpiece from 1959, DR. HEKYLL AND MR. JYDE! This great looking 1931 film had an incredible $1,140,000 budget!!

Eegah!! sent over this soundclip from the movie for our listening enjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the smoking lab beaker, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE!

Dr. Jekyll lives a charmed life, besides being a famous doctor, he gives lectures and is an accomplished pianist!

And, he's got the perfect girlfriend (soon to be fiance), so, what could possibly go wrong?..

Being a good doctor, he helps a damsel in distress who has hurt her leg by carrying her up to her room.

Ivy, the local barfly, flirts with the doc by tossing her garters in front of him before she gets naked under the covers! The fun ends there when the doctor's friend walks in on them.

If this isn't a great shot, then, I guess I don't know what a great shot is!

Welp, here's mud in yer eyeball!

I swear, when I was watching some of the transformation scenes, I kept having flashes of Jerry Lewis in THE NUTTY PROFESSOR!

The first thing Hyde does is go to the bar and have a drink. Lucky for him, Ivy shows up there, unlucky for Ivy, he blackmails her into being his lover!

Not knowing he's also Hyde, Ivy goes to the doctor and shows him the marks on her back from her sexual encounter with the wild man. Jekyll makes a promise to himself that he will never use the potion again.

Then it happens, he doesn't need the potion, now, he can change into Hyde through his own emotional stress. He shows up at Ivy's place and kills her!

He proves to his friend that it's really Henry Jekyll under all that makeup by transforming back into him!

But, the genie's out of the bottle and Hyde sets his sights on his next victim, Jekyll's beloved fiance!

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??