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Dec. 5th, 2005 09:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thewingedwordA few nights ago, some station was having a special on horror movie makeup, so they played Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera and a Jekyll and Hyde starring Frederic March. I missed PotO, but taped J&H and just watched it.
My impulse, after seeing the first transformation, was to laugh. Hyde looked like a jittery caveman in a tophat; at the very most, more like a werewolf than a darkly evil human. And he taught me that if I became ultimate evil, the first thing I would do is try to catch a raindrop on my tongue- then, to cross the street after looking both ways- then, to go view some dinner theater- and after all of that, go find a hooker.
The hooker, Ivy, was a quite good actress, actually; the scenes with her and Hyde were very powerful and disturbing despite his cheesy makeup. They actually managed to convey that he'd done things to her, tortured her worse than just making her eat cheese whiz and watch 'my little pony' all day. The whip marks were interesting. One scene caught my attention; he was killing her, strangling her slowly, and as her screams died away his voice was soft despite the cheap-horror scratchiness. "There, there, my little beauty, my little bride," he whispered, "is not Hyde a lover after your own heart?"
I can't remember the exact wording, but it was... interesting, to say the least.
The scene where his love, Muriel (I think of Courage the Cowardly Dog) had his head cradled in her arms and said something like "Rest, my tortured love," sounded familiar. I can't imagine why.
The acting was occasionally cheesy, special effects laughable, camera work often blurry or jerky- but it was worth watching by far.
My impulse, after seeing the first transformation, was to laugh. Hyde looked like a jittery caveman in a tophat; at the very most, more like a werewolf than a darkly evil human. And he taught me that if I became ultimate evil, the first thing I would do is try to catch a raindrop on my tongue- then, to cross the street after looking both ways- then, to go view some dinner theater- and after all of that, go find a hooker.
The hooker, Ivy, was a quite good actress, actually; the scenes with her and Hyde were very powerful and disturbing despite his cheesy makeup. They actually managed to convey that he'd done things to her, tortured her worse than just making her eat cheese whiz and watch 'my little pony' all day. The whip marks were interesting. One scene caught my attention; he was killing her, strangling her slowly, and as her screams died away his voice was soft despite the cheap-horror scratchiness. "There, there, my little beauty, my little bride," he whispered, "is not Hyde a lover after your own heart?"
I can't remember the exact wording, but it was... interesting, to say the least.
The scene where his love, Muriel (I think of Courage the Cowardly Dog) had his head cradled in her arms and said something like "Rest, my tortured love," sounded familiar. I can't imagine why.
The acting was occasionally cheesy, special effects laughable, camera work often blurry or jerky- but it was worth watching by far.
