"Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde"

by Richard J. Anobile

Book by Anobile, Richard J.

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1975

About the author

Anobile pioneered the use of the movie frame blow-up technique to recreate entire films in book form. His books were valuable resources especially in a time before VCR's and DVD's and the internet. While they might be viewed as simplistic picture books now, they were an attempt at curating film at a time when it was often still an after-thought. Anobile has spent much of the rest of his life in film production.

Reviews

[Anthony McGill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent reconstruction in book form of an old Hollywood classic.
Not the first and not the last version of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 acclaimed mystery novel "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

The 1932 film was the first sound version and won Fredric March his first Academy Award for Best Actor - shared in a tie* with Wallace Beery for "The Champ."
The film was also nominated for Best Screenplay (Adaptation) and for Best Cinematography (Karl Struss) and was directed by the famous Broadway director Rouben Mamoulian for Paramount Pictures. March's co-stars were Miriam Hopkins and Rose Hobart.

The editor has done a fantastic job in reconstructing this film via 1600 frame by frame blowups (very clear images), complete with every word of dialogue as originally spoken.

Although this series in the Film Classics Library were produced before we film buffs had the luxury of watching the film at our leisure on VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray or on a streaming service, there is more than enough pleasure in revisiting this film in this wonderful book format. If you love the film, it's a treasure to relive it in this unique fashion.

"So grab your popcorn and clutch the hand of the one next to you, and prepare to go back to Victorian London, and the all-time horrifying adventure of the leap into the darkest chasm of man's character."

* March and Beery both received the 1931-32 Oscar although March scored one more vote. Academy rules at the time stated that duplicate Awards were to be given when any contender came within three votes of a winner on the final ballot.

Trivia highlights from the American Film Institute Catalog: Mamoulian had thirty-five historically-correct sets built for the film's 216 scenes. including eight adjoining scenic sets. He directed eighty-one actors and five hundred extras.
Robert Louis Stevenson, nephew of the author, appeared in the film as an extra, reportedly because he could speak with a cockney accent.
The Hays Office objected to some scenes and lines of "suggestive" dialogue. In the 1935 re-release further cuts were made.

Review based on Darien House/Universe Books (New York) hardcover edition, 1975. 256 pages.

[Frankenoise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now this is a book I happened to find by accident and it is the 1932 movie. Doing some research they only did 10 other movies. Psycho, Maltese Falcon and Frankenstein being the only three of interest to me. Anyway, this is a book you don't really read as its basically just blow up frames of the whole movie laid out with text under some of the images when the actors spoke. We're taking over 1,500 frames and all the dialog is there too. There's even a missing scene that was cut from the film but put in this book, at least it was missing when the book was printed in 1975. A great coffee table book and if you see one of these pick it up!

[Alexandra Freire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una forma curiosa de conocer la historia de Dr. Jekyll y Mr. Hyde, a través de este libro de fotogramas de la película con Fredric March en el rol doble protagónico.
Amo a este hombre, y esta historia, lo llevó a ser ganador de su primer Óscar!
Otra joyita para mi colección de March y otro libro de 5 estrellas

[J. Gaudet · Rating 5 out of 5]

The whole series provided a way to study a classic frame by frame before computers.