As I’ve blogged about a couple of times, the Victorian stage scripts adapting Jekyll and Hyde had a huge influence on subsequent adaptations. The two scripts I read this week are noteworthy in that they don’t stick as closely to that template as the Richard Abbott script reviewed at the link does.
As H. Leonard Cuddy’s JEKYLL AND HYDE has a large role for a maid (an unhappy one, raped in one scene, murdered later) I’d assumed Cuddy was influenced by Mary Reilly but no, this came out in 1981.
Jekyll here has the radical belief that intelligence and character aren’t something born into us: all our brains as bodily organs are equal in ability but education and social status leads to us burying a lot of it. This annoys both Dr. Lanyon and his niece Celestine — is Jekyll seriously suggesting that his uncouth new maid isn’t innately and obviously inferior to Celestine? Despite which Jekyll and Celestine become engaged in the “well, I guess you’ll do” matter of fact way some people apparently did back then. Unfortunately Jekyll’s experiments in unearthing what’s buried go in unanticipated directions … interesting.
In the introduction to his DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE script, playwright David Edgar admits he wanted to get back to Stevenson but instead found himself borrowing from later adaptations, including a maid inspired by Mary Reilly. Edgar’s script does restore Jekyll to bachelorhood but gives him a sister who represents the “new woman” of the late 19th century, the kind of independent, quasi-feminist woman he believes Stevenson’s sausage-fest of a novel was responding to. The story that results didn’t do much for me but like Cuddy’s, it’s an interesting variation on its theme (I’ve no idea how I’d respond to either of them were I not knee deep in Jekyll and Hyde thoughts). And I did find Edgar’s discussion of casting interesting: originally he’d chosen two men to play Jekyll and Hyde but he concluded the audience wants the tour-de-force of seeing one man assay both roles.
As the Bill Bixby Hulk TV show wound down, NBC launched THE INCREDIBLE HULK (1982) as a Saturday morning cartoon. It strongly resembles the Hulk’s Silver Age run in Tales to Astonish: in between the Hulk clobbering various threats (Doctor Octopus, Spymaster) Bruce Banner struggles to keep his identity secret with Rick Jones’ help, while fellow scientist and girlfriend Betty Ross wonders where Bruce keeps disappearing to.
It’s adequate but uninspired compared to the X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons of the 1990s. It’s distinctive in making Betty a scientist years before the MCU (in comics she was Bruce’s Girlfriend, General Ross’s daughter, nothing more) and showing her as capable in other ways: in the final episode, when she’s convinced the Hulk has killed Bruce, she goes after him like an avenging fury.
It’s also interesting that “Origin of the Hulk” has all the visuals of the gamma bomb test from the comics but they never spell out that the gamma-ray device Bruce is testing was a weapon. Nuclear testing no longer being cool, it’s the closest anyone’s come to using the comics origin on either the big or the small screen. And finally this gives us She-Hulk’s first screen appearance, though not a memorable one. “Looks like you captured a stuffed gorilla!”
The first season of THE INCREDIBLE HULK (1996) has a stronger voice cast (Neal McDonough as Bruce, Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk, Genie Francis as Betty, Cree Summer as Jennifer “She-Hulk” Walters and Matt Frewer as the Leader) and draws more on the Bronze Age when Hulk (created this time by a gamma-powered engine exploding) was restlessly wandering all over the country, pursued by General Ross’s Hulkbusters. Betty is once again a scientist (I’m surprised they never retconned this take into the MU) and we have a huge array of guest stars including Thor, Iron Man and Ghost Rider. A much more entertaining show and She-Hulk’s personality shows how much she improved since her debut: where Bruce is unleashing his buried rage, she unleashes Jennifer’s buried swagger and sense of fun. “Totally irrelevant, Gargoyle — you know I don’t do gratitude.”
BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING (1932) is a Jean Renoir film in which a bourgeousie bookstore owner saves a tramp from going down, takes him into his home, then both of them and the businessman’s family have to adjust. It’s a quirky, cynical little comedy of manners, much better than the more pretentious American remake Down and Out in Beverly Hills. However it does not shed as much light as I thought on Renoir’s later The Testament of Dr. Cordelier. “He spat in Balzac! He respects nothing!”
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1945) is a vast improvement over Oscar Wilde’s tedious book, though it wasn’t quite what I was in the mood for relaxing after Thanksgiving dinner. George Sanders as Wotton tosses off Wilde’s epigrams, convincing young Dorian (Hurd Hatfield) that nothing is more important than staying young — which Dorian proceeds to do, even as his soul ages from sins such as driving singer Angela Lansbury to suicide and then moving on to innocent Donna Reed. Hatfield’s increasingly flattened affect as the film progresses becomes increasingly creepy. “The only different between a caprice and a life-long passion is that a caprice lasts longer.”
Somehow I never wrote about the Mexican film PACTO DIABOLICO (1969) in which John Carradine uses his deceased friend Dr. Jekyll’s research as the basis for a youth potion so that he’ll never have to worry about someone taking over his research and getting all the glory after he dies. Wouldn’t you know, there are A Few Side Effects, such as gouging out women’s eyes and dressing in a top hat and cape even as Carradine turns into a beastman?
At least, I think that’s what’s going on — whether from subtlety or sloppiness they never spell out clearly that Carradine’s using Jekyll’s chemical theories, so first time through I was a lot more confused. Not the worst movie I’ve watched for Jekyll and Hyde but not particularly good either. “The time has come for a supreme, inevitable meeting with destiny!”
We had to change things up from last year because the cats’ litter boxes sit where we normally put the tree. With a little rearranging of the living room, sticking it near the French doors worked out well.
TYG bought a lot of bird ornaments for the tree, some of which are visible in the photo. I think the weirdest one is the vulture.
Snowdrop was not at all happy with this big thing we brought into the house. He went and hid upstairs in the master bedroom.
This was a productive week. My brain is in high gear working on Jekyll and Hyde, the kind of intense state where I have a hard time getting up from the computer to exercise, stretch, etc. Which I regret after a few hours but I need that intensity to finish the book. I got a lot of polishing done this week, as well as some research reading and watching the 1982 and 1996 Incredible Hulk cartoons.
Over at The Local Reporter I wrote about Carrboro’s downtown plan, profiled outgoing council member Randee Haven-O’Donnell and a Saturday event marking the day the Thirteenth Amendment ended legal slavery (though as the article notes, some people found a workaround). At Atomic Junkshop I looked back at the mystery of why, after 18 months without buying comics, I suddenly picked up Teen Titans #32 (cover by Nick Cardy).
I also looked at how the sword-and-sorcery genre in Bronze Age comics did not begin with DC’s Nightmaster.
If Denny O’Neil’s writing were as cool as that Joe Kubert cover, perhaps it would have.
That’s my week. As usual these posts are less memorable when things are going well. I’m okay with that.
As chronicled in Jekyll and Hyde Dramatized, when Richard Mansfield brought his stage adaptation of Stevenson’s novel to England, one David Bandmann whipped up a mockbuster version starring himself. It violated copyright and Stevenson’s people got it shut down fast.
One of the things I’ve picked up on that most books haven’t is that an 1897 adaptation by Luella Forepaugh and George Fish is a direct knockoff of Bandmann’s script, whether authorized or plagiarized. It was more successful though, cutting out some of the worst parts of Bandmann (the choir of adorable moppets singing) and would be the basis for multiple silent films. It’s influence is substantial.
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE by Richard Abbott is a 1941 adaptation that appears to owe a lot to the Bandmann/Forepaugh-Fish version, including a comic-relief Irish cook, Hyde declaring that he enjoys attacking helpless women and children and a similar arrangement for changing Jekyll to Hyde. That said, Abbott does chart his own path on some things, such as an emphasis on the age gap between Jekyll and his lady love. It’s still being performed in the 21st century, but I find it slow, tedious and talky. One element that didn’t transfer from stage to film is Sir Danvers Carew’s daughter demanding Jekyll help capture Hyde (the movies shifted Carew’s death to the end of the story so there’s less time for that).
AMERICANS AGAINST THE CITY: Anti-Urbanism in the Twentieth Century by Steven Conn looks at how Americans a little over a century ago began grappling with the idea that the majority of the population was now urban, an unsettling thought for a country that defined Real Americans as living in small towns and on farms, not wage slaves and drones living in the big city. Plus cities were dysfunctional in a lot of ways — slums, corrupt political machines, immigrants, how could they possibly be the heart of America?
The initial response from early 20th century progressives was to fix the cities: better government, slum clearance, parks, education (the swimming pool controversies of Contested Waters fit right in). This proved a tougher task than expected, leading to counter-arguments that the solution was to support authentic rural lifestyles as the real America, or to build new towns that could be perfectly, efficiently run from the first. Neither solution worked: support for traditional Appalachian crafts, for instance, mostly turned them into a cottage industry providing kitsch for urbanites with money.
What ultimately changed the game was the federal government building the interstate highways. Not only did this destroy many settled city neighborhoods, it made it possible to leave the city to live and commute there for work. City populations stopped growing and often shrunk, as did their revenue base. The Reagan era further intensified the problems by insisting government is the problem so government doing anything to fix things was pointless.
The focus on urban planning rather than the pop culture perception of cities wasn’t quite what I wanted. However I’d still rate it as an interesting book.
ABC’s ONCE UPON A TIME was a mixed bag for me over the years (sequential season reviews here, here, here, here, here). The initial premises has PI Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) discovering the town of Storybrook is populated with refugees from fairytales, cursed by the evil queen Regina (Lana Parrilla) to live as mortals denied their happy endings. Emma, of course, refuses to believe it, let alone that she’s the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, who pulled a Jor-El and Lara to get her to our world before the curse hit.
While Disney frequently used the show to promote their film catalog it did offer clever spins on the old tales (Ginnifer Goodwin as a rebel Snow White was a lot of fun). On the other hand, it was often way too soft on Regina (as I discuss here): while her time as Evil Queen was fueled by tragedy, that doesn’t change that she laid waste to a kingdom and made Snow’s life a living hell over a child’s innocent mistake. Less tragic than psycho.
I rewatched the end of S6 and the beginning of S7 because Jekyll and Hyde play a role along with multiple other fictional characters (Nemo, Count of Monte Cristo). I felt (and still do) that the duo’s appearance comes off largely pointless: it’s more a useful plot point to have Jekyll’s formula split off Regina’s dark side, giving us the Evil Queen as villain while keeping Regina reformed
That said, from the Jekyll and Hyde perspective it has some interest. It’s one of the few (only?) times the formula physically splits good from evil the way Jekylls are always saying it should. Only it doesn’t split them psychologically: Jekyll is odious and Hyde is capable of grief and softness. The show was definitely running out of steam, but it wasn’t done yet. “It appears there was one final twist.”
The Disney + series SHE-HULK, ATTORNEY AT LAW (2022) riffs on both the Dan Slott run on She-Hulk (she’s an attorney tackling superhuman law) and John Byrne having her break the fourth wall (“Excuse me, who’s series is this?”). Tatiana Maslany plays Jennifer Walters, Bruce Banner’s cousin; when she’s injured in an accident, he saves her with a blood transfusion and guess what happens?
I watched this initially for the Hulk chapter of Jekyll and Hyde but Jen doesn’t change from repressed rage the same way — as she points out to Bruce, she’s spent her whole life learning to keep her anger in check, like when some dude lectures her on her own specialty of law. I kept watching because it’s funny. A fight with the super-villain and influencer Titania, who’s trademarked the She-Hulk name. A lawsuit involving an Asgardian shapeshifter who banged a guy by appearing as a big-name rap star. I also like that unlike a lot of the MCU, this has no qualms about letting a villain like the Porcupine show up in costume. The finish suffered from too much fourth-wall breaking but I’d still like to see S2 (Disney is mulling). And I’m sorry I didn’t think of mentioning the show during a recent Con-Tinual panel on TV courtroom dramas. “Either there’s a big twist coming or I’m about to get fridged.”
THE AVENGERS (2012) introduced Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, (following Ed Norton in the 2008 film), a role he’s held in the MCU ever since. The movie holds up well as Nick Fury puts together a team to stop Tom Hiddleston’s Loki conquering the Earth (with a high enough body count his later switch to reluctant hero seems like a stretch) with the help of the alien Ch’Tauri. It holds up well, except the Ch’Tauri didn’t impress me then or now — if Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) can kill them with her trusty automatics, they ain’t that much.
Ruffalo’s more brittle as Bruce than Norton’s more controlled Banner, which fits with his comment at one point that he doesn’t have to get angry — he’s always angry. One of the strengths of the movie is that everyone is aware how dangerous Bruce is: when the Black Widow thinks he’s about to Hulk out, even she’s scared. The film doesn’t have the kick it did originally (whoa, all the MCU characters in one movie together!) but it is still fun. “Until such time as the world ends, we’re going to act as if it intends to spin on.”
She-Hulk cover by Mike Mayhew, Avengers by Kirby. All rights to images remain with current holders.
With three days of work this week, I poured myself into getting a first full draft of Jekyll and Hyde written. I pretty much succeeded.
(No relation to the topic, I just like showing photos of Wisp).
There’s still lots and lots of work to do and some of the later chapters need heavy revision. I’m not completely satisfied with the chapter breakdown (some chapters are too short, some have the wrong mix of movies). But getting to a milestone makes me feel I got something accomplished this month, despite all the vet appointments, errands and contractors that got in the way. It gets me excited to surge forward in December.
Other than that, nothing much written (but that’s enough, right?) as the Local Reporter had a week off. Over at Atomic Junk Shop I had two posts related to the Silver Age collections I reviewed Sunday. One looked at two good Superman stories dealing with Superman lookalikes —
— while the other looked at how DC’s science fiction anthologies in the early 1950s anticipated the Silver Age. For example giving us an early, if unsuccessful superhero in Captain Comet —
— and in one story pitting him against a prototype for Gorilla Grodd.
On the medical front, mixed news. My iridotomy was a success, which is good for my eyeballs. Trixie’s new medicine has improved her energy and reduced her cough. Even if she doesn’t look energetic in this photo, trust me she is.
Plushie’s surgeon, unfortunately, agrees with our vet that he’s not healing as well as we’d hoped. Worst case, more surgery and longer recovery; best case, he’s just healing slower than expected. We have another recheck next month. Prayers and positive thoughts appreciated.
Of course TYG and I also had Thanksgiving yesterday. A quiet, lazy day with a big lunch at Cafe Parizade, which hosts a massive vegan event every year. Awesome food; it was difficult but I stopped just short of discomfort.
All rights to images remain with current holders. Superman cover by Curt Swan, Strange Adventures by Murphy Anderson.
Another week where Jekyll and Hyde work did not go as smoothly as I’d hoped. Still doable to make end of year deadline to finish, but I feel a little more stressed than I did Nov. 1.
Once again we had a swarm of contractors, errands and dog stuff, plus the added time for added PT — not a lot, but it adds up. And my iridotomy Monday, which took way longer than I expected. The treatment itself was quick but the waiting room was slammed, possibly because they’re going out of network next month for Cigna (that’s why I made sure to come in early).
The laser treatment itself was unpleasant, feeling like static electricity coursing through my eyeballs. I’ll go back next week to see if it worked — as it was a pre-emptive strike, I can’t judge by symptoms getting better, as I didn’t have any.
Speaking of better, Plushie isn’t improving as much as the vet hoped. Not like “OMG, we have to amputate!” — in fact we can start taking him for short walks again (and we have). But not where they’d like him to be, so we’re making an appointment with the surgeon for next week.
My work for The Local Reporter was more political than usual. ICE is in the area and the Carrboro Town Council spoke out in support of immigrants. I also wrote about PORCH, one of the local hunger-fighting groups and how food insecurity is getting worse. My third story was about a legendary local activist, Braxton Foushee, getting a state award for decades of work.
Once again the amount of time I put in The Local Reporter exceeded my plans, including a couple of interviews for stories that won’t happen until December. But that means I don’t have to worry about getting them in late. I always prefer to stay well ahead of deadline.
Fingers crossed that despite the doctor and vet appointments next week, it’ll be productive. Local Reporter’s off for a week, so that’ll help. And despite the underperformance on Jekyll and Hyde I feel oddly positive about it. It is taking shape, the shape is good and it can be done. And it will be. I want to start 2026 with fresh projects and get back to writing fiction.
As I have to work downstairs with the TV to watch a lot of the films for Jekyll and Hyde, a number of research books and DVDs end up stored on one of my bookshelves. Behold!
As some of you may notice this includes research books (in the bottom corner) for Savage Adventures, books I’ve read for fun and haven’t put up yet, and library books that need to be returned (The Zuni Cafe, which wasn’t as useful for the way I cook as I’d hoped).
By the end of the year Jekyll and Hyde will be done and everything will go back to its proper place. I look forward to that day.
MY OWN WORST ENEMY (2008) was a short-lived TV series starring Christian Slater as white-collar family man Henry Spivey — who discovers one day that he’s a cover identity for Henry Albright, an agent for the government’s Janus spy network (Edward and Henry, as in Hyde and Jekyll, get it?). This keeps Edward on ice between missions — only the computer implant that creates Henry is malfunctioning so that they randomly shift between identities. Edward’s having to deal with Henry’s kids; Henry’s having to carry out spy missions. Is it just a glitch — or is someone sabotaging Janus from within?
I caught at least some of this originally and it was fun to rewatch — though not so fun I’m wracked by it ending on a cliffhanger after nine episodes. As it’s so marginally Jekyll and Hyde, though, it’s going in the appendix. “Chalk one up for my side of the gene pool.”
Rewatching THE TESTAMENT OF DR. CORDELIER (1961) proved frustrating as the English subtitled version I saw on YouTube has gone and only a French-subtitle one was available. Combined with the notes from the first viewing, it served my purpose well enough though and let me correct a couple of errors in my initial synopsis. Jean-Louis Barrault does an amazing job as both the dignified yet cruel Cordelier and the twitchy, unsettling Opale (his body language is very discomforting) who has a mean streak with even less restraint, for example snatching crutches away from an injured man purely for kicks.
Reading about the film in Ronald Bergan’s Jean Renoir: Projections of Paradise, I learned Barrault’s cane-wielding walk was a twisted version of Charlie Chaplin’s “little tramp” character (Renoir was a huge fan). Renoir aired the film on TV (which I knew) because even for an A-lister like himself, it was getting harder and more expensive to make movies for the big screen. He’d also concluded films didn’t give actors enough time to develop their character before the director yelled “cut!” For this film, he let Barrault and the other cast members decide when the scene was done. It paid off in performance quality but drove the producers nuts (a lot of film got wasted).
When I first saw THE INCREDIBLE HULK (2008) it felt like a sequel to Ang Lee’s Hulk. Rewatching right after the other film, I realize they’re not consistent — the back story on Edward Norton’s Bruce becoming the Hulk here is not the same, but it’s close enough it doesn’t feel like a reboot (no worse than many comics have done). That said, it seems to owe more to the Bill Bixby series — the origin visuals are close and we get a quick glimpse of Bill Bixby on TV in one scene (I’m sure he’d have cameoed if cancer hadn’t taken him too soon).
The plot concerns General Ross (William Hurt) hunting Bruce in hopes of studying his green alter ego (nobody calls him Hulk until the very end) and creating an army like him (“You ever hear of the WW II super-soldier project?”). Things get complicated when soldier Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) becomes obsessed with Hulk’s power, enough to transform himself into the Abomination (making him English but born in Russia seems pointless, even though the comics’ Blonsky was born there). Despite Liv Tyler as an unconvincing Betty, this is a much better movie and shows the beginnings of building the MCU, with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Junior) showing up at the end to chat with Ross (what a kick that was at the time). “You won’t like me when I’m hungry.”
Cover by Herb Trimpe. All rights to images remain with current holders.
The work I did on Jekyll and Hyde this week was good but it didn’t move anywhere near as fast as I need.
(Snowdrop eyes our Roomba warily)
Part of that is that I should have starting rewriting my initial entries a lot sooner. I didn’t. So now there’s more work and it’s taking longer. Part of it’s that I had a few distractions this week. Lack of sleep (I think the time change is still messing with me). Plushie’s recheck on Monday (he’s doing well). Increased numbers of dog exercises every day — a small addition to my schedule but it sometimes doesn’t feel like it. More contractors to deal with.
(Plushie is back to enjoying his rolls in the grass).
And my efforts to confine my newspaper work to one day of the week didn’t work, which always leads to the work expanding more than it should. I did get in a good story on Carrboro’s efforts to manage invasive plant species and why it matters. My second story isn’t online yet.
To top it off our olive-oil sprayer met Mr. Kitchen Tile this morning so we spent around 45 minutes mopping up olive oil, sweeping up glass and then vacuuming. Which made it way hard to get my brain back on track. Sigh.
I wound up skipping the Genre Book Club I’ve been attending and I moved my dental appointment next week (routine checkup) to January, after the book is in.
My writing at Atomic Junk Shop was all reposts of stuff here so no need to link. But if you’re on FB you can check out my online Con-Tinual panel on enduring comic-book favorites. One of mine was Scooby-Doo Team-Up (cover by Dario Brizuela) for reasons I blogged about here.
