Jekyll and Hyde DVD is fully restored

For anyone who's into classic horror, the new double-feature Jekyll and Hyde DVD from Warner Bros includes a complete restoration of the 1932 classic version. There aren't any jump-cuts in the dialog as there were in both the lasrdisc and VHS versions from awhile back. Well worth the paltry price of admission!

It's weird seeing on Warner Bros., though. It was made by Paramount, who later sold their horror films to Universal, except for this one, which MGM bought to hide away when they released their Spencer Tracy version, which is also on this disc now that Warner Brothers, who had nothing to do with Paramount in the thirties, has bought most of the MGM library from Turner.

Merge, merge, merge....

 

It isn't so, the Paramount logo is there.

 

That's good that they kept the whole movie intact like that. When Universal released Psycho on DVD they did actually restore the Paramount title card that was on the original prints of the film instead of replacing it with a Universal logo like they did for TV broadcasts.

 

If they had put the thirties WB logo on the beginning, I would've expected Hyde to come bursting out of the lab with a rattlin' machine gun and a dame on his arm....

 

...and a young(ish) Sydney Greenstreet sifting through the spent shells collecting gun powder traces to flog in the black market to earn some money to spend on a byrd....

 

There's a HUGE error on the disc that my family noticed last night - the Greg Manks commentary runs over the OLD soundtrack to the film, and it has all the jump cuts in the dialog. So he points out the lost dialog that's been restored, tells you to listen closely, and then - it ain't there! My kids thought that was pretty funny. If you switch to the non-commentary soundtrack, you'll hear the restored dialog, but not Greg Manks. (Unfortunately, the regular restored soundtrack only comes out of the center channel and is a LOT quieter than the commentary soundtrack).

 

I wish they had cleaned up all the dirt and scratches on the 1932 version, but I guess that would have cost too much. Great to have it out, though. I can retire the dub from my laserdisc.

 

I was going to check later, but I don't remember seeing all those scratches on the laserdisc version; I certainly noticed them on the DVD, though.

(Note: I still think this is a must-have DVD; the faults mentioned are minor.)