Forbidden Hollywood is a monthly series hosted by STL film critic Katie Carter celebrating the Pre-Code films of the early 1930s, when movies were wild, racy, transgressive, and tons of fun.

Violent and sexually daring, director Rouben Mamoulian’s 1931 adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel—coming right on the heels of Hollywood’s horror craze kicked off by the one-two punch of Universal’s Dracula and Frankenstein—remains iconic. Fredric March won a Best Actor Oscar for his titular performance, ably embodying the charismatic but edgy Jekyll and virtually disappearing into the beastly Hyde, the two sides of the man represented by the two women in his life: his upper class fiancée Muriel (Rose Hobart) and vivacious prostitute Ivy (Miriam Hopkins). DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE contains artful flourishes that enhance the narrative (wipes, dissolves, split screens, dreamy montages, and first person POV sequences), cinematography by Karl Struss, and ground-breaking make-up effects illustrating Jekyll’s transformation into the simian-like Hyde that are jaw-dropping to this day, but it’s the film’s explicit interpretation of Jekyll’s sexual repression— featuring an infamous strip scene performed by Hopkins— that prompted its content to be severely cut after Production Code enforcement began, the complete classic left unseen for decades.

Arkadin does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. However, we encourage researching titles to determine if a screening may contain content that could be upsetting to you. Please feel free to contact us for guidance on specific films. Information about content can also be found on Common Sense Media, IMDB and DoesTheDogDie.com, as well as through general internet searches.