Truly, Jack, as with most things in life, it all comes down to a matter of taste. The qualitative differences between the two American sound versions of Jekyll and Hyde can never be resolved to the satisfaction of everybody. My problems with the Mamoulian are similar to yours, but it's not so much that I don't like the film (I do) but that I find the 1941 version more powerful despite its being post-Code and, yes, sanitized.


A few of my reasons for preferring the Fleming J&H:

Production values: Superior in every way. A larger than life late Victorian London that blows me away every time I watch the film. Leaving aside the story: the Fleming is a stunner just to look at. The Mamoulian, while skillfully made, feels cramped, almost like a B (which it obviously isn't) by comparison.

Action: The later version gets around more, features more people in movement, shows how they move, where they go. One of its great set pieces, in which Hyde knocks a fellow's hat off in the tavern with his cane, then all hell breaks loose, for some reason, for me, is more frightening than anything in the 1931 J&H, including March in extreme Hyde mode.

Psychology: Psychological sadism is emphasized in the Fleming picture far more than horror, is ramped up to a degree of such intensity as to make it feel downright spooky, which satisfies this horror fan. It's another way of getting the job done. To rephrase the matter: there's a level of emotional danger, emotional cruelty, of horror and fear as it relates to human relationships in the 1941 picture, while the earlier film is not much more than a well made horror, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Zeitgeist: The Mamoulian is a product of the early Depression era, was made at a time when Hoover was still in the White House and before Hitler came to power. It reflects that troubled time (all movies reflected their times), and maybe because of that feels somewhat small, maybe not literally made on the cheap, it was definitely made on a budget, and it was not a lavish one. Come 1941, the economy is rebounding, the world is at war even as the U.S. is still neutral. Different times, different issues. The Production Code is firmly in place, so the sexier aspects that the earlier film could indulge in had to be toned down. On the other hand, the psychological aspects could be ramped up. I wouldn't go so far as to say that Tracy's Hyde in any way literally reflected Hitler, Stalin or Mussolini, yet he and the power held over others resonated very differently from the more purely personal power that March's Hyde asserted. The 1931 picture seems to be dealing with matters in a highly particular, often skilled and sophisticated manner, while the 1941 is broader, in scope and feeling, larger than life, seems to touch on larger issues, and some of those issues make me shudder. Mamoulian's picture is a very good show.