January 2, 1931 –
Rouben Mamoulian adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, starring Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, and Rose Hobart opened in NYC on this date.
The remarkable Jekyll-to-Hyde transition scenes in this film were accomplished by manipulating a series of variously colored filters in front of the camera lens. Fredric March’s Hyde makeup was in various colors, and the way his appearance registered on the film depended on which color filter was being shot through. Only in the late 1960’s did Mamoulian reveal how this was done.
The Haus of Dcaligari 