BEING AN OBVIOUS stop on the schedule of every cartoon series and live action comedy shorts department, Robert Louis Stevenson's THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE provided rich and obvious fodder for spoofing. In addition to all of the straight, dramatic adaptations that had appeared over the years, there were many comic send-ups.
WHEREAS WE HAD seen dramas with the title role's being portrayed by such luminaries as John Barrymore, Frederick March and Spencer Tracy; the funsters would not be denied. Funnymen who essayed the story's well known plot from the view of parody included Stan Laurel (solo in a silent short)*, Abbott & Costello, the Bowery Boys and the 3 Stooges. (Although the last 2 weren't strictly JEKYLL & HYDE, the elements were definitely there.)
IN REGARDS TO this little mini-film, it is a study in economy of both story telling as swell as in filming. Its "cast" is held to a bare minimum. Other than Bugs Bunny and the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde combine, the only other characters that are portrayed are the group of elderly folks who are feeding the pigeons in the park.
PRRHAPS INTENDED AS a sort of "hallmark" the LOONEY TOONS/MERRIE MELODIES of the Warner Brothers Animation, director, I."Fritz" Freleng, and voice actor, Mel Blanc, added one additional characteristic to their Dr. Jekyll. They made him a very timid "Casper Milquetoast" type. This probably gave an outstandingly sharp contrast to the Mr. Hyde's over the top growling, knuckle dragging and otherwise murderous gyrations.
OTHER THSN THAT, everything went just as about as we expected with all of the action that took place between and because of the constant changes between the two personalities and their manifesting of the comic/horror aspects of the story.