This two-movies-for-the-price-of-one disc from Warners pits two classics against each other.

In the red corner is Paramount's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which was released in 1932, making it one of the earliest sound movies extant. In the white is a 1941 remake by MGM.

When MGM decided to remake this movie, they purchased the rights from Paramount so that most of hard work of script development and writing was already done. And they also bought up the negatives and as many prints of the original as they could lay their hands on, to prevent direct competition or comparison with the earlier version.

As well they might. For the remake is a pale shadow of the original. The remake features that amiable knock-about drunk Spencer Tracy as Dr Hyde/Jekyll, with Ingrid Bergman his sad main victim Ivy, the singer/prostitute who incites his lust and anger. The original starred Fredric March, with Miriam Hopkins as Ivy.

I think honors are shared between Miriam Hopkins and Ingrid Bergman -- which is saying a lot about Miriam Hopkins since I have a pronounced weakness for Ms Bergman.

But it's in the lead stakes that honours go to the 1932 version. Spencer Tracy simply cannot hold a candle to Fredric March, who rightly won an Oscar for his effort.

True, his transformation from scientific researcher Mr Hyde to the monstrous Mr Jekyll was aided mightily by cinematography and make-up -- and in fact Fredric March had to spend some weeks in hospital after shooting finished, to treat the facial ravages caused by the harsh make-up. But the core portrayal is simply sensational, even more than 70 years after the film was made.

By contrast Spencer or his director Victor Fleming seems to misjudge the dual characters of Hyde and Jekyll -- there isn't the wide schism between them which is at the core of Stevenson's story and the earlier film. At times it seems that Trace could simply be suffering from the effects of a particularly vicious hangover, without girlfriend Kate Hepburn on hand to pick him up, screw his head back on and send him back to work.

And the earlier movie also wins in the directorial stakes. The 1941 Fleming effort seems quite plodding compared to the Rouben Mamoulian version. Particularly impressive are the opening shots of Mr Hyde at his home-organ playing Bach, and then proceeding to get himself ready to deliver a lecture. It's all filmed from first-person subjective viewpoint, and it works smoothly and introduces a strange unworldly feeling from the very opening minutes. From the start, Mamoulian shows himself to be a craftsman of mood.

This disc features a restored version of the 1932 movie, which is several minutes longer than the bashed-around prints which previously circulated.

My review edition came on two discs; I believe the retail version is a single flipper-disc.

Both transfers are excellent. The 1932 Paramount movie shows quite a bit of wear and flecking, but never enough to disturb viewing. Black tones and contrast levels are excellent. Considering MGM did their best to destroy this edition, the quality is remarkable.

The MGM edition is in better condition, which is to be expected. I love seeing old black-and-white movies in this condition.

Both movies feature mono soundtracks, which are free of hiss and distortion. I played these discs in a DVD machine with pitch control, to compensate for the PAL speedup factor, and the result sounded very respectable indeed considering the vintage of the movies.

There are worthwhile period trailers for both movies, while the main extra feature, accompanying the 1932 movie, is a very funny Bugs Bunny cartoon from 1955, on a Jekyll and Hyde theme. Is it my imagination, or is Bugs more sexually ambivalent than usual in this cartoon? Well, he is a bunny, after all..... This is in excellent condition; beautiful colour.

On most discs I find audio commentaries go a very long way ... unless the speaker is Stanley Donen (Charade) or George Sidney (The Harvey Girls). Well, the commentator here, film historian Greg Mank, is in their class. The commentary is on the first disc only, but he literally drips interesting knowledge, not only about the version we're watching, but about earlier and later attempts to bring the Jekyll and Hyde story to the screen.