<P> The secret of the transformation scenes was not revealed for decades (Mamoulian himself revealed it in a volume of interviews with Hollywood directors published under the title The Celluloid Muse). Make - up was applied in contrasting colors . A series of colored filters that matched the make - up was then used which enabled the make - up to be gradually exposed or made invisible . The change in color was not visible on the black - and - white film . </P> <P> Wally Westmore's make - up for Hyde--simian and hairy with large canine teeth--influenced greatly the popular image of Hyde in media and comic books . In part this reflected the novella's implication of Hyde as embodying repressed evil, and hence being semi-evolved or simian in appearance . The characters of Muriel Carew and Ivy Pierson do not appear in Stevenson's original story but do appear in the 1887 stage version by playwright Thomas Russell Sullivan . </P> <P> John Barrymore was originally asked by Paramount to play the lead role, in an attempt to recreate his role from the 1920 version of Jekyll and Hyde, but he was already under a new contract with Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer . Paramount then gave the part to March, who was under contract and who bore a physical resemblance to Barrymore . March had played a John Barrymore - like character in the Paramount film The Royal Family of Broadway (1930), a story about an acting family similar to the Barrymores . March would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance of the role . </P> <P> When Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer remade the film 10 years later with Spencer Tracy in the lead, the studio bought the negative and the rights to both the Mamoulian version and the earlier 1920 silent version, paying $1,250,000 . Every print of the 1931 film that could be located was recalled and destroyed and for decades the film was believed lost . Ironically, the Tracy version was much less well received and March jokingly sent Tracy a telegram thanking him for the greatest boost to his reputation of his entire career . </P>

Who owns the rights to jekyll and hyde