This is Halloween 2! - A Bit of Jekyll and Hyde

For this post, I thought I would finally touch upon a character I really haven’t talked about here. Heck, you could say that they’re two characters: Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde. I first heard about this “strange case” from those Crestwood books at the local library. Man, those books influenced me a lot when it comes to horror! Anyway, they had a book on mad scientists, and it was there where I learned about the story. Since then, I’ve seen a few adaptations of the story as well as some satires. I didn’t realize how many adaptations this story has had, and that’s not even counting things inspired by the story. The Incredible Hulk and The Nutty Professor are good examples of this. I recently listened to the novella on Audible, and it was a pretty gripping mystery.

Today, I actually quite a few on the docket, so this is gonna be two parts. First up is soundless version of the story from 1920. By the way, this wasn’t the only Jekyll/Hyde movie released that year. Yeah, adaptations of this go this far back and even further. Next up is the 1931 adaption that most may be familiar with. Next up is The Two Faces of Doctor Jekyll, a movie from Hammer Films. Last, we have a Blaxploitation version of the story called Mr. Black and Mr. Hyde… yes, I did have a laugh and sigh at saying that.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)

This silent adaptation stars Johnathan Mayberry as the tragic doctor. Henry Jekyll, a highly regarded doctor, has an idea that one can suppress or erase the dark half of themselves through medicine. He creates a serum and tests it on himself. It instead transforms him into a deformed man who’s completely given in to his dark desires. Jekyll calls this part of himself Edward Hyde, and uses the formula to have a double life. It starts to become a problem when his friends and his fiancée notice that he’s become distant. Unfortunately, Jekyll starts to lose control of the situation as he starts to transform into Hyde without the serum.

This makes me want to look at more silent films from this era. They pulled off so much with so little.

I’ve barely watched any silent films from this era. They can be a bit of a bore at times. I can’t say that about this one though. This was an interesting movie. While it doesn’t capture all of what the novella did (it and most adaptations were based on an adapted stage play of the story), it still was able to pull it off in pretty good way. All of that has to go to the performance of Johnathan Mayberry as Jekyll and Hyde. He pulled off both roles effortlessly. Hyde looked hideous on the outside as well as on the inside. He just looked like the type of guy you need to keep your kids away from, and we even get a good example of why here.

The effects used to show the transformation sequences here were good. Yes, these days they look cheap, but you got to remember that this was as good as it could be back in 1920. The makeup for Hyde is good, and I also like how manic and crazed Jekyll looked toward the end of the movie. You could tell the transformations were taking a toll on him. The costuming is also pretty good. The only thing that really knocks this down a bit is the music being played. At times, it was effective with what was shown. Other times, it was annoying. I don’t know why a speedy, happy song was being played when Millicent (Jekyll’s fiancée) finds out that her father was killed by Hyde. That was just weird. Other than that and a couple of weird makeup issues, this was good.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)

Now this is the one I’m more familiar with. The movie stars Frederic March in the dual roles. Here, Henry Jekyll (pronounced Jeek-yll) is a renowned doctor and overall good guy. He has a theory that one can split the good and evil sides of themselves through medicine and he tests it out on himself. It transforms him into a deformed man who he calls Edward Hyde. He’s left to his own devices as he causes trouble and abuses a singer who had her eyes on Jekyll. Realizing how bad Hyde was, Jekyll stops taking the formula, but he starts to transform into Hyde without the serum. It even begins to affect the people he cares for, and it all ends pretty tragically.

Awesome first transformation even now.

I think I saw this once on TCM. It was either this or the 1941 edition of this story (I’m leaving that one for next time). This was a blast to revisit. Frederic March does a tremendous job as Jekyll and Hyde. He’s able to play the goodness of Jekyll and the darkness of Hyde flawlessly. He also plays up the physicality of Hyde too with Hyde being more primal in nature. You end up seeing how badly he treats  a character named Ivy Pearson. In fact, the acting from everyone is actually pretty good. I also have to note how raunchy (for the 1930’s) this was. They get away with a few things here that they couldn’t get away with about a decade later. Ivy’s seduction of Henry was one big example.

This was pretty unsettling... the scene, not the make-up sorta.

The makeup for Hyde is good, but I do wonder where they pulled some of their inspirations for the look. I’m just sayin’, man… I’m just sayin’. The transformation sequences were pretty inventive. In fact, I felt like the director was got a new camera for the first time with the weird POV shots we got. It was weird, but it was also cool at times. The overall mood for the movie is eerie and good. I don’t have too many bad things to say about the film. Yes, I’ll say that Hyde looks kinda like a black caricature at a couple of points. I don’t know if that was the creator’s intent, but with certain stereotypes being around in society at that time, I wouldn’t be surprised. Still, I do think that this was a pretty good film in the end.

The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960)

Hammer Films, who was doing updated versions of classic horror movies at this time, took a poke at the story in its rendition. Paul Massie plays Dr. Henry Jekyll, a kind-hearted but distant doctor who’s spends more time in the lab than living life. He tests his theory of separating the good and evil parts of one’s self on himself by injecting a serum. He ends up transforming himself into a younger, attractive, aristocrat of a man with some dark tendencies. When he finds out that his wife is having an affair with his close friend, he enacts a plot to screw them over. Jekyll tries to rein control from his darker self, but things start to get worse and worse for him.

In a interesting bit of trivia, Christopher Lee would one day play a Jekyll/Hyde homage (?) along with Peter Cushing.

This was an interesting adaptation. While it keeps the plot of Jekyll transforming into Hyde and giving into all sorts of debauchery, it does it in a way that is kinda fresh. Instead of transforming into a deformed, eerie man, Hyde is attractive, decadent, and a man of the town. When you get on his bad side, then we start to see the more familiar Hyde. Jekyll and Hyde constantly wrestle for control, and both sides are well-acted by Paul Massie. You see  how much it takes a toll on Jekyll in a pretty interesting way. I was also surprised by Christopher Lee’s different performance as Paul Allen, a debt-ridden homewrecker.

The costumes and overall look was good. It doesn’t have much of a gothic vibe, but it still works since it’s bloody ‘ole London. While it isn’t a horror in the more traditional sense, it does have kind of a suspenseful horror vibe since Hyde here has that dang smile when he’s doing his misdeeds. I will say that it's more of a soap opera than a horror movie, so if you're looking for transformations (which happen off screen unfortunately), it might not be for you. Still, I did have a good time with this interesting adaptation.

Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde

Finally, we come to the roaring 70’s with a pretty loose Blaxploitation adaptation. In the movie, Bernie Casey plays Dr. Henry Pryde, an accomplished black doctor living in Los Angeles. While he helps out a local clinic, he’s also trying to create an experimental drug that can help cure damaged livers. When he runs out of ways to test the drug on live specimens, he tests it on himself and transforms into an albino Frankenstein-ish brute. Because of his trauma involving prostitutes, he ends up going on a murdering-spree. He tries to keep this side under wraps, but the law and a close friend get involved. It all ends in a chase scene and somehow a skyscraper (“King Kong ain’t got #### on me!”).

Not only is he Mr. Hyde, he is The Nutcracker!

So, this was an interesting watch, but I can’t call it all that good. First off, I thought Bernie Casey did a fine job as Dr. Pryde/Mr. Hyde. His Hyde is more “Kung Fu Tall White Dude” and less creepy dude in the alley when compared to others. Still, he looked pretty intimidating as Hyde. He actually reminded me of Lou Ferringno’s Incredible Hulk which came out a couple of years later. I also liked his relationships with Billie, his colleague, and Lisa, a local prostitute who had an eye for him. The makeup was an early project by Stan Winston, and it’s not too bad. It looks cheap, but it works. The movie even has a bit of racial commentary embedded in it.

Man, you know you messed up if you got a woman looking at you like that!

Other than those things, this movie can be a bit of a bore. It’s pretty slow in the beginning, and Hyde is rarely seen at that point. We also get the stereotypical parts of Blaxploitation media like the hookers, the pimps, the funky music played some average white band, and the drugs. Funny enough, one of the drug dealers here was played by Mark Alaimo (Gul Dukat), so I’m still surrounded by Star Trek everywhere. I also thought that Hyde’s yelling was a bit annoying. It got pretty comical toward the end. Other than these things, this was okay at best. It’s not the best of the Blaxploitation genre.

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This ended up being much more fun than I imagined, so there has to be a Part 2. Next time, we move to the more modern era, get animated, and get sort of stale. You’ll see what I mean. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there. Also, Happy Halloween! Don't overdo it with the candy!