| Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | |
| Director: | John S. Robertson |
| Producer: | Adolph Zukor Jesse L. Lasky |
| Starring: | John Barrymore Martha Mansfield Charles W. Lane Nita Naldi |
| Cinematography: | Roy F. Overbaugh |
| Studio: | Famous Players–Lasky/Artcraft Pictures |
| Distributor: | Paramount Pictures |
| Runtime: | 79 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | Silent film English intertitles |
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1920 American silent horror film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and released through Paramount/Artcraft. The film, which stars John Barrymore, is an adaptation of the 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.[1] John S. Robertson directed the production, and Clara Beranger wrote the screenplay, based on the 1887 stage play by Thomas Russell Sullivan that in turn was based on the novel.[2] [1]
Set in late Victorian London, the film portrays the tragic consequences of a doctor's experiments in separating the dual personalities he thinks define all humans: one good, the other evil.[3] The film is now in the public domain.[4]
Dr Henry Jekyll lives and works in London. When not treating the poor at his free clinic, he works long hours in his laboratory, leaving little time for his sweetheart, Millicent. Sir George Carew, Millicent's father, is irritated by Jekyll's highmindedness, observing that "No man could be as good as he looks."[5] After dinner one evening, Sir George lectures Jekyll about his lifestyle, insisting that every man is fundamentally composed of two "selves" which are in continual conflict. He opines that "a man cannot destroy the savage in him by denying its impulses", and that "the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it." He takes Jekyll to a nightclub and arranges a liaison with Gina, one of the dancers. Jekyll backs away.
Reflecting on Sir George's comments, Jekyll begins private research into ways of separating out the two basic natures of man, the good and the evil. He manages to develop a potion that transforms him into a hideous, evil counterpart that he calls "Hyde", along with a counter-potion to reverse the effect. As Hyde, Jekyll is not recognizable as himself, so to facilitate his evil counterpart's access to his home and laboratory, the doctor informs his servant Poole that his friend Mr. Hyde is to have full access.
Jekyll begins to live a double life: by day a compassionate and gentlemanly doctor, and by night a lustful, hunchbacked creature who ventures out to opium dens, bars, and music halls to satisfy his "dark indulgences". He rents a small furnished room and brings Gina to live with him. Soon, however, Hyde tires of her company and ejects her. Each time Jekyll takes the potion to become Hyde, he becomes increasingly depraved and physically more hideous.
Jekyll neglects Millicent, who is alarmed by his absence. Sir George calls on the doctor, but he is not at home. In a nearby street, Hyde knocks a small boy to the ground. To make recompense, he goes to the doctor's home and returns with a cheque which he gives to the injured boy's father. Sir George notices that the cheque has been signed by Dr. Jekyll.
Sir George hastens to the doctor's laboratory, where he confronts Jekyll and demands to know about his relationship with Hyde. His threat to refuse consent to his daughter's marriage triggers Jekyll's retransformation back to his evil form. Horrified at witnessing the change, Sir George flees. Hyde catches him in the courtyard and beats him to death with his walking stick. After destroying any evidence that might link him to Jekyll, Hyde returns to the laboratory where he drinks the last of the counter-potion.
In the ensuing days, while Millicent mourns over her father’s murder, Jekyll is tormented by the thoughts of his misdeeds as Hyde. Unable to procure further supplies of the drug needed to make the counter-potion, Jekyll confines himself to his locked laboratory, fearing he might become Hyde at any moment.
Millicent finally goes to see him, and as she knocks on the door he begins to transform. After letting her in and locking the door, Hyde takes the terrified Millicent into his arms. Suddenly, he starts convulsing. Millicent shouts for help, attracting Poole and two of Jekyll's friends. They enter to find Hyde sitting in a chair, dead, having taken poison. They watch with astonishment as Hyde transforms back into the doctor. As the film ends, Millicent grieves next to the body of her suitor.
In 1920, film critics in the trade media and in fan-based publications generally gave high marks to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and, not surprisingly, focused chiefly on John Barrymore. The popular trade paper Variety described the production as a "fine and dignified presentation" with an "excellent" performance by Barrymore despite what the paper viewed as the absurd nature of the plot:
In the weeks following the release of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in March 1920, media reports about the box-office receipts being generated by the film and the exorbitant prices being spent by "movie palaces" to rent it attest to the production's commercial success. On April 2, for example, Variety reported that the Rivoli Theatre, a prestigious entertainment venue in New York City, was already earning "enormous takings" from its screenings of the film.[11] [12] Variety also informed its readers that the Rivoli's management had paid $10,000 to the film's distributor just to rent the picture, which it noted was "probably a record price for a straight rental anywhere in the world".[11]
With regard to broader public reaction to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1920, fan-based publications and individual moviegoers expressed more mixed reactions to the film than critics in entertainment trade papers.[13] Some of those reviewers, like the title characters in the film, were "split", harboring both decidedly positive and negative opinions about the production.[13] Photoplay, a widely read New York-based monthly, provides one example of such mixed reactions. In the magazine's June 1920 issue, critic Burns Mantle describes two of his friends' diametric responses to the picture. One friend praised it as "a perfect sample" of filmmaking, destined to be a "classic" in cinematic history; the other friend was appalled by it. As to his latter friend, Mantle adds that she "insists as strenuously that 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' gave her a most terrific attack of the blues from which she has yet to recover, nor expects to ever fully recover."[13] Mantle's own feelings about the much-anticipated release were not so clear-cut:
Frederick James Smith, the "Celluloid Critic" for Motion Picture Classic, another major fan publication, considered Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde "a finely workmanlike piece of screencraft".[14] He did, though, caution his readers about Barrymore's appearance as Jekyll's inner beast. "His Hyde", Smith observed, "is a terrible being, with the most ghastly make-up we recall ever seeing in the films."[14] In fact, audience exposure to Barrymore's Hyde became a point of concern expressed in some reviews, with his screen presence threatening the mental and even physical health of the public, especially for children exposed to the actor's "ghoulish" character and the film’s possible "pre-natal influences" on expectant mothers.[13] [14]
Whatever reservations or warnings that film critics may have expressed about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, they did not deter throngs of moviegoers in 1920 from seeing what Photoplay predicted would "easily become the most talked of picture of the time."[13] The magazine illustrated that popularity when it reported, "A door and two windows were broken by the crowds that tried to see it on its first showing in New York".[13]
In 2014, American film critic and historian Leonard Maltin gave this version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde three stars on a four-star rating scale. Maltin also complimented Barrymore's performances as both Jekyll and Hyde, as well as the film's overall production, describing it as "well made".[15]
As of 2020, the film has an approval rating of 92% based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 7.75/10, on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.[16]
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
It was first released on VHS by Thorn EMI Video in June 1982. Years later, it was released to DVD by Kino on Video on October 9, 2001.[19]