Film Review
Robert Louis Stevenson's
The Strange
Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is given a whole new twist in this
enjoyably twisted little gem from Hammer, one of the studio's more
imaginative (and most gloriously unhinged) excursions into period
horror. Hammer had already notched up one reasonably faithful
adaptation of Stevenson's classic novella,
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960),
and before this there had been
The
Ugly Duckling (1959), a comedy based on the same story.
Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde easily
outshines both of these two films and rates as one of Hammer's all time
greats, thrilling and entertaining in roughly equal measure, with
enough copious amounts of the red sticky stuff to satisfy any horror
enthusiast.
With a director of Roy Ward Baker's calibre on board, there isn't much
that could have gone wrong. By this time, Baker had already
delivered three respectable horror offerings for Hammer, including the
lurid cult classic
The Vampire Lovers (1970), and
had got the period horror formula down to a fine art.
Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde is
arguably Baker's best work for Hammer, and a creative high point in his
impressive career. No expense seems to have been spared on the
set design and, with its atmospheric lighting and deftly fluid
camerawork, the film exerts an almost hallucinatory force over the
spectator. Effortlessly, it draws us into the familiar nightmare
world that is Victorian London, a nocturnal diorama of Hell that is
forever wreathed in fog and fear. Has there ever been a setting
that is more evocative of spine-tingling menace than this?
The mind-boggling concept of a female Hyde sprang from the fertile
imagination of Brian Clemens, one of the main contributors to the hit
television series
The Avengers
and
The Professionals.
From this initially bonkers premise, Clemens developed a compelling
storyline which somehow ended up roping in Jack the Ripper and grave
robbers Burke and Hare, an act of wanton sacrilege for the purists but
a stroke of genius in narrative terms. The pieces fit together
perfectly and by the end of it you have no difficulty convincing
yourself that the infamous Whitechapel murderer was a cross-dressing
mad scientist obsessed with immortality. At no stage does Clemens
fail to see the funny side of this insane enterprise, evidenced by the
rich vein of comedy underlying the visceral horror. Hammer was
rarely successful when it came to bringing comedy and horror together,
but here is a rare example which achieves just that.
Having played one mad scientist in
The
Horror of Frankenstein (1970), Ralph Bates is back to play
another, with somewhat more success. Owing to his lack of screen
presence, Bates was never going to be, as Hammer had hoped, an
effective successor to the great Peter Cushing in the Frankenstein
role, but as the unassuming, weak-willed and morally conflicted Dr
Jekyll he is an admirable casting choice. Martine Beswick's
striking physical resemblance to Bates, to say nothing of her mesmeric
sensual allure, makes her equally well-suited for the part of Jekyll's
evil female alter ego, Mrs Hyde. The physical similarity of the
two actors aids not only the transformation between their two
characters, which is so seamless you can hardly believe your eyes, but
the viewer's acceptance that they are genuinely two sides of the same
persona. No other film version of Stevenson's novella has so far
managed to pull off this feat and so in this respect, and at least five
thousand others,
Dr Jekyll &
Sister Hyde is unique. It's a queer business this, a
very queer business...
© James Travers 2014
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Roy Ward Baker film:
Asylum (1972)
Film Synopsis
In East London of the 1880s, the young Dr Henry Jekyll is diligently
engaged on finding vaccines for man's most feared diseases.
Realising that he will take several life times before he will have
achieved his objective, Jekyll diverts his efforts into looking for an
elixir that will prolong his lifespan. His research leads him to
concoct a serum containing female hormones, obtained from the corpses
of women supplied by grave robbers Burke and Hare. When he takes
his first dose of this serum Jekyll is surprised to find himself
transformed into a woman! Restored to his old, manly self, Jekyll
must explain away the presence of the mysterious woman to his
neighbours by saying she is his sister, Mrs Hyde. Disaster
strikes when Burke and Hare go out of business owing to poor public
relations, and so Jekyll is forced to gather the body parts he needs
himself if he is to continue his research. Convinced that
the ends will justify the means, he prowls the streets of
Whitechapel after dark, ready to slice up any unfortunate prostitute
who comes his way. As his female alter ego begins to assert
itself and become the dominant personality, Jekyll soon finds he/she is
killing not for science but for pleasure...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.