UK, 1971
94m (USA), 97m (UK), 8,652 feet
35mm, Technicolor
mono, English
A British horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker. It was Hammer Films’ third adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s short story The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde after The Ugly Duckling (1959) and The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll (1960).
Plot Summary
Dr Jekyll embarks on an obsessive quest to find an elixir of life. He thinks he’s found it in a potion derived from female hormones which he obtains from bodies in a nearby morgue. When that supply dries up, he employs body snatchers Burke and Hare – who eventually turn to murder – to find the body parts he needs. But his experiment is only a partial success – when he drinks his elixir, he transforms into a young woman who passes herself off as the widowed Mrs Hyde. When Burke and Hare are attacked by an angry mob, Mrs Hyde begins to murder prostitutes in Whitechapel, giving rise the the Jack the Ripper legend…
Credits
Crew
Directed by: Roy Ward Baker
© MCMLXXI [1971] Hammer Film Productions Limited
EMI Film Productions Limited. A Hammer production
Produced by: Albert Fennell, Brian Clemens
Screenplay by: Brian Clemens
Based upon the story [The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde] by: Robert Louis Stevenson
Director of Photography: Norman Warwick
Editor: James Needs
Music Composed by: David Whitaker
Sound: Bill Rowe
Wardrobe Supervisor: Rosemary Burrows
Make-up: Trevor Crole-Rees
Hairdressing: Bernie Ibbetson
Designer: Robert Jones
Cast
Ralph Bates (Dr Jekyll)
Martine Beswick (Mrs Hyde)
Gerald Sim (Professor Robertson)
Lewis Fiander (Howard Spencer)
Susan Brodrick (Susan Spencer)
Dorothy Alison (Mrs Spencer)
Ivor Dean (Burke)
Philip Madoc (Byker)
Irene Bradshaw (Yvonne)
Neil Wilson (older policeman)
Tony Calvin (Hare)
Dan Meaden (town crier)
Virginia Wetherell (Betsy)
Paul Whitsun-Jones (Sgt. Danvers)
Alternative Titles
Barbara il mostro di Londra – Italy
Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde
Dr Jekyll och syster Hyde – Sweden
Press
1971
Today’s Cinema no.9948 (15 October 1971) p.9
It can presumably be taken for granted that horror fans will not carp at the liberties taken with the historical facts of how Burke and Hare got their deserts, nor quibble at Dr Jekyll’s knowledge of hormones. But these idiosyncrasies draw attention to the general looseness of a plot that leans heavily on coincidental encounters. The basic idea is very ingenious, particularly in view if the present vogue for injecting horror films with sex, but has the built-in drawback of lessening the visual impact of Jekyll’s transmogrification into Hyde. This leaves only the murders to chill the blood and these are carried out with an efficient sameness that scarcely warrants a shudder. – from a review by Marjorie Bilbow
References
Periodicals
- Cinema of the ’70s no.1 (2020) pp.49-68 – illustrated article (Straight on till ’79: A decade of Hammer horror by Ian Taylor)
- The Dark Side September 1995 p.20 – credits, review
- The Dark Side no.268 pp.26-32 – illustrated article (The son also rises by Simon J. Ballard)
- Dark Terrors no.14 (June 1997) p.29 – illustrated article (Censored Hammer)
- Filmfacts vol.15 no.15 (1972) pp.144-146 – reprinted reviews
- Filmfax no.61 (June/July 1997) pp.34, 35 – illustrated credits, review
- The Hollywood Reporter vol.220 no.42 (10 April 1972) p.3 – review
- The House That Hammer Built no.8 (April 1998) pp.417-420 – illustrated credits, synopsis, review
- Kine Weekly vol.646 no.3311 (27 March 1971) pp.14-16 – credits
- Kine Weekly vol.646 no.3312 (3 April 1971) p.13 – note (Production Review: Studio Round Up by Rod Cooper)
- Monsterscene no.6 pp.45-46 – review
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.38 no.454 (November 1971) p.218 – credits, synopsis, review (by David Pirie)
- Today’s Cinema no.9883 (23 February 1971) p.4 – credits
- Today’s Cinema no.9940 (17 September 1971) p.15 – note (General releases)
- Today’s Cinema no.9942 (24 September 1971) p.11 – note (Trade shows)
- Today’s Cinema no.9946 (8 October 1971) p.27 – note about UK release date
- Today’s Cinema no.9948 (15 October 1971) p.9 – credits, review (The new films by Marjorie Bilbow)
- Today’s Cinema no.9952 (29 October 1971) p.15 – Department of Trade and Industry registration details
- Variety 27 October 1971 p.18 – credits, review
- Video Junkie no.1 p.22 – review
Books
- 1971: 100 Films from Cinema’s Greatest Year by Robert Sellers pp.196-198 – review
- American International Pictures: A Filmography by Robert L. Ottoson pp.209-210 – credits, synopsis, review
- The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror by Phil Hardy (ed.) pp.232-233
- British Gothic Cinema by Barry Forshaw pp.52, 64, 73-75
- The Encyclopedia of Novels Into Films second edition by John C. Tibbetts and James M. Welsh pp.424-428 – illustrated credits, review (by J.C.T. [John C. Tibbetts])
- Educational Institutions in Horror Film: A History of Mad Professors, Student Bodies, and Final Exams by Andrew L. Grunzke pp.74-78
- English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby pp.77, 211, 213-15, 214
- Euro Gothic: Classics of Continental Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby p.322
- Film Review 1972-73 by F. Maurice Speed (ed) p.219
- The Hammer Story by Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes pp.148-149 – illustrated article, review
- Hoffman’s Guide to SF, Horror and Fantasy Movies 1991-1992 pp.110-111 – credits, review
- Horror and Science Fiction Films II by Donald C. Willis p.102
- Horror Film Directors 1931-1990 Volume 1 by Dennis Fischer pp.53-54
- Horror Films of the 1970s by John Kenneth Muir pp.109-110 – credits, synopsis, review
- Horrorshows: The A-Z of Horror in Film, TV, Radio and Theatre by Gene Wright pp.18, 46 – credits, review
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.106 – credits
- Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Film Sequels, Series, and Remakes by Kim R. Holston and Tom Winchester pp.121-122
- Serial Killer Cinema: An Analytical Filmography by Robert Cetti p.129-130
- Ten Years of Terror pp.99-100 – illustrated credits, review (by Matthew Conniam)
- Uneasy Dreams: The Golden Age of British Horror Films, 1956-1976 by Gary A. Smith pp.81-82
