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Film: Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde
Year: 1971
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Writer: Brian Clemens
Starring: Ralph Bates, Martine Beswick and Gerald Sim
Review:
This was a film I didn’t realize existed until I started to seek out all of the versions of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. At this point of the first time seeing this, I had watched the early takes. It wasn’t until settling in that I realized this was a Hammer production. What the title was alluding to intrigued me, having seen Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde growing up.
Synopsis: a Victorian scientist tests a serum that transforms him into a sensuous murderer.
We start this story near the end with Dr. Henry Jekyll (Ralph Bates) stalking a woman. He kills her and we get a glimpse of a poster that is looking for a murderer in Whitechapel. They’re looking for a man in a tall hat who wears dark clothes. The victims have all been women. There’s a blind man that alerts the police as he can hear Dr. Jekyll trying to flee. It then gives us a voice-over narration by Henry, telling us the events that led us here.
Professor Robertson (Gerald Sim) meets with a young woman, Susan Spencer (Susan Brodrick). This is our introduction that Professor Robertson is fond of the ladies. They’re going to the same place as it turns out she is moving in with her mother Mrs. Spencer (Dorthy Alison) and her brother Howard (Lewis Fiander) to the same flat where Dr. Jekyll lives. He’s in the lower one.
Both Prof. Robertson and Dr. Jekyll are men of science. Dr. Jekyll is working on a way to prevent diseases, but Professor Robertson shoots down the idea of how long it will take. This alters Dr. Jekyll’s path to new research. He’s in need of bodies and his friend Byker (Philip Madoc) introduces him to William Burke (Ivor Dean) and William Hare (Tony Calvin).
The first results that Dr. Jekyll has to show is that he’s kept a fly, which only survives about 24 hours to live for three days. Prof. Robertson asks about what he did and the two butt heads on the sex of the creature. Dr. Jekyll reveals that he used women's hormones in his serum as they stay younger looking longer than men.
During his experiments, Susan is interested in getting to know Dr. Jekyll, but he blows her off. He continually needs more bodies and is hiding this fact from her. Burke and Hare resort to nefarious ways in order to keep up until they’re discovered, which causes Dr. Jekyll to take on that task in a similar, murderous way. He finally tests his serum on himself and it doesn’t have the effects he was expecting. It turns him into Mrs. Hyde (Martine Beswick). Much like in other versions, the more he takes it, the stronger that she becomes to the point where he must decide what to do before it is too late.
That’s where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. I’ll go back to bringing back that growing up, I remember when a similar version came out in the 1990’s that was called Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde. That was, of course, more of a comedy where this is your typical Hammer horror that goes violent at times. What is interesting is that it takes what is at the core of the original source material and utilizes an interesting angle with this mad scientist becoming the opposite sex. It's also incorporated in Jack the Ripper as well.
Something that I forgot until rewatching is that this also brings in the real criminals of Burke and Hare as characters. If you don’t know who they were, they’re probably two of the most famous body snatchers in history. They made a living at first grave robbing for scientists to conduct research which would lead to things like advancement in anatomy and more understanding of the human body. I thought that was a good touch since it gives Dr. Jekyll the idea that in order to keep up with his needs of bodies and people aren’t passing away from natural causes fast enough, other means are needed for his research. There’s also an interesting angle here where the doctor asks Susan what she would do, but talking it out in allegories. How he frames it makes him feel justified.
The other major one is the fact that they’re using the story of Jack the Ripper as well. This movie is claiming that Dr. Jekyll was the ripper, which would make sense. He is a man of science. The attacks on the women from the ripper were thought to have been done by a surgeon or someone with medical training with how precise they are. Since Stevenson’s story is only a novella, it makes sense to incorporate it into something like that. It doesn’t make it the most original, but definitely adds depth.
Now something that was posed ahead of watching this are the outdated, which are problematic, ways of looking at this movie. There is a way to look at this that Henry has repressed feelings. He feels like himself when he becomes Mrs. Hyde. This can be seen where he avoids women, which gets him mocked by Prof. Robertson. Henry is looked at as being odd. There is also the negative light on Mrs. Hyde with the crimes that’s committing. It isn’t normally attributed to women though, so there is that as well.
Beyond the two leads, the cast was unfamiliar but solid. Bates plays the mad scientist Dr. Jekyll, a departure from his usual villainous roles. Jekyll, despite good intentions, does bad things, even changing his research after his friend's mockery. Beswick, a former Bond girl, plays the sassy and dark Mrs. Hyde, with nude scenes. Sim works as Dr. Jekyll’s best friend whose fun remarks alter his course. Fiander and Brodrick are good as the upstairs neighbors. I do feel bad for Susan. She develops a crush on Dr. Jekyll and she gets her heart broken. Alison, Neil Wilson, Dean, Madco and Calvin all round this movie out for what was needed along with the rest of the cast. They help push the events and our characters to where they end up.
Let’s then finish out with the filmmaking. Victorian England was well-realized, with authentic costumes and sets. Cinematography, framing, and editing were effective, using subtle cuts to imply violence, like a victim being stabbed followed by a rabbit being gutted. Effects were minimal but included the era's signature bright blood. Camera tricks were used for the transformation scene, which, while adequate, could have been more elaborate. A mole on both Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde's faces was a clever visual cue to their shared identity. The soundtrack was fitting without being remarkable.
In conclusion, this is a compelling and unique Hammer horror film that offers a fresh perspective on the classic Stevenson novella. By weaving in elements of Jack the Ripper and the real-life body snatchers Burke and Hare, the film provides a richer and darker narrative. With solid performances, particularly from Bates and Beswick, and effective period filmmaking, this movie stands out as a worthy watch. I would recommend this film to anyone looking for a different and intriguing take on the Dr. Jekyll story, as well as to devoted fans of classic Hammer horror cinema.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10