Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)

6.7 ? Mar 18, 1920 1h 19m

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Overview

A doctor's research into the roots of evil turns him into a hideous depraved fiend.

Overview

A doctor's research into the roots of evil turns him into a hideous depraved fiend.

Genres

Horror Science Fiction Drama

Release Date

March 18, 1920

Rating

6.7 /10

Runtime

1h 19m

Official Trailer from YouTube

John Barrymore

Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Edward Hyde

Brandon Hurst

Sir George Carewe

Martha Mansfield

Millicent Carewe

Charles Lane

Dr. Richard Lanyon

Cecil Clovelly

Edward Enfield

Nita Naldi

Miss Gina

Louis Wolheim

Music Hall Proprietor

Alma Aiken

Extra (uncredited)

J. Malcolm Dunn

John Utterson (uncredited)

Ferdinand Gottschalk

Old Man at Table in Music Hall (uncredited)

Julia Hurley

Hyde's Landlady with Lamp (uncredited)

Jack McHugh

Street Kid - Raises Fist to Mr. Hyde (uncredited)

Georgie Drew Mendum

Patron in Music Hall (uncredited)

Blanche Ring

Woman at Table with Old Man in Music Hall (uncredited)

May Robson

Prostitute at Clinic (uncredited)

George Stevens

Jekyll's Butler Poole (uncredited)

Edgard Varèse

Policeman (uncredited)

talisencrw

8.0/10

Aug 23, 2016

A very good early silent with both exquisite direction and a fine acting performance by John Barrymore. Well-worth checking out for cinephiles with a heightened interest in the origins of American horror cinema.

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CinemaSerf

7.0/10

Jun 06, 2022

I'd have to admit that John Barrymore was certainly no oil painting. Unlike so many silent-era film stars, he could actually act, rather then just look longingly into the camera and/or the gal's doey eyes. Here he portrays Robert Louis Stevenson's eponymous characters with quite some menace and skill. The story of the eminently respectable "Jekyll" who is fascinated by the human psyche and who experiments with mind/body altering drugs, discovering his inner and pretty unpleasant id in "Mr Hyde" in the process. There now follows a battle royal between the two personalities, the decent and the monstrous, and it rapidly becomes unsafe for those around him - including "Millicent" (Martha Mansfield), whom "Jekyll" loves, and even music hall girl "Gina" (Nita Naldi), the object of the desires of his alter ego. Barrymore is great, here - though some of his transformation scenes did remind me of a rather crazed Richard III playing an invisible piano. Using some dark and dingy locations, the clever use of shadow and Barrymore's own ability to create a considerable sense of menace, this really does have the hairs on the back of your neck paying attention. The visual effects are effective and John Robertson gives us a good solid, adaptation of an eerie, provocative story that still captures the imagination now, but without the characterisations being compromised or overly relying on CGI and the like to distract us from the on-screen antics. Whilst I wouldn't say it was the best - the 1931 version was a cracker too, it is one of those stories that resonates now, as it did then, and this is a terrific interpretation.

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