The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll (1960)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1960
Running Times: 88 mins
Format: Eastmancolor     35mm     MegaScope
Ratio: 2.35:1
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Hammer Films
Producer: Michael Carreras
Associate Producer: Anthony Nelson-Keys
Production Manager: Clifford Parkes

SCRIPT
Script: Wolf Mankowitz
Novel: Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

DIRECTION
Director: Terence Fisher
Assistant Director: John Peverall

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Jack Asher
Camera Operator: Len Harris
Labs: Technicolor

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Supervising Editor: James Needs
Editor: Eric Boyd-Perkins

MUSIC
Musical Supervisor: John Hollingsworth
Music / Songs: Monty Norman, David Heneker

SOUND
Sound Recording: Jock May
Sound Editor: Archie Ludski
Sound System: RCA Sound Recording

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Roy Ashton
Hair: Ivy Emmerton
Costume Designer: Mayo (real name: Antoine Mayo)
Wardrobe Mistress: Molly Arbuthnot

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Bernard Robinson

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Tilly Day
Dance Direction: Julie Mendez

LOCATIONS
Locations: Bray Studios, Berkshire, England, UK

CAST
Paul Massie (Dr Henry Jekyll / Edward Hyde)
Christopher Lee (Paul Allen)
Dawn Addams (Kitty)
David Kossof (Litauer)
Francis De Wolff (Inspector)
Norma Marla (Maria)
Magda Miller (Sphinx girl)
Oliver Reed (beau)
William Kendall (clubman)
Helen Goss (nanny)
Joy Webster
Pauline Shepherd (Mary)
Percy Cartwright (coroner)
Jo Robinson (Corinthia)
Arthur Lovegrove (cabby)
Frank Atkinson
Janina Faye (Jane)
Douglas Robinson (boxer)
Donald Tandy
Maria Andippa (gypsy girl - uncredited)
Archie Baker, Ralph Broadbent, Alex Miller, Laurence Richardson (singers - all uncredited)
Glenn Beck, Alan Browning, Rodney Burke, Clifford Earl (young bloods - all uncredited)
John Bonney (Renfrew - uncredited)
Dennis Cleary (waiter - uncredited)
Doreen Ismail (2nd Sphinx girl - uncredited)
Bandana Das Gupta, Pauline Dukes, Hazel Graeme, Carole Haynes, Josephine Jay, Jean Long, Marilyn Ridge, Gundel Sargent, Patricia Sayers, Shirli Scott-James, Moyna Sharwin (Sphinx girls - all uncredited)
Roy Denton, Kenneth Firth, George McGrath, Mackenzie Ward (business men - uncredited)
Felix Felton (1st gambler - uncredited)
Walter Gotell (2nd gambler - uncredited)
Anthony Jacobs (3rd gambler - uncredited)
Lucy Griffiths, Prudence Hyman (tavern women - uncredited)
Roberta Kirkwood (2nd brass - uncredited)
John Moore, John Trevor-Davis (officers - uncredited)
Anthony Pendrell, Fred Stone (cabinet ministers - uncredited)
Denis Shaw (tavern customer - uncredited)
Joyce Wren (nurse - uncredited)

PLOT SUMMARY

An aged, bearded Jekyll experiments on himself and transforms into a younger, clean-cut Hyde, a suave lady killer - in every sense. Realising his immense power, Hyde rapes Jekyll's wife Kitty when he discovers her affair with Jekyll's best friend Paul. Hyde takes a lover of his own and it is while she lies in Hyde's bed that Kitty takes her own life. Paul is killed by the snake used by Hyde's lover in her stage act as an 'exotic actor' before Hyde, his evil persona having now taken over the shared body, sets fire to the lab in an effort to erase the Jekyll persona from the world...

Made by Hammer as it was rejuvenating the horror genre in the late fifties, producer Micheal Carreras fancied this to be a horror that had meaning, depth and resonance. Bearded, bland Jekyll turns into charming charismatic Hyde and Victorian society is as evil as him. Frankly getting in a "proper" writer and lead was a mistake. The story meanders, its points now seem facile and there are no shocks or resolution. Massie is dull. Participants from Hammer's regular horrors stand out - Terence Fisher, who only got the job because other turned it down, at least keeps it moving and Christopher Lee is superb as Jekyll's conniving rival. Hammer took them for granted and just didn't appreciate what they had.

Germany
Theatrical Distributor: Alma-Kino-Filmverleih

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Columbia Pictures

USA
Theatrical Distributor: American International Pictures

Finland
Rating: banned in 1960

Sweden
Rating: 15

1960
October
24: UK - theatrical release

1961
May
3: USA - theatrical release

August
21: Sweden - theatrical release

Les deux visages du Dr Jekyll - French title
Las dos caras del Dr Jekyll - Spanish title
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
House of Fright - US title
Jekyll's Inferno
Il mostro di Londra - Italian title
The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll - US TV title

SEE ALSO
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1953)
Docteur Jekyll et les femmes (1981)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1908)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1910)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1912)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1913)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1920a)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1920b)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1941)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1968)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1973)
Dr Jekyll and Ms Hyde (1995)
Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971)
I, Monster (1971)
Jekyll and Hyde (1990)
Jekyll and Hyde Together Again (1982)
Mary Reilly (1996)
Strannaya istoriya doktora Dzhekila i mistera Khajda (1985)
Le testament du Docteur Cordelier (1959)

MAGAZINES

Daily Cinema no.8367 (7 October 1960) p.12 (UK)
review

Dark Terrors no.12 (June 1996) pp.39-41 (UK)
illustrated credits, production notes

The House That Hammer Built no.2 (April 1997) pp.113-116 (UK)
illustrated credits, synopsis, review

The House That Hammer Built no.10 (October 1998) pp.91-106 (UK)
illustrated article

Kine Weekly no.2766 (6 October 1960) p.10 (UK)
review

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.27 no.322 (November 1960) p.153 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review

Radio Times vol.268 no.3501 (26 January 1991) p.29
illustrated article

Variety 19 October 1960 (USA)
credits, review

KEYWORDS

book into film, dancers, jekyll and hyde

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008