The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll (1960)

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

DIRECTION

Directed by: Terence Fisher

PRODUCTION
Copyright: © MCMLX [1960] by Hammer Film Productions Limited
Production Companies: Columbia Pictures Corporation presents a Hammer Films production
Produced by: Michael Carreras
Associate Producer: Anthony Nelson-Keys
Production Manager: Clifford Parkes

SCRIPT
Screenplay by: Wolf Mankowitz
Novel: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (uncredited)

DIRECTION
Assistant Director: John Peverall
Continuity: Tilly Day

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Jack Asher
Camera Operator: Len Harris
Photographed by: Megascope

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

MUSIC
Music and Songs Composed by: Monty Norman and David Heneker
Musical Supervisor: John Hollingsworth

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

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Costume Designer: Mayo (real name: Antoine Mayo)
Wardrobe Mistress: Molly Arbuthnot
Make-up Artist: Roy Ashton
Hairdresser: Ivy Emmerton

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Bernard Robinson

OTHER CREW
Dance Direction: Julie Mendez

LOCATIONS
Produced at Bray Studios, England

CAST

Paul Massie (Dr Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde)
Dawn Addams (Kitty)
Christopher Lee (Paul Allen)

with
David Kossof (Litauer)
Norma Marla (Maria)
Francis De Wolff (Inspector)
Joy Webster

UNCREDITED CAST

Magda Miller (Sphinx girl)
Oliver Reed (beau)
William Kendall (clubman)
Helen Goss (nanny)
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)
Archie Baker, Ralph Broadbent, Alex Miller, Laurence Richardson (singers)
Glenn Beck, Alan Browning, Rodney Burke, Clifford Earl (young bloods)
John Bonney (Renfrew)
Dennis Cleary (waiter)
Doreen Ismail (2nd Sphinx girl)
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)
Roy Denton, Kenneth Firth, George McGrath, Mackenzie Ward (business men)
Felix Felton (1st gambler)
Walter Gotell (2nd gambler)
Anthony Jacobs (3rd gambler)
Lucy Griffiths, Prudence Hyman (tavern women)
Roberta Kirkwood (2nd brass)
John Moore, John Trevor-Davis (officers)
Anthony Pendrell, Fred Stone (cabinet ministers)
Denis Shaw (tavern customer)
Joyce Wren (nurse)

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

Deux visages du Dr Jekyll, Les - French title
Dos caras del Dr Jekyll, Las - Spanish title
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
House of Fright - US title
Jekyll's Inferno
Mostro di Londra, Il - Italian title

PERIODICALS

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: 9 March, 2009