The Super Network

DR JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE (1971)

This entry for my 31 Days Of Horror comes from my good friend A.J, he brought it up on a past podcast and based upon his recommendation I sought it out. Once I had it though I forgot all about it, and when making my list I remembered it and placed it on the list. The title itself is not a very memorable one, in fact it sounds down right cheesy. I almost expected the film to ooze cheese and camp, but as it turns out the film was pretty good.

My experience with Hammer Horror is limited, I know about them of course and I have seen some Dracula and Frankenstein titles, but away from those I haven’t seen much. This particular film was made as Hammer was on its way out, and only recently has it been resurrected (with films like Let Me In and The Resident). The cards really seemed stacked against the film, but the premise that Dr Jekyll turns into a woman rather than a man was intriguing.

The story centers on Dr Jekyll as he attempts to find a cure for the diseases that plague society. He stumbles across a female hormone and with the right formula when taken it changes the sex of the recipient. He changes into a beautiful woman whom he calls Mrs Hyde, the sister to his Jekyll. It becomes clear that she is the evil incarnation of his personality, which begins to dominate. Subplots include the need for dead women to gain the hormone, in which Jekyll uses the services of grave robbers Burke and Hare. But once they are no longer available he must do the killing himself, they are prostitutes and I think you can see where I am going with this. Throw in the love angle with the neighbours upstairs, and an investigator based on Sherlock Holmes you have all the classics in one place.

As much as that sounds the film didn’t really pile too much in, and it is quite easy to follow. It went for an authentic era look, the sets were wonderful and the costumes were beautiful. It had a very dark and gothic look to it, with the streets coming alive themselves; the foggy look added to the atmosphere. The film had a great look, very stylish and fantastic cinematography by Norman Warwick (The Abominable Dr Phibes, Son Of Dracula). I was surprised really by the look of the film, just such a great job.

The strongest aspects of the film lie within the subtext of the story, a man turns into a woman and the woman inhabits the evil and dark side. Women are evil, temptresses, dominating; someone had a lot to say here. But on the other side of the fence you had the virginal and innocent Susan (Susan Brodrick); she falls for Dr Jekyll. The two characters are polar opposites, and there really is not an in-between good/bad female character here. The side characters are all prostitutes and not at all developed. As for male characters, Jekyll is kind but he really will go to any lengths necessary for his scientific work. You can tell he has a dark side, and once unleashed he hates it. The film ends with him making the ultimate sacrifice, it is heartbreaking and actually well handled. The male characters perhaps come off less evil as Hyde, and overall it is an interesting little study into the mindset of that era and how it was perceived to be in the late 60’s and early 70’s. At that time as well, things were changing and women were gaining more power, so there was definitely something to be said about that as well.

The performances are fantastic as well, with Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick both turning in fabulous performances and Jekyll and Hyde. Both really captured the differences with the two personalities but also seemed like the same character. They both had a striking look about them; they could have passed for brother and sister easily. Very impressed with how well they were both cast, and a very strong part in pulling it all off. Susan Brodrick was really good as the love interest, the perfect blend of pretty and innocent. Lewis Fiander came off as rather sleazy as Howard, Susan’s brother. The performance was all right, in a remake I could imagine Jason Isaacs in the role for some reason. Gerald Sim as the Professor was quite memorable; I enjoyed his performance for the most part.

The film does suffer from some cheese, the dialogue at times is a big laughable, but not all that bad. The transformation scenes were handled pretty well, while you don’t exactly see the transformation happen fully on screen, they worked with what they had and pulled it off rather well. Over all this is an interesting piece on the battle of the sexes, and should be a cause for some interested discussions. Thank you very much Mr. Hakari for bringing me this film.

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