Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1920)

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a 1920 American silent horror film directed by John S. Robertson, produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. John Barrymore stars as the respectable Dr Henry Jekyll, who develops a potion that unleashes his hidden evil nature in the form of the hideous Mr Hyde. Based on Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Widely considered the first great American horror film, Barrymore's performance as Hyde is a tour de force of physical transformation — he used no special makeup effects for the initial transformation, instead contorting his face and body to suggest Hyde's deformity. The film stars Martha Mansfield in one of her most notable roles; she died in a tragic fire accident three years later at age 24. The film is in the public domain.

Watch

Video source: Internet Archive — DrJekyllandMrHyde · Public domain

Chapters

Click any timestamp to jump to that point in the film.

1. 00:00 Dr Jekyll, the respected physician and man of science
2. 08:00 Inspired by a corrupt mentor, Jekyll begins experiments on duality of the soul
3. 16:00 The first transformation: Jekyll becomes the hideous Mr Hyde
4. 24:00 Hyde's crimes multiply; Jekyll loses control of the transformation
5. 35:00 Jekyll tries to end it — Hyde's will is too strong
6. 45:00 The final transformation; the police close in

References

1. Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Longmans, Green, 1886.
2. Skal, David J. The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror. Faber and Faber, 1993.