- Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
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Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
Film posterDirected by Roy Ward Baker Produced by Brian Clemens
Albert FennellWritten by Brian Clemens Starring Ralph Bates
Martine BeswickMusic by David Whitaker Cinematography Norman Warwick Editing by James Needs Studio Hammer Film Productions Distributed by Anglo-EMI Film Distributors
MGM-EMI (UK), American International (USA)Release date(s) 17 October 1971 Running time 97 minutes Country United Kingdom Language English Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde is a 1971 British film directed by Roy Ward Baker based on the short story Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The film was made by British studio Hammer Film Productions and was their second adaptation of the story after their 1960 film The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll. The film is notable for showing Jekyll transform into a female Hyde; it also incorporates into the plot aspects of the historical Jack the Ripper and Burke and Hare cases. The two characters were played by the film's stars, Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick. The film was later remade into the comedy Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde.
Contents
Plot
While searching for an elixir of life, Dr. Henry Jekyll begins using female hormones taken from fresh cadavers supplied by Burke and Hare. These have the effect of not only altering his character (for the worse) but also of changing his gender, transforming him into a beautiful but evil woman. To explain the sudden appearance of his female half around the house, he calls himself Mrs. Hyde, saying she is Jekyll's widowed sister. Dr. Jekyll soon falls in love with Susan Spencer, the upstairs tenant, but Sister Hyde develops a lust for her brother.
Dr. Jekyll soon finds that his serum requires a regular supply of female hormones to maintain its effect, necessitating the killing of young girls. Since Burke and Hare, their criminal activities uncovered, have been lynched by a mob, the doctor decides to take the matters into his own hands and commits the murders attributed to Jack the Ripper. Dr. Jekyll abhors this, but Sister Hyde relishes the killings as she begins to take control, even killing Jekyll's friend Professor Robertson when he attempts to question Hyde about the murders.
As the two personalities begin to struggle for dominance, Dr. Jekyll only just manages to thwart Sister Hyde's attempt to kill Susan. He then commits one last murder to find a way to stabilize his condition, but he is interrupted by the police after a comment by the now-blind Hare leads them to realize the similarity between Jekyll's earlier experiments on cadavers and the Ripper murders. As Dr. Jekyll tries to escape by climbing along the outside of a building, he transforms into Sister Hyde, who, lacking his strength, falls to the ground, dying as a twisted amalgamation of male and female.
Cast
- Ralph Bates as Dr. Henry Jekyll
- Martine Beswick as Mrs. Edwina Hyde
- Gerald Sim as Professor Roberston
- Lewis Fiander as Howard Spencer
- Susan Brodrick as Susan Spencer
- Dorothy Alison as Mrs. Spencer
- Ivor Dean as William Burke
- Tony Calvin as William Hare
- Philip Madoc as Ryker
- Paul Whitsun-Jones as Sergeant Danvers
- Virginia Wetherell as Betsy
See also
References
- Rigby, Jonathan, (2000). English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. ISBN 1-903111-01-3.
External links
- Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde at the Internet Movie Database
- Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde at the TCM Movie Database
- Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde at AllRovi
- BFI Screenonline
- Britmovie
Films - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1908)
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912)
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1913)
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)
- The Head of Janus (1920)
- Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde (1925)
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
- Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953)
- The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960)
- Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971)
- I, Monster (1971)
- Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo (1972)
- Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype (1980)
- Docteur Jekyll et les femmes (1981)
- Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again (1982)
- Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde (1995)
- Mary Reilly (1996)
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2006)
Cartoons - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse (1947)
- Motor Mania (1950)
- Hyde and Hare (1955)
- Hyde and Go Tweet (1960)
- The Strange Case of Dr. Jiggle and Mr. Sly (2004)
- The Monster of Phineas-n-Ferbenstein (2008)
Other Hammer gothic horror films The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) · The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960) · The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) · The Phantom of the Opera (1962) · The Kiss of the Vampire (1962) · The Devil-Ship Pirates (1963) · The Gorgon (1964) · Rasputin, the Mad Monk (1966) · The Plague of the Zombies (1966) · The Reptile (1966) · The Witches (1966) · The Devil Rides Out (1968) · Hands of the Ripper (1971) · Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971) · Countess Dracula (1971) · Vampire Circus (1972) · To the Devil a Daughter (1976)Films directed by Roy Ward Baker 1940s 1950s Morning Departure (1950) · Highly Dangerous (1950) · I'll Never Forget You (1951) · Don't Bother to Knock (1952) · Night Without Sleep (1952) · Inferno (1953) · Passage Home (1955) · Jacqueline (1956) · Tiger in the Smoke (1956) · The One That Got Away (1957) · A Night to Remember (1958)1960s The Singer Not the Song (1961) · Flame in the Streets (1961) · The Valiant (1962) · Two Left Feet (1963) · Quatermass and the Pit (1967) · Journey to Midnight (1968) · The Anniversary (1968) · The Fiction Makers (1968) · Moon Zero Two (1969)1970s The Vampire Lovers (1970) · Scars of Dracula (1970) · Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971) · Asylum (1972) · The Vault of Horror (1973) · And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973) · The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)1980s The Monster Club (1980) · The Masks of Death (1984)Categories:- 1971 films
- 1970s horror films
- British horror films
- English-language films
- Films shot in Technicolor
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde films
- Films based on short fiction
- Films directed by Roy Ward Baker
- Films set in London
- Hammer Film Productions horror films
- Jack the Ripper in fiction
- Science fiction horror films
- Victorian era films
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