Retro Movie: A Different Side of Jekyll & Hyde

Martine Beswick & Gerald Sim

In the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, England's Hammer Films made a name for themselves as one of the preeminent purveyors of horror tales. Hammer created their own versions of the classic Universal monsters of the 1930s and 1940s, releasing films featuring Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and The Mummy. During the 1970s, the studio had fallen on hard times, and tried amping up the sex and violence quotient with titles like Countess Dracula and The Vampire Lovers to bring audiences back into the theaters. The studio also issued some original takes on their tried and true horror formula, with films such as Demons of the Mind, Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter and Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde. 

Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde spins the story of Dr. Henry Jekyll, an intelligent and forward thinking researcher who's trying to find a universal cure for most of the illnesses suffered by mankind. His cavalier friend Professor Robertson thinks he should get out and enjoy life more. Jekyll''s new neighbor Susan Spencer has a romantic interest in him, but he's too obsessed with his studies to notice. Jekyll reaches a compelling breakthrough in his work, but not the one he expected. He turns from curing illness to creating an elixir of life, using female hormones, since it seems to him that women live longer than men. When Jekyll drinks his elixir, he transforms into a seductive female named Edwina Hyde.

Edwina is a predatory, powerful woman and her strong persona overwhelms the weaker Jekyll, who ends up committing murder to obtain more hormones for his elixir. Ms. Hyde starts to gain control for longer periods, and she wants to become the dominant personality, eliminating Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde is an entertaining variation on the Jekyll/Hyde tale, featuring a good performance by Ralph Bates as Jekyll, and a dark, sensual one from former Bond girl and Hammer veteran Martine Beswick as Ms. Hyde. The clever script by Brian Clemens (who also penned Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter) manages to insert real life corpse snatchers Burke and Hare, as well as the Jack the Ripper killings, into the story of Jekyll and Hyde, and toss a murderous female alter ego for Jekyll into the proceedings as well.

Roy Ward Baker's strong direction, the evocative score by David Whitaker, and the atmospheric cinematography of Norman Warwick combine to make the film one of one of the better variations on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale. The solid supporting cast includes Gerald Sim, Lewis Fiander and Virginia Wetherall. Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde is an intriguing, offbeat entry in the latter day Hammer horror cycle, and it's worth checking out. The film is available on Blu-ray from Scream Factory, and is currently available for streaming on Peacock. Here's a look at the trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylWRtdfcMLk.