The Two Faces of Doctor Jekyll is a 1960 horror film by Hammer Film Productions. It was directed by Terence Fisher, and stars Paul Massie as Doctor Jekyll, and co-stars Dawn Addams (The Vault of Horror), Christopher Lee and David Kossoff. It was written by Wolf Mankowitz, based on the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, and produced by Michael Carreras.
In contrast to other film versions, Jekyll was portrayed as a rather bland and faceless person, while Hyde was presented as suave and handsome. This reflects director Fisher’s belief in what critics (such as biographer Wheeler Winston Dixon) called “the charm of evil”. The film is also unusual in that it is one of the few where the Jekyll/Hyde character does not die in the story’s conclusion. The film was released in North America under the titles House of Fright and Jekyll’s Inferno.
“Everyone told me not to do horror films, Oliver would later admit. ‘But all I wanted to do was act.’ His first acting contract for Hammer lasted a single day and involved playing a tough nightclub bouncer, something he had personal experience of…” Cliff Goodwin, Evil Spirits: The Life of Oliver Reed
Trailer:
Choice dialogue:
Dr Henry Jekyll: “How can bear you these endless dinner parties, Kitty?
Kitty Jekyll: “Oh, they can be quite gay!”
Dr Henry Jekyll: “To listen to a lot of braying asses, full of cant and hypocrisy?”
Kitty Jekyll: “These are my friends, Henry.”
Cabbie: “Another bloody idiot down the sink (spits on his hand).”
Censorship:
For the original British cinema release, cuts were required by the censors, the BBFC, to shorten the snake dance scene, shots of very brief nudity during Hyde’s bedroom scene with Maria and a reduction in Hyde’s strangulation of her. The 2010 Sony DVD features the restored and uncut version.
The US version suffered heavy edits and removed most of the dialogue that was deemed too crude such as “bitch”, “fourpenny whore”, “damn”, “trollop” and “go to hell” which were replaced by “witch”, “darn” and “go to Hades”. The print also reduced the snake dance and most of the bedroom scene, and the same print was later released on the US Columbia VHS. The Sony DVD, released in the Hammer Icons of Horror collection, features the restored UK version.
Cast and characters:
Paul Massie … Doctor Henry Jekyll/Mr Edward Hyde
Dawn Addams Dawn Addams … Kitty Jekyll
Christopher Lee … Paul Allen
David Kossoff … Doctor Ernst Litauer
Norma Marla … Maria
Francis De Wolff … Inspector
Joy Webster … Jenny
Maria Antippas … Gypsy Girl
Jack Armstrong … Officer at Sphinx Club
Frank Atkinson … Groom
Archie Baker … Singer
Glenn Beck … Young Blood
Ernest Blyth … Sphinx Club Patron
John Bonney … Renfrew
Ralph Broadbent … Singer
Alan Browning … Young Blood
Rodney Burke … Young Blood
Percy Cartwright … Coroner
Denis Cleary … Waiter
Bandana Das Gupta … Sphinx Girl
J. Trevor Davies … Officer
Roy Denton … Businessman
Pauline Dukes … Sphinx Girl
Clifford Earl … Young Blood
Janina Faye … Jane, a deaf-mute child
Oliver Reed … Nightclub Bouncer
