ThiefHott Too much of everything

Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Jamie Ward Alongside Sherlock Holmes and James Bond, Robert Louis Stevenson's novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a work that has spawned many screen adaptations, yet predates both, the first of which dating as far back as 1908. Widely considered one of, if not the best of the bunch, John S. Robertson's seminal 1920 proto-horror classic is mostly remembered for one thing above all others. Played by an endlessly captivating John Barrymore, the characters of Jekyll and more importantly Hyde, are brought into—or returned to—existence with contrasting shades of elegance and pure ham-fisted grotesque in a performance that many point to as Barrymore's first 80 minutes of brilliance. Relying on little to no makeup for some of Hyde's appearances, the actor merely uses his face as a means of creeping the hell out of you as he stares enigmatically through the lens with eyes watering with madness and depravity. Simply put, it's the stuff of nightmares and silent-horror gold.Outside of these murky, lusty, greasy scenes featuring Barrymore's crazed shuffle and psychotic debaucheries however, there's only a few other aspects of the film which draw quite the same amusement and/or repulsion. Overbaugh's photography does well in capturing said scenes, often sticking on Barrymore's close-ups for long periods of time, his face serving somewhat hauntingly as our only source of light in a sea of overwhelming shadow. There's also a great specials effects sequence involving a gargantuan spider crawling up the far-end of Jekyll's bed which, even now some 95 years later, is very strikingly uncomfortable to watch. Furthermore, set designs shake up the nihilistic, slimy pre- code undertones of the feature well enough, always maintaining a sense of darkness and gloom that pervades Jekyll's world, though perhaps not quite as convincing as Griffith's depiction of Victorian London in Broken Blossoms. Overall though, there's a sense that without Barrymore, there wouldn't be much left to pick at here. Perhaps it's a natural result of being all-too-familiar with the source material that the plot seems shallow and a bit lacklustre. But regardless of the reasoning, Robertson's version here is competent at best when John "the profile" Barrymore is either not present, or not being allowed to ham it up. It's more than worthy of a watch though, if only to enjoy the performance of its lead star. If you do, be sure to catch the newly restored blu-ray version released in 2004 which features a great Rodney Sauer score performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra that mirrors the feature's action superbly.

bkoganbing I've always thought that the popularization of Sigmund Freud's theory of the ego and the id helped directly with the popularity of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde. Nowhere will you see it better expressed without voice than by John Barrymore in the silent screen version of the classic.In fact no player since Richard Mansfield who originated the acting role on stage was better acclaimed than Barrymore up to that time. Even without the use of his magnificent vocal instrument along with some superb makeup he carries off both the decent scientist Jekyll and the beast within he calls Hyde. No accident Stevenson chose that name. Hyde is something we do with that part of our nature.This is a short feature film for its time, still all the elements of the story are contained. The women in Jekyll/Hyde's life are Marian Mansfield as the decent girl he's engaged to and Nita Naldi as the Music Hall entertainer who Hyde tortures beyond endurance.One of John Barrymore's best silent films. Do not miss this version of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde.

Bill Slocum Next to comedy, horror movies seem to hold their value best in the realm of silent cinema. Dark shadows, flickering lights, unintelligible conversations, and a pervading sense of time's unrelenting passage lend an uneasy quality of the macabre.That said, "Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde," the pioneering U. S. horror film starring John Barrymore, still comes off as boring and frustrating, not to mention more than a bit hokey. It manages to take a fine story and flatten it out into a handful of striking images and a lot of waiting in-between.Jekyll (Barrymore) is a good doctor in a bad spot. Ridiculed by his friends for his upright ways, he decides to embrace his own dark side by means of an experiment, with himself as the lab rat. He discovers a chemical that transforms him into a brute named Hyde, and runs wild in London's poorer quarters. But getting back to Jekyll proves difficult.There are a lot of allowances that have to be made in watching this century-old film, beginning with the histrionic qualities of the lead. Barrymore as the nasty Hyde is over-the-top. Overemoting was more in style then, but Barrymore pushes the envelope more than you might expect. I couldn't really adjust to it.A central problem is we are basically watching a stage play being adapted for film by a stage director (John S. Robertson) and starring a stage idol. Film was in its infancy, cameras were stationary and there were no pans, zooms, or crane shots. Other directors with more of a cinematic flair found ways to add dynamism without said tools. Robertson for the most part does not.Static composition adds to the problem of the first third, which is very slow and hokey. Dialogue is excessive and exposition-laden, really brutal in a silent. (Jekyll: "I tell you, Lanyon, we haven't begun to discover what science can do with the body and mind of man!" Lanyon: "You're tampering with the supernatural.") For long stretches, Barrymore as Jekyll stares at the camera, with a deer-in-headlights expression like Andrew McCarthy in a Brat Pack movie. Pains are taken to introduce characters with little or no bearing on the film's outcome.The film makes a big deal out of introducing two women, Martha Mansfield as Jekyll's upright lover Millicent, and Nita Naldi as Miss Gina, who draws Jekyll to the dark side merely by wiggling her hips and waving her arms in a very stiff dance number. But Millicent is left on the sidelines for most of the film, while Miss Gina disappears after Hyde rejects her.She may appear later in a bar scene; I'm not sure. There are a lot of odd moments in this film that left me confused, like the fate of a boy Hyde runs over. Robertson leans on the title cards so much you come to look for them at every plot point.There is great atmosphere in this movie; whoever did the lighting and set dressing did their job. Robertson does manage to get some eerie shots of Hyde late in the film, menacing Millicent from an up-tilted camera angle that shows real flair. You feel the London fog pressing in on all sides, and that is a good thing.But as a cinematic entertainment, and not a historical document, "Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde" fails to connect. At least it does with me. The best I can say for it is it shows why movies like "Nosferatu" and "The Golem" are so great, because they push the envelope in ways that are still startling and engaging. Two words, I fear, that can't be used here.

kai ringler never seen a John Barrymore picture till this one,, this is the oldest film in my collection, which has roughly 2,200 movies. this is one of the all time classics in my mind, John Barrymore gives a wonderful performance in duality as DR. Jeckyl and of course Mr. Hyde.. just sitting there watching the movie as he gets ready to drink the potion, wow what a chill , what will happen next,, well as I look to see the transformation from one character to the next is almost a shock to the eyes,, just watching the whole thing,, once the transformation is complete, we are ready to get into the other character,, this movie has been remade so many times,, it's hard to imagine owning or watching another version, but I will later just so I can make some sort of comparison , this version I believe will always be the one I will probably like the most however.