.jpg "DR JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE (1971)") |
| DR JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE (1971) |
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Producer: Brian Clemens & Albert Fennell
Screenplay: Brian Clemens
Cast: Ralph Bates, Martine Beswick, Gerald Sim, Lewis Fiander, Susan Brodrick, Dorothy Alison, Ivor Dean, Philip Madoc, Irene Bradshaw, Neil Wilson, Paul Whitsun-Jones, Tony Calvin, Dan Meaden, Virginia Wetherell, Julia Wright
How?
Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde resulted from a suggestion which The Avengers creator Brian Clemens had jokingly made as to how Robert Louis Stevenson's famous story of Jekyll and Hyde could be taken in a new direction. Realising what a novel idea it actually was, and despite having twice before dealt with the subject (The Ugly Duckling (1959) and The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll (1960)), Hammer commissioned Clemens to write a screenplay, which EMI were convinced to back. Clemens and his partner Albert Fennell were therefore hired to produce, and Roy Ward Baker was eventually brought in to direct. To portray Jekyll Hammer cast their star of the moment Ralph Bates, and after considering a number of actors for Hyde it was eventually decided, at the insistence of James Carreras, on Martine Beswick (One Million Years BC (1966), Prehistoric Women (1967)). It was actually an inspired piece of casting given the uncanny resemblance between her and Bates. Shooting took place entirely on sets at Elstree Studios.
What?
In Victorian London Dr Henry Jekyll is determined to discover the secret of extending life, so that he can complete his work on a cure for all diseases. His experiments to produce an elixir require hormones taken from certain bodily parts of recently deceased women, which he acquires from an obliging undertaker. As he seeks to perfect his elixir he eventually finds that female bodies are no longer forthcoming and so he enlists the aid of Messrs Burke and Hare to 'acquire' fresh bodies for him. At last he produces a formula, with which he experiments upon himself, only to discover that it has the unexpected effect of transforming him into a stunning, sensuous, but evil woman, whom he passes off as his sister Mrs Hyde. As time progresses Hyde begins to take more and more control, and as Burke and Hare have been captured and punished needs dictate that Jekyll must begin to acquire the body parts he needs from the girls of the streets of Whitechapel - an activity which Hyde begins to delight in. As Hyde grows stronger and begins to emerge unbidden, and as the police close in, Jekyll desperately seeks a way to suppress her before it's too late...
So?
What could have been one of the best things to happen to Hammer as it entered the 1970s was the arrival of Brian Clemens. By 'could have been' I mean that we only have Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde and Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974) as evidence, but based on these alone it is a crying shame that Hammer never made more use of Clemens. For Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde is a little gem of a film, taking Stevenson's, by then rather tired, story and giving it a new twist - a twist that should have us guffawing in disbelief but which, in the hands of Clemens and Baker, actually works! Add to that Clemens' ingenious addition of both the Burke and Hare and Jack the Ripper mythos, plus his sly and witty black humour, and you have a Hammer film which both pays homage to the past and also takes the heritage in a new direction. Clemens' is a twisted little tale that explores the 'attractiveness' of evil, and involves some bloody slayings and other nasty deeds, and yet also manages to raise a smile (listen out for the 'Once a berk/Burke always a berk/Burke' line, among others!). Clemens' tongue is never very far from his cheek, which is what makes Sister Hyde such fun.
A large part of what makes Sister Hyde actually work so effectively is in the casting of its two central characters. Ralph Bates was Hammer's rising young star and so was a natural to take the Hyde role. The genius was in casting Martine Beswick as Mrs Hyde. Bates and Beswick bear an eery similarity to one another in their strong facial features and could easily pass for brother and sister. And this is what makes Bates' transformation so believable, and the transformation effects work so well. Hyde is both radically different from Jekyll (in being a woman!) and yet somehow retains Jekyll's features. The film would simply not have worked so well with a different actress, or with Bates in drag (as he suggested!). And while Bates performs admirably as Jekyll, Beswick simply steals the show as Hyde. Her delight in discovering her new body, her raw sexuality, her power over others, her vicious delight in evil are all portrayed wonderfully and Beswick more than makes amends for her previous Hammer appearance in Prehistoric Women! The film, in fact, is filled with lovely little performances by the supporting cast - such as Gerald Sim's lecherous Prof Robertson, Tony Calvin's blind Hare with the mirrored John Lennon glasses, and Philip Madoc's (necrophiliac?!) Byker the undertaker. They more than make up for the slightly insipid performances of Lewis Fiander and Susan Brodrick as the young brother and sister sucked into Jekyll and Hyde's world.
While Roy Ward Baker's direction is perhaps a little uninspired, his is still a capable and safe pair of hands. That may be what helps Sister Hyde work - while the story may be a little outrageous, and in the hands of another director that may have been played up to its detriment, Baker takes the film seriously and creates a genuinely eery environment in which to present Clemens' off-beat story. That seriousness only helps Clemens' moments of black humour, and the entourage of memorable characters, to shine through. In addition, Baker's foggy London streets are just what the film needs (Scott MacGregor having produced some fantastic sets), and his tracking of Hyde as she gleefully follows her prey into twisting dark alleys works wonderfully - the ever-present blind Hare giving an almost Tim Burton-esque look to certain scenes. For those who continue to insist that Hammer only produced rubbish in the 1970s Sister Hyde, from its opening rabbit-gutting and blood spraying to its closing image of a dead Jekyll/Hyde amalgam, only goes to prove how wrong they are. Sure it has weaknesses, and through sheer lack of time and money leaves some ideas undeveloped, but it does what any good Hammer horror does - it takes an outrageous story, makes one suspend disbelief, gives one memorable characters and atmospheric settings, and makes the whole experience eerily and bloodily fun. What more could you ask for?
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