Cheap Two Faces of Dr Jekyll / Movie (Video) (Terence Fisher) Price

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Customer Reviews of Two Faces of Dr Jekyll / Movie

Excellent reformulation of Robert L. Stevenson's immortal story
Elegant and cultivated british director Terence Fisher,specialist since 1958 in personal adaptations of horror myths( or as he prefered " adult fairy-tales ") got another great achievement with this visually imaginative adaptation of Stevenson's famous novel reinventing again through tradition without turning aside the philosophical intention of the story,conducting the film beyond the duality between Good and Evil incarnated in the double personality of Dr. Jekyll to build a sharp study about hipocresy and the double morality and false prejudices hidden behind social conventions and correct manners.The only fault of the film, as occurs in the other adaptations of this novel, is to leave the role of the two personalities of the main character to an only actor, dismounting so the ending surprise.In the other side , the film is plenty of subtle visual invention and keeps the narrative sobriety, absence of effectism and depth in the drawing of the psychology of the characters habitual in Fisher films since his jump into " fantastique". Testimony of his visual creativity is the two metamorphosis of Dr. Jekyll: the first, out of shot ( we see only his shadow );the second transformation is shown through the changing of his handwriting to another while he's writing in his private diary about the effects of the drugs he's experimenting. Another achievement is the ironic characterizetion of Hyde as a handsome, seductive and cynical dandy;ironic twist in relation to the previous adaptations supported by the paradoxal situation of Hyde, despaired in seducing his own wife,a foolish woman who despises the two faces of Jekyll and cheats him having an " affaire " with one of his colleagues: a weak, vicious and oportunist man, convincingly incarnated by Christopher Lee. <
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Interesting Hammer Variation on the Jekyll & Hyde Theme
I have a particular fascination for the classic Robert Louis Stevenson story "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", which of course explored the whole idea of the human body being composed of equal parts that are good and evil. As a story it made an ideal subject for a horror movie and under its original title has seen many classic versions made stretching right back into the silent era. Strangely Hammer Studios in England, the leaders in the revival of so many early horror properties through the 1950's and 60's in beautiful full colour productions seemed to shy away from this particular story and it was only in 1960 that they at least attempted to remake the original novel under the different title of "The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll". In the process they made an number of quite prominent changes in the story as well, most significantly in turning Dr. Jekyyl's alter ego not into a snarling sadistic monster but instead a murderous debonair man about town who has a seemingly fatal ability to charm his intended victims. While this effort is probably less satisfactory than previous versions of this story resulting mainly from the strangely colourless performance by Paul Massie in the lead, there is still a lot to admire in some of the supporting performances and in the typically lavish Victorian settings to the story courtesy of Hammer Studios which make "The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll", a visually rich film to enjoy nevertheless. <
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>Putting his own stamp on such a famous story Terence Fisher removes the "visual", monster from the story and substitutes instead a suave but deadly menacing character as the chief villian as we see a totally self focused scientist Dr. Henry Jekyll (Paul Massie), neglecting his wife and friends in his single minded pursuit of the answers to the human mind and how it works. Carrying his experiements too far he begins to try out his serum on himself where he finds the results catastrophic whereby his repressed and cold personality is transformed into a handsome but deadly opposite who attempts to take over all of Jekyll's mind and soul. As "Edward Hyde", Jekyll begins to take revenge on all those who have hurt him in some way including his bloodsucking friend Paul Allen (Christopher Lee), who drains money off him to pay his gambling debts while carrying on an affair with his wife Kitty (Dawn Addams). Kitty is also in Hyde's target sight for never taking an interest in his alter egos work in research. Gradually Hyde begins to take total control in the inner fight for Jekyll's mind and body and as the murders begin building up Jekyll in his lucid moments fights back to rid himself of this terrifying side to his own character. Hyde however gains the upper hand and successfully implicates Jekyll as the multiple murderer just before the inner spirit of Jekyll asserts itself just as the court decision is made. The Court Justice then arrests Jekyll on a charge of mass murder. <
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>Directed with typical finesse by Hammer Studios best director in Terence Fisher, the production overall I feel is hindered to a degree by Paul Massie in the dual role of Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde. He seems an odd choice for the lead at this time at Hammer Studios and either Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee would have undoubtedly put more feeling into their characterisations. His attempts to also show the debauched side to Edward Hyde's character in particular dont have a convincing ring to them and you have to wonder why in the script he is viewed as such a charmer by his female victims. The film however does boast a fine performance by Christopher Lee, fresh from his triumphs in the Hammer classics "Horror of Dracula", and "The Mummy", in the second male lead role of the dissolute Paul Allen. As the equally debauched off sider to Edward Jekyll and spendthrift lover of Jekyl's wife, he stumbles from one gambling debt and unsavory romantic attachment to the next. His performance certainly makes the film come alive and he is pure Victorian decadence from head to toe. Another stand out in the cast is Dawn Addams in the role of Kitty Jekyll. Her work is particulary pleasing in that she has a far more spunky character to work with than most of the women in Hammer Films around this time generally have. Certainly she plays a neglected wife but she is a woman with her own mind despite her tragic end and her scenes handling the parasitic Paul Allen in particular are very effective. As in other Hammer Productions made during this peak time in the studios history the film glows with beautiful sets and costumes depicting the Victorian setting of the story and Terence Fisher handles smoothly the transformations from Jekyll into Hyde with aplomb although the film does suffer from the lack of a real horror transformation into Hyde's character which was always the most spellbinding scene in the earlier filmed versins of this story. Indeed the lack of any real horror at all in "The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll", is one of its main failings and instead we have more of a sordid drama peopled by not terribly likeable individuals who seldom raise sympathy with the audience. <
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>Certainly "The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll", would never be regarded as a high point in the production history of Hammer Studios, the "Studio that Dripped Blood", and they certainly turned out many far more noteworthy horror efforts in this highly productive period of their history. As a lesser attempt at this classic Robert Louis Stevenson story however it is not without some merit. The expected Hammer attention to detail and in this case lurid decadence is very much on display and first and foremost it is outstanding in revealing some of the great diversity that Christopher Lee had even at this early stage in his film career playing largely unattractive characters that definately capture our interest. Sadly hampered with a remote lead player who does not invoke any sympathy "The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll", is not a well remembered film nowadays but based on its other good performances it does deserve a place among the roll call of the many film versions of this famous story. <
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Weak Horror Movie
Weak entry in the Hammer Horror film series finds Christopher Lee playing the evil alter-ego of Dr. Jekel in this somewhat over-acted, weakly plotted film. The ending is predictable with the Good Doctor meeting a terrible ending. And terrible is something this movie was.