The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Handsome Hedonist

In wild London of 1874, a reclusive scientist obsessively studies human nature (Paul Massie) while his alluring wife (Dawn Addams) is having a questionable relationship with a smooth gambler (Christopher Lee). The sudden appearance of suave Edward Hyde shakes everything up.

Released in 1960-1961, "The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (also known as Jekyll's Inferno and House of Fright) is the second of three Hammer films inspired by Robert Louis Stevensons famous story Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It was preceded by the horror comedy The Ugly Duckling (1959) and followed by Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971). (Please notice I said theyre inspired by and not based on Stevensons novella). Th...

Paul Massie is really only competent here as physician "Dr. Jekyll" who is becoming increasingly frustrated by the rather linear approach taken by modern science to the issue of the human psyche. Trapped in a loveless marriage with "Kitty" (Dawn Addams) who is much keener on his parasitical friend "Paul" (Christopher Lee), he devotes more of his time to his work and soon develops a serum that turns an unassuming monkey into a maniac! How might it work on a man? Well, we don't have to wait long to find out as his own self-experimentation leads him to discover some rather nasty character traits in himself, but also some facts about the behaviour of those around him. Can he rein in his new alter ego, the debonaire and manipulative ("Mr. Hyde")...