Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde |
| Original title | Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1971 |
| length | 94 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Peter Sasdy |
| script | Brian Clemens |
| production | Brian Clemens Albert Fennell |
| music | David Whitaker |
| camera | Norman Warwick |
| cut | James Needs |
| occupation | |
| |
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde is a British horror film from the 1971 production of Hammer Films . Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick play the two title roles, directed by Roy Ward Baker . The story is based on the template of Robert Louis Stevenson's horror novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , only here the conversion from Jekyll to Hyde goes hand in hand with a gender change that also takes place.
action
Dr. Henry Jekyll is a dynamic, young scientist. His goal in life is to be able to cure every conceivable illness one day. His good friend Professor Robertson then mocks that he, Jekyll, will probably be dead before he has achieved this very ambitious goal. This derisive remark gives rise to the idea in Jekyll that the most important thing is to develop the panacea for eternal life. The fanatically researching Brit went straight to his work. He experiments and searches for the formula for a life-rejuvenating elixir. It isolates female hormones, which are the main components of this scientifically based "elixir of life". He gets the hormones he needs from the city morgue. Finally the moment of truth has come. Since only he can be available for a human experiment for ethical reasons, Henry Jekyll tries out this elixir of life on himself and swallows the concocted tincture.
But Henry Jekyll doesn't become his younger me ... no: he has to watch the young man suddenly become a black-haired, gaunt young woman who resembles him like a twin sister. But something must have gone wrong with this painful transformation. The female Jekyll will soon prove to be cold and heartless, an evil, seductive snake. However, this Sister Hyde is initially enthusiastic about her feminine forms, before she falls asleep again and wakes up again the following morning in the laboratory as the man Henry Jekyll. Enthusiastic about his first discoveries, Jekyll continues with his work. His private life is falling behind, he hardly has time for the young Susan Spencer, who lives in the apartment above him. When Susan asks him who this mysterious woman is, whom he has often seen, Henry tells her that it is his sister Edwina, who was widowed at an early age. Susan's brother Howard finds "Edwina" extremely attractive and tries, initially in vain, to hook up with her.
The morgue can no longer provide enough supplies for Henry's needs, and so the scientist hires two dark figures, the grave robbers Burke and Hare, to organize new, fresh, dead human goods for him. But when the two have to pay the price for their atrocities - Burke is lynched by an angry mob, and Hare is violently deprived of his eyesight - Jekyll decides to start experimenting on living people. He roams the streets at night looking for possible victims, and he prefers to find them among the whores of London. When some of these women disappear without a trace, the fear of a new Jack the Ripper soon spreads . In order not to be suspected or even caught as Henry Jekyll, he now more and more often has to transform into Sister Hyde, who soon becomes his alter ego, the dark side of his being. And this sister Hyde knows how to murder without scruples or reservations. Her next victim is Professor Robertson, who in her eyes poses overly curious questions.
Sister Hyde begins to gain control over Henry more and more, especially since he consumes female hormones without end. Soon he no longer needs the serums to get regular visits from Dr. To transform Jekyll into Sister Hyde. And this sister is now starting to get jealous of Susan. She thirsts for the blood of innocence Susan. "Edwina", who has long since become stronger than Henry, plans to murder his girlfriend in order to get at her blood. Then, Sister Jekyll knows, she will have absolute control over Jekyll's body for good. With his last willpower, Henry can prevent an attempted murder of Susan, committed by his female self. The police got him on the track through their Ripper research and are now hounding the scientist, who has a difficult inner battle with himself. Pursued by the state, he / she climbs along the outside wall of a building and falls into the depths at the moment of another transformation. Jekylls / Hyde's corpse lies on the floor - part man, part woman.
Production notes
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde premiered on October 17, 1971 in London and opened in Germany on December 8, 1972. The film was shown on German television under the title Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
Reviews
The Movie & Video Guide said there was "no thrill but plenty of fun" and found that the "similarity between Bates and Beswick was remarkable".
Halliwell's Film Guide saw the film as a "semi-successful attempt to establish a connection between the legend and Jack the Ripper."
"The confused horror film connects RL Stevenson's story of a doctor's split with the character of Jack the Ripper."
Individual evidence
- ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 363
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 283
- ↑ Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed September 9, 2018
Web links
- Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde in the Internet Movie Database (English)