Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Some sources list Otis Turner as director, William Selig as producer, and a variety of writers, but all are unconfirmed. Hobart Bosworth allegedly played Jekyll and Hyde, but that cannot be confirmed either, as the film is long lost, and may never have even been completely and shown publicly, as no one has ever confirmed having seen it. Based in the 1897 four-act stage play, the first screen adaptation of Stevenson's novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, condensed into a one reel short film running approximately sixteen minutes long. It was filmed on a theatre stage in Chicago, with a curtain rising on each scene and falling at the end of each scene.

From what little I have been able to find online about this one, According to pages 194-195 of the 7 March 1908 issue of The Moving Picture World: "The first act takes place in the garden vicarage, where Dr. Jekyll woos Alice, the Vicar's daughter. He transforms because "he is irresistibly addicted to a drink of his own mixture" and then attacks Alice. When the Vicar interferes, Hyde kills him. The second act takes place in Mr. Utterson's London law office, where Jekyll feels remorse and envisions a noose around his neck. This is apparently followed by some comedy that is not described in the review (according to the stage script, it is a love scene between an Irish policeman and Jekyll's cook). The third act takes place in Dr. Lanyon's office, Jekyll's medical friend. At midnight, Lanyon sees an ogre on the portico of his building. The ogre is Hyde who enters his office, takes a drink of the formula, and astonishes Lanyon by transforming to Jekyll. The final act takes place in Dr. Jekyll's laboratory, where there is a "last struggle for the supremacy of his real being." Just as Jekyll wins, Alice pays him a visit. Her presence reminds him that he killed her father, which grieves him. After she leaves, he takes the formula to transform himself into Hyde who then "poisons himself to kill the Dr. Jekyll whom he hated."

Dr. Jekyll was to wear a long-haired wig and, during the transformation to Hyde, the actor was supposed to crouch down and writhe while pulling the wig forward over his forehead and eyes until it formed a tangled mess. Jekyll was also supposed to wear a Prince Albert coat with a pleat down the center that was unraveled by pulling a string so that even his clothes were altered.

My name is Daniela Della Vecchia and I'm a University student in Naples.I'm graduating in English Language and Literature and my thesis is about the comparison between Stevenson's book "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" and its filmography. Searching on Internet websites, I noticed there is a movie by Otis Turner titled "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde"which was produced by Polyscope Film Company in 1908.This motion picture company closed for bankrupt and it was lately bought out by Mr Louis Burt Myer, a co-founder of the Metro Glodwyn Mayer..So, I would like to know if the movie is still available or if you can tell me where I can find more informations about it. Thank you! P.S. please,give me news as soon as possible. Daniela.

We have all heard about this movie, the first film version of the famous novel. Supposedly it stuck very close to the stage version made famous by Richard Mansfield. It compressed the novel into 4 acts and even included a curtain which rose and fell at the start and finish of each act! Interestingly (ironically) Richard Mansfield died in 1907 a year before the first film version was made. No still from this version have ever been published and no historians claim to have seen it. Is it still out there somewhere?