Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

This is the oldest version of "Jekyll and Hyde" in existence. The film stars James Cruze, who is most famous for his film "The Covered Wagon". It was made by Thanhouser Film C. and was released on January 16 1912. and clocks in at about 11 min. I may have took a star away due to the fact that it could have been longer(the 1913 version was 26 min. only a year later). Actually, in a 1963 interview, a stock crew member named Harry Benham who worked at Thanhouser, said that he portrayed Mr.Hyde in some scenes. When you watch the film you can tell them apart because James is taller and their Hyde makeup is slightly different.

The film starts off with Jekyll briefly talking with an elderly man apparently about drugs. Then Jekyll locks himself in his lab and tests his "potion" on himself. Immiediatly a dark haired taloned beast appears in the chair, looks in his mirror (he is slightly shorter than before mmmmmmmmm)takes the drug again and transforms back into Jekyll, and then begins to write something down.

Jekyll (with his wife a ministers daughter) meet each other in front of her house and talks with her father. The next scene shows Jekyll reading a book cries out in agony rushes into his lab and now Jekyll is Hyde, Hyde grabs his hat runs out into the street knocks down a little girl rushes back to his lab and transforms into Jekyll.

Jekyll is talking to his wife in the the park and then he suddenly runs away kneels down and in the next shot is Hyde. He runs back, tries to strangle her, her father comes (from nowhere) and Hyde kills him instead. Jekyll says to his wife he is "going away" and then he runs back to his lab, a card says his potion is gone now he must remain Hyde to the end. Hyde is in his lab now. He go's on a rampage destroying his lab looking for something. Police have tracked down Hyde and are breaking down the door. just as they are about to break the door down, Hyde takes a fatal dose of poison........... when the police come in Hyde is dead. THE END

Even though this version is short, it is still pretty good and recommended.

When "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" premiered in Chicago in 1908, produced by the Selig Polyscope Company, the film was the first American real horror movie every shown. This film is lost, as well as its sequel, 1909's "The Modern Dr. Jekyll," also produced by Selig.

The earliest existing print of a movie based on the 1887 Robert Livingston Stevenson's novel "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is the 1912 "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," produced by Thanhouser Studios. Actor James Cruz, seen in the lead of the earlier "She," is named in the credits for playing both roles as the researcher Dr. Jekyll, soon to be married, and his evil alter ego Mr. Hyde, which the good doctor turns into by drinking a concoction of liquid.

The 1908 film claims to have been based directly on the Stevenson novel while the Thanhouser version takes its cue from the subsequent successful stage play, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or a Mis-Spent Life." There is some controversy as to who actually plays the shorter Mr. Hyde, one of the few Jekyll movies (and there are a great many) where Hyde is considerably shorter than his counterpart. A Thanhouser Studio actor Harry Benham is attributed by some to have played Mr. Hyde even though he isn't credited in the opening title. The viewer can spot the height difference between the taller Cruze, playing Dr. Jekyll, and the shorter Mr. Hyde.

The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde theme has since been the main thread in a wide variety of movies, some which one wouldn't think would be related. They include "The Nutty Professor," "Van Hesling," "Edge of Sanity," "I, Monster," "The Ugly Duckling (cartoon)", and "Pagemaster."

"The taking of certain drugs can separate man into two beings---one representing EVIL the other GOOD" the story begins by telling us. Jekyll tests that theory on himself one night by downing an elixir, which instantly turns him into a clawed, slobbering ogre. A different elixir returns him to his normal state. More studies are needed.

He later marries. His repeated use of the elixir causes uncontrollable changes in him, back into the clawed, slobbering ogre, who ransacks his own house and then takes to the streets to assault people, and ultimately kill a man.

Followed by police, Hyde retreats to his home, for another dose of elixir. But when it is gone, he realizes he is now stuck as Hyde. Police chop down the door to Jekyll's study with an ax, only to find Hyde, and Jekyll, dead. Or, incredibly sleepy.

Industrial look throughout helps give it a more gritty feel, but compressing the story down to a handful of minutes makes it seem like they only adapted a couple of paragraphs of the story. This is the earliest existing film version of this tale, as a 1908 version appears to be lost.

The 1920 version has John Barrymore transforming and twisting himself before your eyes, Lon Chaney style. The 1931 version had an on-screen transformation using a technique that turned out to be simple yet brilliant, and director Rouben Mamoulian kept the secret until his deathbed. But such secrecy would not be needed here, because Jekyll merely drinks the potion grabs his throat and poof! The film jumps and the same actor has now transformed into Hyde complete with makeup and different colored hair. Apparently in this version blonde = good Dr. Jekyll, brunette = evil Hyde.

There are intertitles that tell you what is going on, but even though you can see the actors speaking to one another there are no dialogue intertitles.

There is no "woman of the street" that Hyde is molesting in this version. And although he does cane somebody to death, the only other evil thing that he is shown doing is knocking down a toddler on the sidewalk! Oh, and Dr. Jekyll does not name his evil self Hyde. From the intertitles we are told that this is what the people of the village have dubbed Jekyll's evil self.

The title role is played by James Cruze, early silent actor and later a director into the talking picture era. He was later married to Betty Compson, the hardest working actress of the early talking era. But here one of the extras is Marguerite Snow, his first wife and mother of his only child.

One of the earlier adaptations of the classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this is passable silent cinema.

You know the plot of this household classic tale so I won't bore you, I'll merely say that here we have a 12 minute version that sees the ill fated experiments of the good doctor and how they unravel.

I always find silent cinema to be both charming and frustrating. Thankfully this came before the time they insisted on dabbling with filters that quite frankly leave me with a migraine.

It looks the part, the music is fitting and though hammy (As was to be expected back then) the cast do a decent enough job.

Very short but passable for its day it's easy for such a short to get lost in an ocean of adaptations.

The Good:

Well made

The Bad:

Very short and therefore restricted