O Monstro de Duas Caras

I really like Paul Massie in the lead role and I feel he does manage to give a compelling performance here. However the film itself proves unfortunately melodramatic (too many long scenes of Jekyll having outbursts of guilty emotions over the actions of Hyde is the biggest shortcoming). The changes to the story were novel but at the same time managed to turn Jekyll into a simpering wimp compared to a much stronger Hyde. I also fails to make us feel sympathy for any of Hyde's victims..still for some reason I find myself sometimes going back to this one.

Dr. Henry Jekyll (Paul Massie) is working on a serum that brings out the animal instincts of man. After testing it on a monkey (who goes berserk), he turns to himself. As his alternate self, Edward Hyde, he stumbles upon his friend's treachery and his wife's sordid affair. Hyde, the animal that he is, is ready to go on his own little excursion into debauchery and hedonism.

I was really blown away by this film. The Jekyll/Hyde story has been told again and again and the main character has been portrayed by countless actors. Yet, this may be the great version out there -- definitely the best one I've seen yet. The Canadian actor playing both roles was a new face for me, but is pretty amazing and I couldn't see the two personas as the same actor no matter how hard I tried. It was quite impressive.

Christopher Lee, ever-present in the Hammer films (did he ever have a day off?), plays friend Paul Allen. Wow. I've praised Lee in "Scream of Fear", but he should be praised no less in this, where he's a convincingly sleazy gambler and womanizer. Not the way I picture Lee to be, but it seems so natural here. The more I see this man in action, the more I see what the generation before me saw. I had always been a Peter Cushing fan, but maybe it's time for me to switch sides? I enjoyed the philosophical questions raised by this film. There's the portrayal of Hyde as younger, more handsome and more charming... not the monster he's usually shown to be. I think this fit well... he still had the spontaneous violence, but not unlike the devil himself, knew his way to get to people with savoir faire. Early on, Jekyll also talks of the man "beyond good and evil", the "higher man", evoking the words of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, though certainly not in the way Nietzsche would have endorsed. Both Nietzsche's and Jekyll's higher man use their wills to gain what they most desire, but Hyde is something of an unhinged creature, not the refined and academic man Nietzsche preferred.

Nietzsche also spoke of "beyond good and evil" as a transcendence of morality, moving beyond our traditional concepts and accepting that there is good and bad, but no overarching divine good or evil. In this regard, Hyde may be comparable. He certainly has no care for his "evil" actions... though one suspects that not even Nietzsche would support these "bad" actions destroying those around him.

You must pick up this film (preferably in the four-disc set of Hammer films also containing "The Gordon" and "Scream of Fear"). You don't need to be as analytical or philosophical as I am when digesting it, but you'll love the film for its great characters and hedonistic wickedness... drunken, licentious men in 1870s London? Let the depravity begin.

Like many Hammer Films that were pooh-poohed at the time of their release as exploitational, THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL is much better than its reputation would have you think, and it's surprisingly frank in its depictions of adultery and sexuality. It's well-directed by Terence Fisher, and the sets, costumes, set decorations and cinematography are excellent, making very good use of color (particularly in the Can-Can sequence). Performances are also excellent, particularly Paul Massie in the title roles, though he may seem a bit over-the-top at times. He does an excellent job of differentiating between Jekyll and Hyde, even vocally (though he sounds oddly post-synched in both roles). No, this isn't the foggy, gas-lit London of previous versions of J&H - color more or less ruled that out - but its nevertheless effective in its own way and deserves re-examination.

Ostracized by the scientific community, Dr. Jekyll is doing some rather pointless sounding experiments while his wife is cheating on him with his gambler friend. Unhappy with their relationship, he turns his experiments on himself and becomes the suave Mr. Hyde.

Another take on the Jekyll and Hyde story, this one has some interesting ideas, but it never does much with them. Ultimately, the film is quite dull. Too much focus is placed on Jekyll's poor marriage and the affair his wife is having. It might not have been so bad if his wife were actually desirable, but she's an annoying shrew. Jekyll should just rid himself of her and consider his life all the better for it. Christopher Lee plays the friend with whom she's having the affair. He's playing against type here and is actually sort of the protagonist, but it's hard feeling sympathy for a philanderer. Paul Massie plays Jekyll and Hyde. He's actually not that great as either. His line delivery just sounds unnatural, especially when he's playing Jekyll.

There are some interesting twists towards the end, but it's too little, too late. This isn't one of the better films from Hammer.

Dr. Henry Jekyll (Paul Massie) has no life anymore, chained to his work and stuck in a loveless marriage to Kitty (Dawn Addams), he busy's himself working on a character altering potion. Firstly testing it on primates, Jekyll ignores the warnings from his friend Dr. Ernst Littauer (David Kossoff) and experiments on himself. The result brings out Jekyll's alter ego, Mr. Edward Hyde, a debonair gentlemen who holds within a sadistic dangerous streak. Hyde spells danger for anyone who gets too close to him, particularly Kitty, Jekyll's morally bankrupt friend Paul Allen (Christopher Lee) and more worryingly, Jekyll himself.

The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll is by Hammer Film Productions. It's directed by Terence Fisher and is adapted by Wolf Mankowitz from the famous story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Tho very much a middle tier offering from the house of Hammer, this version of the often told tale puts a different slant on things to make it unique and always interesting. Jekyll here is a bland and reclusive person, the people closest to him cheat on him and he is powerless to stop it. Contrast with Hyde, handsome and charming and able to take what he wants either by cunning or brute force. This was a deliberate shift from the normal by Fisher and Mankowitz, they didn't want Hyde as some furry half man beast frothing at the mouth, they sided with evil lurking behind a charming facade. It's also notable for its ending too. Where they had the courage of their convictions to stay with a differing formula.

The problems come if one is searching for a horror film in the Hammer tradition. For although Hammer traits such as a smouldering sexiness hang over proceedings, the film is in truth lacking in terror. Something which is sure to annoy the horror purists. But if you can accept this as a more restrained psychological horror piece, one that deals in the duality of man, the pursuit of something more and the often treacherous nature of the human being, the rewards are there to be enjoyed. The cast are fine, Massie is competent without the ham, and Lee is elegantly vile to fit seamlessly into character. But the bonus is with a flame headed Dawn Addams who comes up with something more than the usual heaving bosom Hammer leading lady. The cast also features an early appearance from none other than Oliver Reed, suitably playing a night club pimp type bit of muscle. Shot in Megascope and Technicolor the film thankfully looks gorgeous and has transfered excellently on to DVD. With the sultry red lipped Addams and Jekyll's garden particularly benefiting from the pinging colours.

A dam good story with wit and cautionary observations of the human condition, this isn't one for the blood and gore brigade. But it has many other qualities just waiting to be discovered by the more literary minded horror fan. 7/10