I'm a huge fan of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and I just counted that I've seen, this one included, 13 movie versions of the story. There are many great ones like the 1931 classic starring Frederik March, Jean Renoir's French film "Testament of Dr. Cordelier", an American TV film with Jack Palance, "I, Monster" with Christopher Lee, the strangely erotic "Dr. Jekyll and his women", Julia Roberts/John Malkovich film "Mary Reilly" and Mark Redfield's recent adaptations from 2002. These are all very fine Jekyll and Hyde films.
This film from 1981, a BBC production, however is not. The plot is incredibly slow, actors bored or uninterested in working and there is no chemistry between their characters. The film is lacking music in many scenes and when there is some it's enough to drive you to coma. During the transformation scenes director seems to be thinking he is doing some weird art film, or at least that's the only explanation I could come up with.
The only thing I found even slightly interesting in the film is David Hemmings(Profondo Rosso) who plays the title character. This time Hyde is left without make up, whereas Jekyll has been made old and over weighted. I thought this was good since in some versions the physical difference between Jekyll and Hyde is so small you can't help but think: "Why don't they get they're the same person?" Hemmings did all he could but it sadly wasn't enough to save this mess.
Belongs to the same category as "Edge of Sanity" starring Anthony Perkins and Michael Caine's "Jekyll & Hyde". Stevenson fans, be warned!
