Pluskylang Great Film overall

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

He_who_lurks Approaching Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" novella is pretty much impossible to do in 11 minutes. Then again, tons of short film adaptations were made during the silent era. It is said the first was made in 1908, as a filming of a stage play adaptation, but sadly this movie has been lost. A 1910 movie was made of it, but that's lost too. Thus, this 1912 "adaptation" by Lucias Henderson is the earliest surviving version. It is very, very simplistic and doesn't hardly follow the novel, but for the time it's about as good anyone could've done it anyways.The story begins with Dr. Jekyll messing around with formulas and mixing this potion which turns him into Mr. Hyde. He becomes fascinated and keeps changing himself until he can no longer control his transformations. He starts uncontrollably transforming on the spot while making out with his girlfriend (who wasn't even IN the book originally) so after a bit she begins to get suspicious. Eventually, this all leads up to the finale. There's no Mr. Utterson, Mr. Carew, or Dr. Lanyon at all. It's a nice film but is by no means a real adaptation, so you might be better off reading the book first before watching the film.

AllNewSux I've heard many people complain that a book just can't be wrapped up in a mere 2 hour long feature...imagine having only 10 1/2 minutes to work with! This is of course an extremely condensed version of The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, but it's not a bad little film. It took 5 days to complete these few minutes which is a longer amount of time than most film productions of the day were given, film being more of a novelty back then. There's no real introduction to the story or our characters, the movie just gets right down to business with Dr. Jekyll's experiment. As far as the necessary special effects for this story go, the initial transformation cut shot is a bit silly but the fade back into the good doctor looks much better. On a more positive note, we get a lot of Hyde which is good as what horror movie fan doesn't want to see more of the monster and overall this film is a nice, simple telling of the basic story. Whereas it may not be as skillful or as important as Georges Méliès' A Trip To The Moon or Thomas Edison's Frankenstein, it's still a short film worth seeing if you're a fan of early silent cinema or Robert Louis Stevenson.

jacobjohntaylor1 Do not let age fool you. This is one of the scariest movies around. Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1920) is scarier. But still this is a very scary movie. Great special effects. Great acting. Great story line. It is not as scary as Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931). But that one is hard to top. It is still very scary. Far more scary then silence of the lambs ever could be. Not quit as scary as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1941). But still very scary. I just watched now and I have the h.e.b.e.j.e.b.e.s I am on vacation in Florida now. It's night time and I 'm in my condo. This is a very scary movie. Very scary very scary very scary very scary very scary. If you like to get scared you should see this movie.

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