Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde |
USA • 1908 • 16m •
Dr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.
   • Directed by: Otis Turner. • Starring: Hobart Bosworth, Betty Harte.. |
Review:
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.
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.
Review by Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki from the Internet Movie Database.
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