Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1908 film)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1908 Selig Polyscope Company silent horror motion picture starring Hobart Bosworth, and Betty Harte in her film debut.

Directed by Otis Turner and produced by William N. Selig, the screenplay was adapted by George F. Fish and Luella Forepaugh based on their 1897 four act stage play, which was condensed into a one reel movie short.

This is the first screen adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Critics were enthusiastic, giving Bosworth special mention: "The change is displayed with a dramatic ability almost beyond comprehension."

The film was released seven months after the death of stage actor Richard Mansfield. Mansfield created the part of Jekyll/Hyde in the theater in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, beginning in 1887.

There are no known existing copies of this film.

Synopsis

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde began with the raising of the stage curtain. Dr. Jekyll vows his undying love for Alice, a vicar's daughter, in her spacious garden. Suddenly, seized by his addiction to the chemical formula, Jekyll begins to convulse and distort himself into the evil Mr. Hyde. He savagely attacks Alice, and when her father tries to intervene, Mr. Hyde takes great delight in slaughtering him. Later on, Jekyll transforms again, but haunted by visions of the gallows, Mr. Hyde takes a fatal dose of poison, killing both identities. In true theatrical tradition, the curtain then closes.

External links

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the Internet Movie Database