Featured Audience Ratings

• Greg S

  
  John Barrymore stars as the good scientist who develops a potion that unlocks his wicked side in this silent adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic. As usual, Jekyll is a bore and Hyde is a blast---here, he looks like a hairy skeleton with a pin-head---and the scenes of… More
  John Barrymore stars as the good scientist who develops a potion that unlocks his wicked side in this silent adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic. As usual, Jekyll is a bore and Hyde is a blast---here, he looks like a hairy skeleton with a pin-head---and the scenes of Victorian depravity, with Hyde visiting prostitutes and opium dens and abusing the lost souls there for his amusement, are solid pre-Code fun. Holds its own against the talkie versions.

• AJ V

  
  Not the first version and not the best either, if you know the story it's predictable and boring. The characters aren't very interesting, the main actor, Barrymore, is pretty good, but other than that, I didn't care for this version.

• Veronique K

  
  silent "dr. jekyll and mr. hyde" is the classic fable upon the irreconcible duality inside humanity, compounded by good and evil, a slight horror showcase for john barrymore to flaunt his daring trial of self-disfiguration, an applaud for the cosmetic department. the only… More
  silent "dr. jekyll and mr. hyde" is the classic fable upon the irreconcible duality inside humanity, compounded by good and evil, a slight horror showcase for john barrymore to flaunt his daring trial of self-disfiguration, an applaud for the cosmetic department. the only way to cope with our base nature, which is symbolized as left hand, is to yield to it but concession to evil would mar the immortal purity of soul. so how should we balance it on a even scale without damaging the harmonious perfection? thus virtuously saint-alike scientist dr. jekyll chooses to discriminate his darker self into another monstrous being_mr. hyde. this marvellous transformation is made possible thru his invention of magic potion. there're various metaphors behind this legendary fable about the schizopreniac reality of human nature, the greater repression of morality causes greater frightful seed of evil, also a tale with a doctrine to condemn human's god-trespassing pride by re-incarnating oneself thru the scientic human endevor, "a sacrilege to both god and devil".... john barrymore's impersonation upon mr. hyde is ground-smashing, considering the phenomenon of cinematic art then, and barrymore had to compulse himself into a certain type of histrionic dramaticity to impress the audience with fierce exaggerations of movements and facial expressions. the seedy mr. hyde resembles the wretched elder witch in midieval dark age, especially when hyde in spider suit creepily crawls over jekyll on bed. that sort of bizarrely expressive method could only exist in the silent age. as for the cameo of silent vamp actress nita naldi who has the oriental looks of geisha, she emanates enough sensuality with her full-cup bosom, her radiant ebony hair, and also her characteristic gothic features. she's one of the archetyped beauties in the 20s, the vamp type, with all her smoldering exotica and her voluptuous tigress allure, she's almost as oriental as any other authentic oriental beauty, but magnified with her fearless earthy lasciviousness.

• Jeremy S

  
  Firstly this film holds a special place of significance in my movie viewing life as the oldest film I have ever seen, made in 1920, and as the first silent film I ever saw. The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde is one of the greatest and most famous works of gothic horror. So much… More
  Firstly this film holds a special place of significance in my movie viewing life as the oldest film I have ever seen, made in 1920, and as the first silent film I ever saw. The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde is one of the greatest and most famous works of gothic horror. So much so that we may use the phrase "a Dr Jekyll, Mr Hyde personality" to describe someone with violently changing moods. The backbone to any adaptation of this horror classic must always centre on the portrayal of Dr Jekyll, and John Barrymore not only is the backbone of the film but the entire skelleton, he virtually holds up the film. Many critics at the time acclaimed him the greatest actor yet, with virtually minimal camera trickery and limited make-up Barrymore relies on his acting skills and in particular, his ability to contort his features (to the extent of dislocating his jaw) in order to make the transformation. But despite all these admirable positives the film needs to be scary, something that silent black and white films people say is very difficult to a modern audience. Well, I disagree the silent black and white horror films tend to have the most frightening effect, I would argue, due to it's percieved deficencies i.e. soundless, colourless, actors with heavy make up and unique faces. The scariest film I have ever seen Jane Erye another literary horror classic proves in my mind this point, supported by this film. It scared the living hell out of me. Any true horror buff would instantly consider this film a classic among the great horrors. As for me a non horror buff, I consider it one of the scariest films I have ever seen.

• Byron B

  
  Before Spencer Tracy in '41 and Fredric March in '31, John Barrymore played the split personalities of Jekyll and Hyde. The extremes of good and evil are presented in strict Victorian terms. Barrymore never plays the good doctor as a fully real person. The supporting… More
  Before Spencer Tracy in '41 and Fredric March in '31, John Barrymore played the split personalities of Jekyll and Hyde. The extremes of good and evil are presented in strict Victorian terms. Barrymore never plays the good doctor as a fully real person. The supporting characters are histrionic or boring. The transformation is almost entirely free of special effects (save a couple time lapse shots in the later scenes). Instead Barrymore's actorly skills are completely responsible in the first transformation. It seems that only after Hyde progresses in his evil are clumsy long fingers and a sort of cone head wig added. The makeup is lite so that Barrymore's contorted face is really what distinguishes the two sides of this man.

• Buddy A

  
  A classic treatment of a classic tale. Barrymore, as usual, is superb in his dual role of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; while make-up and lighting definitely played a part in the now-famous transformation, it is Barrymore himself that exhibits the starkest contrast between the two halves… More
  A classic treatment of a classic tale. Barrymore, as usual, is superb in his dual role of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; while make-up and lighting definitely played a part in the now-famous transformation, it is Barrymore himself that exhibits the starkest contrast between the two halves of the main character's personality through his posture, facial expressions, and exaggerated mannerisms (all, of course, without the use of sound), setting the stage for all future actors who would take on this challenging role (Fredric March, who would win an Oscar for his portrayal of Jekyll/ Hyde some dozen years after this film was made, must certainly have studied Barrymore's performance and likely took several pages from his book). As with most cinematic adaptations of Stevenson's famous 1885 novel, this film does away with the lawyer Utterson as the focal character (and replaces him with the Doctor himself, like virtually all films of this sort do), yet it does indeed utilize more elements from the source text than most, although they generally appear in different places in the cinematic narative (mostly toward the end). All in all, a remarkable silent film, and one that is recommended to fans of either the Stevenson novel or of silent horror films in general.

• Barry L

  
  Brilliantly cheesy with some of the most hammed up acting ever but hey....its a keeper.

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