What to expect
John Barrymore makes transformation a performance before make-up completes it. The film gives Stevenson’s divided self a physically expressive silent form and helped establish Jekyll and Hyde as enduring screen figures.
How to ease in
Jekyll and Hyde are one man, not rivals. Watch Barrymore’s posture, hands, gaze, and speed change as the experiment turns private permission into public danger.
Heads-up
A respected doctor separates his moral impulses from his hidden desires, creating a second identity that becomes increasingly difficult to contain.
I find the first transformation most unsettling because the face has barely changed. Jekyll behaves as though science created the desire, while the body suggests he has simply authorised it.
Open the note ↓
I find the first transformation most unsettling because the face has barely changed. Jekyll behaves as though science created the desire, while the body suggests he has simply authorised it.
— Momo
Credits & versions
Version map
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