London, 1874. Dr. Henry Jekyll, a very bland, bookish, and physically unimpressive scientist, has resigned from his position in the medical establishment after having hastily published a paper on his theory regarding the duality of the human mind. Now, he lives as a virtual hermit, working tirelessly to release the hidden side of every human being, the side not bound by the moral restrictions of good and evil. Unbeknownst to him, his obsession with his work and neglect of his wife, Kitty, has led her to seek solace in the company of Paul Allen, Jekyll's fast-living, indulgent friend who is often asking to be bailed out of financial problems. One night, when Kitty leaves for a supposed dinner party, only to go out dancing with Allen instead, Jekyll injects himself with his experimental serum and succeeds in freeing his deep-seated, inner personality: a debonair and handsome man named Edward Hyde. Intent on feeding his own indulgences, Hyde goes to the very club where Kitty and Allen happen to be, and introduces himself to them as a friend of Jekyll's. Despite his charming exterior, Hyde has a brutish, violent personality that's revealed when he gets into a fight and has to be restrained from beating his attacker to death. Though Jekyll manages to reemerge and momentarily take back control, he becomes Hyde again and meets up with Allen at the same club, where he's captivated by Maria, an exotic dancer who does an act with a snake. Following her to her room living quarters in the building's upstairs area, he manages to seduce and sleep with her, though he has to leave when he realizes he'll soon turn back into Jekyll. Hyde's next target is Kitty herself, but much to his frustration, she's too much in love with Allen to cheat on him. With that, Hyde then turns to Allen in order to satiate his appetite for salaciousness and decadence, but is soon turned away when he attempts to literally buy Kitty from him. It isn't long before Jekyll finds his life is completely in shambles, especially when Kitty leaves him for Allen, and decides to destroy the serum and the. But, Hyde won't go without a fight and is determined to free himself completely by destroying Jekyll's life, forcing him to become the hidden persona in the process.
Thus begins the internal conflict between the two personalities. Although Jekyll tells Hyde he has no intention of letting him come back, the knowledge that his wife is having an affair and his not knowing who he himself is anymore, leads him to become Hyde again and seek pleasure at the same club with Allen. There, he becomes attracted to Maria, a sexy dancer who does an act with a snake, and follows her back to her room, seduces her, and sleeps with her. Again feeling Jekyll regaining a hold over him, Hyde leaves Maria, though she gives him the idea to try to seduce Kitty, only for him to be angered when she admits she loves Allen, despite how unreliable he is. When he becomes Jekyll again, he decides to stop giving Allen money so he can buy his way out of his gambling debts, and given how miserable his normal life has become, decides to discover everything that Hyde can reveal to him, going as far as to tell his bank and solicitors to regard him as his attorney, as well as his heir and executor should anything happen to him. He even wonders if he will even want to return to this life of his. Hyde meets up with Allen, stakes him 5,000 pounds to cover his debts and expenses, and in return, asks him to show him everything London has to offer. Within a week, the money has been completely spent and Hyde has experienced everything there is to do in London... when he decides to pay Allen off again in exchange for Kitty. This completely appalls Allen and leads to estrangement between them, and when Hyde tries to persuade Kitty herself to pay off Allen's debts in exchange for the pleasure of her company, he's enraged when she again refuses his advances, telling him that he repulses her. After Hyde is mugged and robbed when he gets drunk a low-level pub following this, he awakens the next day as Jekyll, lying in the street in the rain and finding a note that Kitty gave Hyde to give to him: she's leaving him.
Having reached rock-bottom, and knowing there's no limit to Hyde's monstrous appetite, Jekyll destroys the serum and the formula, but it proves to be not enough, as Hyde's influence over him as still there, as seen when he becomes angered upon spying Kitty and Allen together and pushes a young girl away from him. He decides he must exorcise him, but Hyde takes over again and, through a plan of manipulation, has Allen killed and rapes Kitty, before going back to his house and spending the evening with Maria. While Kitty's discovery of Allen's death leads her to commit suicide, Hyde, again, finds himself struggling for dominance over Jekyll, which leads him to strangle Maria. Turned back into Jekyll, he learns that Hyde intends to free himself completely by having him blamed for his crimes, which will force him to go into hiding, while Hyde becomes the dominant personality. Jekyll becomes a virtual prisoner in his laboratory, Hyde stopping his attempt to get help for himself, threatening to kill Littauer if he sends a note that will bring him to the lab. Hyde then takes over again, kills a window cleaner, puts his body at Jekyll's desk, and sets fire to the lab, just as the police arrive. When they break him out of the lab, he tells the police that Jekyll had gone mad and committed suicide. At the inquest, it seems as though Hyde has triumphed, with Jekyll believed to be dead after having lost his mind. However, with one final effort, Jekyll manages to take back control and exorcise Hyde from himself, but it takes a considerable toll on himself and he, in the end, is charged with murder.
As usual, the switch between Jekyll and Hyde is accomplished through makeup, only it's Jekyll who required the makeup job, as Roy Ashton had to make Paul Massie, who wasn't even thirty at the time, look much older and less attractive. To that end, he attached a rather ugly, and very artificial, beard to his face, gave him some big, bushy eyebrows, and either styled his hair to make him look less debonair or had him wear a wig. Jekyll and Hyde's voices are quite different as well, as Jekyll's is pitched an octave or two lower than Massie's normal speaking voice and becomes even lower than that as the movie goes on, while Hyde's voice is much lighter and more inviting. There's also a notion that Hyde's presence within Jekyll and his wildness is literally draining the life out of him, though it's only made truly evident at the very end, when Jekyll uses every ounce of willpower and strength he has left to destroy Hyde and take back his body. Once he manages to turn back, he looks very sickly, with a pale, sweaty complexion and lots of gray in his hair and beard. And there are no onscreen transformations between the two, as in most other film adaptations. You only get the hint that one personality is beginning to break through, as the scene either transitions to another or cuts away and then cuts back to show that the change has either begun or is complete. The most effective one happens when Jekyll realizes that, even though he's destroyed the drugs and the formula, Hyde is still very much active within him and starts to write in his notes about how he must exorcise him. In a closeup of the book as he writes, Jekyll reads aloud what he's writing, only to stop and gasp, his hand shaking, and when he resumes writing, the text becomes, "I have returned by my own will. I am free." The camera then pans around and reveals a closeup of Hyde's grinning, triumphant face. The only true bit of effects work in the film comes when, after he's killed Maria and turned back into Jekyll, the two personalities clash as Jekyll looks in a mirror, which has Hyde's face rather than his own reflection. It's a very archaic compositing effect that hasn't aged well at all, but it's in only the one scene.
The inspector who enters the story near the end, when he investigates the deaths of Kitty and Allen and decides to pay a visit to Dr. Jekyll because of his connection to Hyde, is played by Francis de Wolff, a big burly actor who appeared in a number of movies around this time and had roles in several of Terence Fisher's films for Hammer, like The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Man Who Could Cheat Death, and, the year after this, The Curse of the Werewolf. Speaking of which, Oliver Reed makes his Hammer debut as a brutish young man at the Sphinx who, after Hyde rebuffs the woman he was dancing with and called her a "four-penny whore," confronts him when she tells him Hyde got violent with her when she wouldn't do what he said. He tries to make Hyde pay the woman some money in retribution but Hyde, twice, tells him to go to hell, and when he lunges at him, he falls over the table and is hit over the head by Allen. Hyde proceeds to follow that up with several hits to the back of the head with a glass, and it's only Allen's intervention, as well as Jekyll beginning to regain control, that spares the man's life.
The sets that Bernard Robinson came up with here are pretty typical of a Hammer Gothic, the most memorable being the interior of the club called the Sphinx, which no doubt used the biggest room at Bray Studios. Decorated with golden, Egyptian-stle statues here and there, booths with tacky-colored backdrops and curtains, and a large floor suitable either for the patrons to dance or for Maria to perform her act, all of which are made all the more vivid thanks to Jack Asher's cinematography, it comes off as a high-class sort of place but also with a detectably seedy underbelly. Maria's living quarters upstairs are small and confined but hardly low-class, as they have nice-looking wallpaper and tapestries, lots of golden decorations, a room behind some double-doors where she keeps her snake in his cage, a balcony overlooking the club's dance floor, and a bedroom that is very chic and fancy, with fancy furniture, distinctive red-and-white wallpaper on one side (which is how I know this is the same set that was used for Baroness Meinster's bedroom in The Brides of Dracula), peach-colored curtains lining the wall on another side, and a good-sized bed with a draped top and bedposts shaped like large birds with folded wings. Once again, Asher's lighting adds some very garish colors to this room in certain scenes, particularly when the lights are down low, which suggests that this is very much the living quarters of a virtual prostitute (the mirror above the bed is another such touch). The interior of the Jekyll household is also very fancy, with a foyer that has a lime-green color to its paint-scheme, along with brassy furniture and wall decorations, and a large bedroom and den for Kitty Jekyll that has a white and red color scheme and a big fireplace. The property has a garden that separates the main house from Jekyll's laboratory, the notable centerpiece of which is a fountain with the statue of a child adorning it and a back door by the lab. This garden, which was likely another interior set (I think the establishing shots of the Jekyll household and a brief shot of the street when Jekyll calls over the window washer are the only true exteriors in the whole film), is where Jekyll allows a group of mute children to play so he can observe their actions in order to substantiate his theories. Jekyll's laboratory is more of a low-grade sort of place, akin to Victor Frankenstein's laboratories in those first two films, particularly that of The Revenge of Frankenstein, in its crudeness, adorned with beakers, test tubes, and a cage containing an experimental monkey. It also has a study, where Jekyll sits behind a desk, often writing in his notes, with shelves of old books and drawers behind him. And finally, Robinson also created some sets for the more unseemly sides of London, such as gambling clubs, underground boxing arenas, seedy bars where people are seen getting sloppily drunk, and even an Oriental opium den where people go to get stoned and lay down on bunks to experience their high.
As I said in the previous review, this was cinematographer Jack Asher's last film for Hammer before he was let go, and while I still think The Brides of Dracula was his best work, he managed to do some memorable stuff here, particularly in the way he made the interiors of the Sphinx come off as both vibrant and tacky with his colored lighting. He especially paints Maria's bedroom with vividly pinkish colors in those scenes where the lights are down low, particularly when Kitty awakes in the bed after having been raped by Hyde, as she's virtually bathed in the light, which accentuates her ripped dress. He does something similar with the scene afterward where Hyde and Maria are lying in Kitty's bed, with low lighting accompanied by some deep reds on the bedside, and he manages to create some nice instances of light blue moonlight in some scenes, such as early on when Kitty comes to Jekyll's laboratory before heading off to be with Paul Allen at the Sphinx, as you see it coming through the door behind Kitty when she enters and touches of it on Jekyll's face during their conversation before she leaves. And as he often did, Asher uses shadows very well, such as when the camera pans over to reveal Hyde's shadow on the laboratory wall as he turns back into Jekyll for the first time, the low lighting combined with the streaks of blue moonlight when Jekyll goes up to Kitty's bedroom to see her later that night, and a close-up of Jekyll's partially obscured face as he repeats the question, "Who am I?", to himself. While Arthur Grant, the man who took over as Hammer's main cinematographer, would go on to do some great work in his own right, Hammer's movies would never look quite as good as they did when Asher shot them.
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll is, tonally, a rather ugly film, and for four reasons. One is how, as with most recitations of the Jekyll and Hyde story, it delves into the slimy underbelly of Victorian England, showing the filthiness underneath all of that supposed aristocracy and sophistication. Paul Allen is the one who very often delves into this side of London and, through him, Hyde meets women who are willing to throw themselves at him because of his good looks, another woman who does an exotic dance with a snake while wearing a skimpy outfit and who is often paid to perform more private shows for those of high means and class, clubs that cater to this indulgence, as well as gambling houses, underground fighting rings, bars where people get sloppy drunk, and opium dens. In addition, Hyde himself actually falls prey to the bad side of London, as he gets drunk at a bar with a group of people whom he becomes chummy with, only for them to mug him once they're out on the street and leave him unconscious. And during the scene at the Sphinx where the can-can dancers are performing, the camera often lingers on shots of their lower portions as they hold up their skirts while stretching their legs up into the air.
Secondly, you have a cast of characters with barely a single, decent person among them. Dr. Jekyll himself is so obsessed with his work and theories that he's completely neglected his home life and driven his wife to having an affair; Edward Hyde, of course, is a deviant brute who is completely free of human morality and takes everything he wants and brutally punishes those who stand up to him; Kitty Jekyll, in her affair, is a woman who says herself that she deserves the best in life, appears to enjoy the type of man Paul Allen is, enough to where she tells Hyde that she loves him, and has no qualms about getting away from Jekyll in any way, asking Ernst Littauer at the beginning of the film if it's possible his mind is disturbed enough to where he could be sent away, likely because she hopes that's an option; and Paul Allen is an utterly shameless man who makes lewd remarks about his affair with Kitty and his love of the shadier side of London, when he's not mooching off of Jekyll in order to pay his gambling debts. Even Maria, the dancer, has been used so much by men her whole life that she finds herself loving Hyde, even though she knows nothing about him.
Third is how the movie is surprisingly vulgar and bold in its depiction of sexuality and salaciousness. When I say it's vulgar, I mean it has quite a bit of profanity, with words like "hell," "damn," "ass," "whore," "trollop," and even "bitch." Also, when Allen is lamenting his bad luck with someone at a club, they have this exchange, "Oh, well. Luck's a bitch, old boy." "I shouldn't think so. I always have the best possible luck with bitches... almost always, anyway." Such language was never uncommon in British films, as you can hear such swearing in movies made back in the 30's, but in 1960, they were shocking enough to where the movie was heavily censored when released in the U.S. Besides outright profanity, there's suggestive dialogue throughout the film, such as, "London and I are virgins to one another," "Tigers needn't lick their lips over her unless they're very rich... She's not in the prep school class. Believe me, I've tried," and, "Such natural manners. She only uses Christian names in bed," just to name a few. And finally, there are suggestive images in the film, like Maria's dance with her snake, which concludes with her putting his head in her mouth, shots of her and Hyde lying naked in bed and her bare backside when she wakes up, and the scene where you see Hyde beginning to rape Kitty, something the extremely daring 1931 film opted to imply rather than show. Those latter instances were enough to make the British censors object and edit them shorter for the theatrical release.
Speaking of the censors, the bit of violence in the film they objected to was Hyde's strangling of Maria in bed during his internal struggle with Jekyll, no doubt due to the connection between sex and death in that instance. Other than that, there's not much violence in The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll. The only bit of bloodshed is, when he's first turning back into Jekyll, Hyde grabs a beaker and breaks it in his hand, with Jekyll later leaving some blood on Kitty's shoulder when it seeps through his bandage while he's touching her. There are other violent moments, like when Hyde beats on the man at the Sphinx, nearly killing him, Kitty commits suicide by crashing through a glass ceiling above the dance floor at the Sphinx, and Hyde shooting a window cleaner near the end of the film, but it's all either implied or happens offscreen altogether.
Getting back on topic, the fourth and final reason why this film can make for something of an unpleasant viewing experience is the fact that the story is centered entirely around the destruction of a man's life. Granted, Jekyll brings a lot of it on himself, both for neglecting Kitty, for messing around with stuff when he wasn't entirely sure what he was getting into, and for repeatedly injecting himself with the serum, but, that said, it's still sad to see how, as the movie goes on, he finds Hyde's influence is causing his life to completely unravel. Despite the turmoil and physical strain Hyde has already caused him, Jekyll, wondering if he wants to continue with his already miserable existence, allows his alter ego full reign over him, and it ends with him lying in the street in pouring rain, having been mugged, robbed of his money, and finding the note that informs him that Kitty is leaving him. This makes him decide to destroy the drugs and the formula, but by this point, Hyde's grip on him is stronger than ever and he manages to resurface through his own will. By the time Jekyll gains control back, he finds that he's strangled Maria. Rushing back to his lab, he has a confrontation with his other self, who tells him that he intends to completely free himself, and when Jekyll mentions that none of those he's killed were in his way, Hyde tells him, "But you are in my way. Unfortunately, my dear Jekyll, I can't destroy you without destroying myself... But through their deaths, I will become free of you. Society will blame you, it will hunt you, and force you to remain hidden, as I have had to hide... Come now, Jekyll. Admit you're defeated. End this struggle, which you must lose... You must lose, Jekyll. You must." Jekyll can't even leave his property, as the authorities will soon be searching for him, and when he attempts to send a letter to Ernst Littauer, Hyde threatens to kill him if he comes (it's really hard not to feel for Jekyll when he's reduced to hopeless tears as a result). Taking possession of him once more, Hyde makes it seem as though Jekyll went mad, committed suicide, and set his lab on fire. And even though Jekyll ultimately does succeed in regaining total control and destroying Hyde once and for all, rather than dying as he often does in most tellings of the story, the effort to do so takes a massive toll on his body and he's then arrested for murder, his life totally destroyed in more ways than one.
If I could point any qualms I have with this movie in a storytelling sense, it's that, even though it's only 88 minutes long, there are sections where the story drags. As I said in the introduction, Terence Fisher's direction isn't as focused and to the point as it often is, as the sequences revolving around Mr. Hyde experiencing everything that London has to offer tend to go on a little too long, with Jekyll having so little screentime during the latter part of the first act and much of the middle that the plot sort of loses its very point after a while. It could have benefited from moments where Jekyll feels the physical toll Hyde is taking on him before he has Littauer examine him, as well as a more concrete moment that drives him to let Hyde have total control for a while, like maybe a bad fight with Kitty, where he reveals that he knows of her affair and she tells him that it's his own fault (now that I think about, Jekyll and Kitty only have two scenes together in the entire film). Also, it's never made totally clear why Kitty and Paul Allen rekindle their affair following their breakup after Jekyll refuses to give him any more money, as you suddenly see them back together after they both rebuff Hyde's offer to pay for Kitty's "services," or why Hyde is so obsessed with having his way with Kitty, for that matter. You could assume it's a means of dominating Jekyll in some way, having what he can no longer have, that he thinks Allen is unworthy, or that he does simply think it would be an amusing thing to do, but it's unclear. This is what I meant when I said that the characterizations are sometimes as muddled as the story itself can be.
When the film opens up, you see a bunch of kids, who are later revealed to be mute, playing in a yard which is actually Dr. Jekyll's garden. One of the kids, a young girl named Jane, picks a rose from nearby and sits down on a step, when a boy sits down next to her and suddenly smacks the rose out of her hand. Enraged at this, she grabs him and starts shaking him furiously. It then cuts to Dr. Jekyll, who points this out to Ernst Littauer and elaborates, "In each one of these dumb human animals, there is a personality which shows itself only in play... I am convinced that, in this case, the not speaking is a refusal of one part of the mind to allow the other part to express itself freely," with Littauer understanding, "You suggest they play out what they cannot speak out?" After the woman minding the children takes them away, Jekyll and Littauer head into his laboratory, where they discuss his resignation from the medical profession, his ongoing obsession with his unusual theories, and the effect it's having on his life, particularly his relationship with his wife, Kitty. Telling Littauer that he's interested in controlling every facet of the human psyche, rather than literally removing the evil from the good, he gives a demonstration by taking a small monkey, Toto, from his cage and injecting him with a serum. Toto is placed back inside his cage and, within seconds, goes through a radical personality shift, throwing himself about the cage and screeching like a small, enraged beast. Littauer is appalled at this change, but Jekyll tells him the drug's effects will wear off soon and he'll be back to his usual, calm self. When Littauer asks Jekyll if he's ever experimented with any subject other than Toto, he's interrupted by Kitty before he can answer. Kitty tells him that Paul Allen is there again, wanting money as usual, but Jekyll, despite her objections, agrees to bail him out once again. Following that, after Kitty shows Littauer out, she meets with Allen in the house and tells him that Jekyll will help him. It's then revealed that the two of them are having an affair when they embrace and kiss.
That night, on her way out to attend a "formal dinner party," Kitty goes to see Jekyll in his lab, when he inexplicably asks that they spend the evening together. Kitty, however, isn't having it, saying he should have spoken up sooner and that she's not going to insult her friends because of his sudden whims. Once she's left him alone, Jekyll closes the door, mixes up a small batch of his serum, and injects himself with it. He sits back down at his desk, waiting for the drug to take effect, which it soon does, as he leans forward and puts his face down on the desk, shaking and tensing up. After a cutaway which reveals that Kitty is actually out with Allen at a club called the Sphinx, it cuts back to the lab, the camera behind "Jekyll," as he rises up in his chair and writes in his notes, "Complete success. Free." He gets up, walks over to the door, grabs and puts on his coat, and takes a hat before heading out. As he walks out into the street, he turns around and walks into the light, revealing that he's gone from the fairly unattractive Henry Jekyll to the dashing and handsome Edward Hyde. He then hails a cab. Arriving at the Sphinx, he disembarks from the cab, pays the cabby, and heads inside. He immediately catches the eye of a couple of women, Jenny and Daisy, who leave the young man they're sitting with and introduce themselves to Hyde. Jenny asks him to buy them a drink but Hyde says he'd rather dance first. With that, Jenny sends Daisy home and she and Hyde hit the dance floor; Daisy, not happy about having been cut out, comments, "Fast little bitch!" Hyde and Jenny dance for just a little bit, when he spots Kitty and Allen, who finish a dance of their own and head back to their table. Hyde decides to join them instead, much to the irritation of Jenny, who tries to stop him, only to be insulted harshly and have her arms smacked off of him. He approaches their table, where Allen is now quite drunk, and introduces himself as an old acquaintance of Jekyll's (the way he introduces himself as, "Hyde. Edward Hyde," is shockingly close to, "Bond. James Bond," and this was before Sean Connery ever first uttered that line). He sits down with them, only for Allen to continually make lewd remarks about his and Kitty's arrangement in his drunken state, to the point where Kitty decides she wants to go home. Allen tries to talk her into one last dance but she invites Hyde to dance with her instead and he accepts.
While dancing with Hyde, Kitty is told he knows Jekyll very well and that he will be calling on them because he has business with Jekyll; he also hopes to have a friendship with Kitty. At that moment, Jenny points him out to her young, rough-looking friend from before. When Hyde and Kitty return to the table, Jenny and the man confront Hyde, Jenny saying that Hyde tried to force himself on her and became enraged when she turned him down. The man threatens Hyde if he doesn't give Jenny any restitution, but Hyde tells him to go to hell, which the drunken Allen backs him up on. Kitty, having had enough of this, leaves, while the man demands Hyde give Jenny several sovereigns. Hyde, again, tells the man to go to hell, adding, "And take that trollop with you," prompting him to lunge at him. Both Hyde and Allen step back and the man falls on the table, Allen delivering a blow to the back of his head. Hyde proceeds to grab a glass and bludgeon him in the back of the head with it, Allen having to stop him from killing him. Holding Hyde's hand and forcing him to drop the glass, it becomes clear that he's not the only thing holding him back. He whispers, "Let me alone, Jekyll. Let me alone," and Jekyll's voice comes out of his mouth, saying, "I must get back." Unable to resist, Hyde flees the club, screaming, "Damn you, Jekyll!", as he pushes past the other patrons. He rushes back to his property, into his lab, and shudders, "I will return, Jekyll. I will be back." Jekyll insists he won't and breaks a glass beaker in his hand, badly cutting it. In shock, he bandages his hand and walks back over to his desk, the camera panning over to his shadow as he sits back down, turning back into Jekyll.
That night, Jekyll confronts Kitty in her bedroom, as she finishes reading a book and prepares to go to sleep. Jekyll tells her that he desperately needs her and embraces her torso, but she pushes him away, telling him she's tired. Put off by this, he asks Kitty the vague question of who she really is on the inside, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her, asking, "Who are you?" He leaves a bloodstain on her right shoulder, as she realizes his hand is bandaged and bleeding. Jekyll pays little heed to it, repeatedly asking, "Who am I?", as he gets up and walks to the window. A film swipe cuts to Hyde, laughing delightfully, as he's once again in the company of Paul Allen, as well as two other women, at the Sphinx. After some chatting, they watch as a performance begins on the floor, which entails a couple of black men dressed in primitive garb removing a set of veils in an apparent pile, only to reveal Maria, an alluring, scantily-dressed dancer who does a sensual dance while carrying around a small box. Putting it on the floor, she removes a snake from the box, puts him over her shoulder, and does a very sensual dance as the length of his body is draped down her front. Allen, noticing how utterly enchanted Hyde is with Maria, tells him that she's only available to private performance for the richest and most prestigious of clients. Following an extended part of the act where she sets the snake on the floor and dances and gyrates around him, often while twirling a large, multicolored veil, Maria proceeds to pick him back up and across her shoulder, dance and twirl around with him some more, and end her performance by putting his head in her mouth. Her performance concluded, she's given a robe, while Allen tells Hyde that he might as well forget about trying to make a move on her. Nevertheless, on her way back to her room, Allen tells Maria of Hyde's interest in her and Hyde, in turn, compliments her on her performance. She acts flattered, but when Allen makes a lewd remark about her, she grabs a glass and throws the drink in his face before stomping off. Hyde is amused by this, growing a smug smile on his face, and follows Maria. Allen wipes his face off and prepares to amuse himself with both of the women who were with them.
Heading into Maria's living quarters backstage, Hyde finds the room where she keeps the snake in his cage, when Maria appears and tells him he's in the wrong room, as she doesn't entertain people back there. She closes the door to the separate room and, when Hyde says he has no intention of offering her money, she tries to get him to leave, only for him to follow her into her bedroom, leading to this exchange: "I have to dress." "Don't let me prevent you." "But I have an appointment." "I'm afraid you'll be late." "What could possibly detain me?" "I intend to." Rather than insulted, Maria is struck by his confidence and bluntness, and finds that he intends to merely take her rather than buy or beg. With that, it doesn't take much for her to end up in a passionate kiss and embrace with him, as he lays her down on the bed and starts to undress her. Later, after the two of them have had sex, Maria awakens to see Hyde is out of bed and putting his clothes back on. She asks him if she'll ever see him again and he merely says, "Perhaps." Unsatisfied with that vague answer, she sits up and slips on a nightgown. She walks over to him and tells him to say that he'll come to her again, but he twice tells her he doesn't know and shoves her away, back onto the bed. Irked, she says she supposes he has a "nice, cold wife" to go back to and Hyde, smiling wickedly and confidently, says, "What an amusing idea. A nice, cold wife."
He "visits" the Jekyll household, on the pretense of having an appointment with Jekyll himself, only to decide to see Kitty since Jekyll isn't there. Speaking to her in her bedroom and den, he mentions that he knows of Jekyll's reclusive nature and that he's been unable to stop thinking about her since they met for the first time at the Sphinx. But, despite insisting that neither Jekyll nor Allen have any binds on her, Kitty isn't interested in playing Hyde's game, telling him that, as flawed a person as he is, she loves Allen. Hyde angrily calls love an idiocy but Kitty remains steadfast in her feelings. He heads to the door, when he feels Jekyll regaining control, suddenly tensing up when he goes for the handle. He manages to make it out the door, run down the stairs and out the veranda, and head for the lab, wherein he virtually collapses on his desk. In the next scene, Jekyll is being examined by Littauer, who concurs that his metabolism is accelerated, as if his life-force were running out far faster than normal. Once he's left, Jekyll is approached by Allen, who's just had an argument with Kitty over his again using her to get money from Jekyll for his gambling debts. This time, Jekyll refuses to bail him out, saying he's low on money for his experiments because of his constantly helping him. He also tells Allen not to call him on them again, as he's going to be gone for some time. When Allen asks, "Going far?", Jekyll merely answers, "I wonder." That night, Jekyll writes in his notes that he's decided to let Hyde have full reign over him, to experience everything he can through him, and wonders if he would want to return to the rather miserable, secluded life he's had up to that point. Putting the book away in his drawer, he begins to mix up another batch of the serum.
Hyde meets Allen at a gambling club, where he's told of his gambling debts of 2,000 pounds, and offers to stake him 5,000 pounds, paying off each bill as it comes in. Initially reluctant, and trying to persuade Hyde to simply give him the 5,000 right then and there, Allen agrees to it, as well as Hyde's fee of showing him everything London has to offer. Thus, we get a short montage where Allen takes Hyde to an underground boxing ring, a bar full of sloppy drunk men (Hyde takes part in literally pouring drinks down the throat of a man who's all but passed out from drunkenness), an opium den, and back to the Sphinx, where Hyde spends time with Maria, while Allen continues to gamble the money away. (What's notable about this montagw are the fancy "swipe" and "burst" style edits used in the transitions, something which you rarely ever see in Terence Fisher's films.) After a week, they've done all there is to do, and Allen has gone through the 5,000 pounds, when Hyde offers him some more money, in exchange for having Kitty for himself. Allen is utterly appalled at such a suggestion, calling Hyde a, "Vile, disgusting degenerate," and when Hyde tells him, "Be rational, my friend. I am asking for the temporary loan of a proven adulteress, of whom you yourself have grown somewhat tired," Allen storms out, telling Hyde to go back to hell. Undeterred, Hyde goes to the Jekyll house and heads up to Kitty's room, explaining to her that he got in because Jekyll trusts him with everything he "owns," tossing the key up in the air for emphasis. Kitty hands Hyde a note to give Jekyll, and tries to have him leave, when Hyde tells her that he has Allen in his pocket. He pulls out a handful of bills, Allen's debts, and offers her the chance to pay them off in exchange for letting him have his way with her, suggesting, "Why not sell what you have so often given away?" Kitty laughs in his face and tells him that he absolutely repulses her. Enraged, Hyde tears the bills up, storms out of the room, and out of the house. Out on the street, the furious Hyde smashes his walking cane and throws it aside. He's approached by a homeless man who asks for some money, but Hyde grabs him by his shirt collar, shakes him, cruelly throws him to the ground, and literally steps on him as he walks off.
Hyde spends the rest of the night getting drunk at a low-rent pub with a man, his sisters, and niece, the latter of whom Hyde takes an interest in. Unbeknownst to him, he's being set up, as the man tells one of his sisters to bring Hyde outside right after he goes out. Hyde, now completely drunk, is easily swayed into leaving with the women, and once they're outside, he's attacked from behind while making out with the niece. He slumps against the wall and falls into a sitting position up against it, as the man rifles his pockets and takes his money, splitting it up among himself and the girls. The next morning, Hyde has turned back into Jekyll, waking up in the pouring rain. As he tries to collect himself, he feels and removes the note Kitty gave Hyde, which reads, "Impossible to carry on, and I have decided to leave you." That scene transitions to Jekyll writing in his notes that he's destroyed all the drugs and the formula, confident he's closed the door on Hyde for good. He then walks out of his lab, as the mute children who play in his garden are leaving, when he spies Kitty with Allen inside the house. Overcome with anger, he pushes the young girl Jane to the ground when she tries to give him something, unaware he's done so until he looks down and sees her. Horrified at this, he realizes Hyde still has a hold on him and rushes back into his lab to resume writing. He writes that he must somehow exorcise Hyde from himself, only to suddenly gasp and shudder, before resuming his writing, scribbling, "I have returned of my own will. I am free." The camera then turns around to reveal that Jekyll has, indeed, been overtaken by Hyde once more. In the next scene, Kitty and Allen are about to run away together, when Hyde appears, telling them that Jekyll has arranged for the four of them to have one last night at the Sphinx. Though Kitty is unsure about going along with it, Allen thinks it might be a good idea, as Jekyll may have decided on a divorce, meaning he may give them a good settlement to live on.
That night at the Sphinx, while the patrons are entertained by can-can dancers, Hyde sends Maria to the Jekyll house, telling her that he'll join her as soon as he deals with some "tedious business." Kitty and Allen arrive, and when a woman there tells them that everything is prepared in Maria's room, Allen goes to see what Hyde is up to, telling Kitty to wait for him. When Allen enters Maria's room, he finds Hyde, who has prepared a dinner table for them. Allen tells Hyde that Kitty is going to wait until they've settled things and demands to see Jekyll. Hyde leads Allen to a room behind some double-doors, telling him that Jekyll wishes to speak with him privately first about arrangements to provide for his and Kitty's future. Allen, despite his suspicions, enters the room, Hyde locking the doors behind him, and is confused when he finds no one else in there. However, he's wrong, as there is someone else in there: Maria's snake, who is out of his cage. Panicked, Allen tries to run out the door but then finds that it's locked. Hyde then heads back to the club's main area and tells Kitty to join him and Allen. Leading her into Maria's room, and, again, locking the door, Hyde initially doesn't answer her when she asks where Allen and Jekyll are. Approaching her with a drink, he tells her, "Believe me. Your husband is here," but when she rejects the drink, he decides to drop all pretenses. He drops the glass on the floor, shattering it, and forces Kitty into Maria's bedroom. He grabs and rips off a section of the top of her dress, before forcing her back on the back. He growls, "So, you find your way home at last, my dear, and the bed you deserve," before ripping off more of her dress. The film transitions to the Jekyll house, as Maria waits for Hyde to arrive up in Kitty's bedroom. Hyde bolts up the stairs as soon as he enters the door and joins her. Maria instantly goes into Hyde's arms, asking him whose room it is, to which he answers, "Mine... at last." The two of them start to passionately kiss, while back at the Sphinx, Kitty awakens after having passed out from Hyde having his way with her. Looking at herself reflected in the mirror above the bed, noting how torn her clothes are, she gets to her feet and walks into the den. She finds a note on a small card on the table, which reads, "To make this perfect Eden, we have brought the snake." Noticing an open door in front of her, Kitty staggers towards it, only to gasp and nearly become ill at the sight of Allen's corpse on the floor, the snake crawling across him (I guess the implication is that the snake is venomous, even though he's clearly a small python). Once she gets over her shock, Kitty becomes distraught and cries, walking out onto the balcony beyond the window. Looking down at the glass ceiling above the dance floor below, she covers her ears and allows herself to fall over the edge, smashing through the glass and hitting the floor amidst the dancing patrons.
The film cuts immediately back to the Jekyll household, where Hyde and Maria are lying in bed, enjoying the afterglow of their lovemaking. Maria decides to try to fall asleep, while Hyde turns over and puts his hand on her neck, rubbing it, when he suddenly feels Jekyll regaining control. He quietly tells Jekyll to stay away, but when Jekyll's voice comes through him, again saying he must get back, Hyde angrily yells, "Let me alone! I must be free!" Maria's eyes snap open and she tries to figure out what's wrong with her lover, when he suddenly turns on her, grabbing her neck with both hands and squeezing while straddling her. It doesn't take long for her to die, and once she has, Jekyll has returned. Aghast and frightened by what he sees, he gets off the bed, runs out the door, down the stairs, and outside to the laboratory. Once in there, he looks at himself in the mirror, as the two personalities confront each other, with Hyde telling Jekyll that he intends to become totally free by making it so he is blamed for his crimes, forcing him to hide. He also keeps Jekyll from leaving the lab, telling him the authorities will now be searching for him, prompting Jekyll to literally say, "What have I done?" At the Sphinx, after Kitty's body is taken away, the police inspector is told the arrangements were made by Jekyll through Hyde and decides to pay the good doctor a visit.
Back in Jekyll's lab, he's finished writing a note he intends to have sent to Littauer. He then calls a window washer over from the street, but as he waits for him, Hyde tells Jekyll that he'll kill Littauer if he does come. With that, Jekyll breaks down in hopeless tears, and Hyde takes control again, having resurfaced by the time the window washer comes through the door. Hyde asks the washer to take a laundry hamper away, which he agrees to. Hyde closes and locks the door behind him. As the washer struggles to pull the heavy hamper across the floor, Hyde removes a pistol from the desk drawer and shoots him in the back. At that moment, the inspector and his men arrive at the front of the house. He tells his men to cover the back of the place, while he and his subordinate head into the main house after the door is broken down. In the lab, Hyde, having placed the washer's body at the desk, pours gasoline over every inch of the lab, particularly the study. He then hears the policemen banging on the lab's door, yelling for Jekyll, and decides to use this to his advantage. He smashes a window and yells at the police that Jekyll has gone mad and has a gun, then pretends that Jekyll is pulling him away from the window. As they prepare to break down the door, Hyde sets fire to the place, while up in the house, the inspector has discovered Maria's body and believes Jekyll is now totally insane. With the fire spreading throughout the lab, Hyde fires a shot in the air and, hearing this, the inspector and those with him rush to join the policemen as they use a ladder to break down the lab door. The fire gets dangerously close to Hyde by the time the door gives way, and when he rushes out, the inspector grabs him. He tells the inspector that Jekyll set the place ablaze and shot himself. The inspector lets Hyde go and he stands on the sideline, grinning as he watches them trying to contain the blaze.
Hyde is present at the inquest, along with the inspector and Littauer, where it's determined that Jekyll became dangerously disturbed from overwork and use of drugs and committed suicide. The matter is deemed closed and everyone heads outside, Littauer walking with Hyde. Littauer comments on what a fine mind Jekyll had, with Hyde commenting, "He failed to realize that the higher man is free of all restraints... He lives solely by energy and reason. He takes what he wants. There is no Jekyll in him." Littauer tells Hyde he sort of sounds like Jekyll, when Hyde suddenly stops dead, looking ill. When asked if he feels well, Hyde says he must leave. Littauer goes to shake his hand, only for Hyde to grab it tightly, as Jekyll's voice pleads for his help. He notes the change in Hyde's voice, and Hyde, again, insists he must go, saying, "Leave me, now. Leave me." Littauer tries to let go of Hyde's hand, but he grasps it again, as Jekyll's voice tells Hyde, "Never. Never." Hyde staggers over and grabs onto the back of a leather, padded bench, telling Jekyll to leave him, but Jekyll says, "Not yet." Hyde's voice suddenly becomes desperate, saying, "Wait! I beg you. Don't!" Littauer and the inspector watch as he arches his back and gasps horribly from whatever is happening, which Littauer comes to understand when he says, "Jekyll." Sure enough, when the man turns back around, he's Jekyll, now with gray streaks in his hair and looking very sickly and weak. Littauer goes over to help and comfort his friend, though he knows he can't do much, as he watches him struggle to even hold his head up. He tells him, "May God help you," but Jekyll tells him, "I have destroyed him... Only I could destroy him, and I have." The movie ends with the inspector telling Jekyll he's under arrest for murder.
An interesting pair of people provided the music: David Heneker, who mostly worked as a theater composer (this was the only feature film he ever did work for), and Monty Norman, who would come up with the James Bond theme for Dr. No a couple of years later. The score they came up with is quite a sweeping piece of work, filled with the sound of the Victorian era, especially in the many scenes at the Sphinx where people dance to such music, while also hinting at the duality of Jekyll and Hyde, with a low-key, melancholy string theme for Jekyll, while Hyde has a lot more dynamic and powerful music that alludes to his being the stronger of the two personas, a notable example being a blaring horn piece accompanied by a drumming pounding for the scene where he goes to see Kitty at her house for the second time. In addition, there's some very stressed, troubled-sounding music for the scenes where the two personalities are struggling for supremacy, romantic music for the love scenes, and some stereotypical, Oriental-sounding music for the one scene in the opium den. But what's most affecting to me is just how sad and more tragic Jekyll's own leitmotif becomes the more his life turns into shambles, like when he awakens in the rain after Hyde got mugged and when Hyde threatens to kill Ernst Littauer should he answer Jekyll's letter. It all comes to a head at the very end, when Jekyll manages to destroy Hyde but has also destroyed himself, as the music transitions from a very stressed, tension-filled piece as the two of them struggle internally, to one last performance of Jekyll's sad motif, and lastly to a very final-sounding piece that hits home the tragic note this story has ended on.
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