Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920 Paramount film)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn S. Robertson
Written byClara Beranger
Thomas Russell Sullivan (1887 stage play)[1]
Based onStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Produced byAdolph Zukor
Jesse L. Lasky
StarringJohn Barrymore
Martha Mansfield
Charles W. Lane
Nita Naldi
CinematographyRoy F. Overbaugh
Production
company
Famous Players–Lasky/Artcraft Pictures
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • March 28, 1920 (1920-03-28) (New York premiere)[2][3]
Running time
79 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesSilent film
English intertitles

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1920 American silent horror film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and released through Paramount/Artcraft. The film, which stars John Barrymore, is an adaptation of the 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.[4] John S. Robertson directed the production, and Clara Beranger wrote the screenplay, based on the 1887 stage play by Thomas Russell Sullivan that in turn was based on the novel.[1][4]

Set in late Victorian London, the film portrays the tragic consequences of a doctor's experiments in separating the dual personalities he thinks define all humans: one good, the other evil.[5] The film is now in the public domain.[6]

  1. ^ a b Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 109.
  2. ^ "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)", Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Turner Broadcasting System, Time Warner, Inc., New York, N.Y. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
  3. ^ "Super-Special Now Available", Motion Picture News, April 1920, p. 3107
  4. ^ a b "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)", production details, American Film Institute (AFI), Los Angeles California. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  5. ^ Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde at the silentera database; with DVD specifics
  6. ^ The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1911-20 by The American Film Institute, c.1988