The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968) - Episode 71 - Decades of Horror: The Classic Era

"My God, Henry! What you've done ... it's satanic!"  In this case, the Henry being referred to is Dr. Henry Jekyll as played by Jack Palance. Join this episode’s Grue Crew - Chad Hunt, Joseph Perry, Whitney Collazo, and Jeff Mohr - as they get strange with the Dan Curtis version of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968).

Decades of Horror: The Classic Era
Episode 71 – The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968)

Dr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.

IMDb

 

• Director: Charles Jarrott
• Writers: Robert Louis Stevenson (novella), Ian McLellan Hunter (teleplay)
• Music: Bob Cobert (as Robert Cobert)
• Makeup Department: Dick Smith (makeup artist: Mr. Palance)
• Cast
  • Jack Palance as Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Edward Hyde
  • Denholm Elliott as Mr. George Devlin
  • Leo Genn as Dr. Lanyon
  • Torin Thatcher as Sir John Turnbull
  • Rex Sevenoaks as Dr. Wright
  • Gillie Fenwick as Poole
  • Elizabeth Cole as Hattie
  • Duncan Lamont as Sergeant Grimes
  • Paul Harding as Constable Johnson
  • Oskar Homolka as Stryker
  • Billie Whitelaw as Gwyn Thomas
  • Tessie O'Shea as Tessie O'Toole

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the fifth TV-movie produced by Dan Curtis and covered by a Decades of Horror Grue-Crew, and it doesn’t disappoint. Jeff chose this film because the visage of Jack Palance in Dick Smith’s makeup as Mr. Hyde and his maniacal, cackling laugh, have stuck with him for over fifty years since he first saw it on the small screen. For Chad, this version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella leaps into second place behind the 1932 release starring Fredric March. High praise, indeed. Whitney enjoyed the film but, in terms of the makeup for Mr. Hyde, thinks that when viewed through a modern-day lens, it looks like a botched Botox encounter. The 2-hour length gave Joseph pause, but after viewing the film, he marveled at the pacing and even flow of the story.

Your Decades of Horror Classic Era Grue-Crew gives The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde a strong recommendation. As of this writing, it is available to stream on Amazon Prime and on DVD from MPI Home Video.

For more films produced by Dan Curtis and discussed on Decades of Horror, go back and check out these episodes from Decades of Horror 1970s:

• Episode 61 - Dracula (1974)
• Episode 76 - Burnt Offerings (1976)
• Episode 84 - The Night Stalker (1972)
• Episode 87 - The Night Strangler (1973)
• Episode 108 - Trilogy of Terror (1975)

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era is part of the Decades of Horror 3-week rotation with the 1970s and 1980s. In three weeks, the next episode in their very flexible schedule will be the science fiction-horror classic, Invaders from Mars (1953).

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