The Kennington Bioscope is a regular cinema event featuring live accompaniment to silent films that takes place at the Cinema Museum.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), directed by John S. Robertson with John Barrymore, Martha Mansfield and Nita Naldi.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was first published in 1886. It was followed a year later by a stage adaptation written by Thomas Russell Sullivan, which Clara Beranger used as the basis of her screenplay for this 1920 film version (adding elements borrowed from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray). Produced at Paramount’s Long Island studio and directed by John S. Robertson, this was one of three film versions to appear during the same year; another American production, which departed considerably from the original tale, was released only a month later while F.W. Murnau subsequently directed a now-missing German adaptation, Der Januskopf / The Head of Janus.
John Barrymore gives one of his finest performances as the well-meaning doctor in Victorian London who seeks to separate the good and evil within the human race, only to create a sinister alter ego who eventually comes to dominate.
Barrymore achieved the early stages of Henry Jekyll’s transformation into Edward Hyde without recourse to make-up or trick photography, relying only on his ability to contort his face and body. Jekyll’s sweetheart, Millicent, is played by Martha Mansfield while Nita Naldi portrays Hyde’s mistress, nightclub dancer Gina. Variety described the film as a `fine and dignified presentation’ with an `excellent’ performance by Barrymore. Photoplay magazine predicted it would `easily become the most talked of picture of the time’. More than a century after its release, it is still being talked about.
Live piano accompaniment.
Silent film with intertitles which may be suitable for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Tickets & Pricing
£7. Seats are limited, so please arrive early or request an invitation using the email kenbioscope@gmail.com.
