DAUGHTER OF DR. JEKYLL (1957)
Tagline: Blood-hungry spawn of the world's most bestial fiend!
(Horror, Fantasy, Janet is not crazy) [PG]
Note: This movie was not given an MPAA rating. Just due to the nature of the film, it would likely have gotten a [PG] rating.
Doctors always sleep with one eye open…goodnight.
In this one, Janet Smith discovers that she is wildly rich and is the heiress of the Dr. Jekyll estate. One on the premise, she begins to believe that she is going mad and may have a secret identity…that of a sadistic monstrous killer.
So in October of 2022, I punched out quite a few 1950s horror reviews, but this one wasn’t on that list and there are a decent number of 1950s horror flicks that I still haven’t gotten to. Having said that, this movie could probably still be put under the category of “sci-fi” just because it does give a scientific explanation for what’s going on. Back in the day, that was pretty much all that was needed to throw a movie into the giant pile of sci-fi in the era. I think because Dr. Jekyll is far more associated with horror, this movie was promoted more as a horror flick. It also came out in a double feature with CYCLOPS which also starred the amazingly talented Gloria Talbot (I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE). It probably goes without saying that she was amazing in this.
Acting wise we also get John Agar (THE MOLE PEOPLE) who was basically synonymous with 1950s sci-fi and he is also very good as George Hastings here. The other standout performance is delivered by Arthur Shields (NATIONAL VELVET). He isn’t quite Vincent Price, good, but he takes on a “Price-like” role in this thing. We also get a brief Marjorie Stapp (THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD) sighting. She doesn’t get enough screen time to determine her performance, but having her in your movie is never a bad idea.
When it comes to the negatives for this thing, I wasn’t really down with George calling Janet a “little idiot” back then it seemed like that kind of stuff bounced off strong women, but it is never something you should say, especially if you are trying to get a woman to marry you like he was in this film. It’s like dude, are you trying to get her to dump you even harder than she was planning to? What I also didn’t like is that they gave Mr. Hyde a “werewolf” background. I don’t think that was necessary unless they were trying to get around some sort of copy write issue or something? We also get a weird scene where Janet is having kind of a nightmare and she goes to bit another chick’s neck, only when they find the girl in real life she is described as having her throat torn out. The other weird thing is the crossover between werewolves and vampires. First, the neck biting issue I mentioned, but secondly the fact that the groundkeeper says they kill werewolves with a stake through the heart? Wait what? Who wrote this thing?
Regarding the positives, I am a fan of most things where we get the daughter or the son of something. It kind of acknowledges earlier works and doesn’t assume that “extraordinary” mortal characters just live forever. I also thought the performances were pretty great all around. I also think they did a great job with the sets. The exterior of the estate isn’t mind-blowing, but the interiors are all elaborately staged and the grounds themselves are effective on an atmospheric level. They manage to capture a lot of the feel of the original THE WOLF MAN film.
After the opening sequence, there are about 15 minutes where almost nothing is happening and the dialog is pretty boring, but once the ball gets rolling, things get pretty intriguing and we get a pretty cool twist in the storyline that gives this thing a little more depth than expected. There is an unintentional comedic moment when a woman gets a call saying a killer is in the area. After she starts screaming her head off because she is about to get killed the woman on the phone line asks if there is anything wrong? Oh man, perhaps 1950s phone operators just were not equipt to handle crazy situations like this.
I give this one a 4 out of 7 for the performances, but unfortunately, the story is lacking even with the reveals in the final act. Having said that, it should be noted that for 1950s horror or sci-fi fans, this is a flick you should watch at least once.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF FILM VENTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
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