The Lark Cinema Club: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)

The Lark Cinema Club: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)

About the film

The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has endured because it is simple, elegant, and still disturbing.

A respected doctor believes he can separate the good and evil parts of human nature. Instead, he gives form to everything he has tried to suppress. The result is Mr. Hyde: not an outside invader, but a self released from restraint.

This is the power of the story. It is not really about a monster appearing from nowhere. It is about the fear that the monster has been present all along.

In the silent cinema version, that idea becomes physical. Transformation is not just a plot point; it is performance. The body changes. The face shifts. The respectable man becomes something else before our eyes.

For October at The Lark Cinema Club, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde adds a more psychological kind of horror to the programme. After the grand gothic world of The Phantom of the Opera, this is horror turned inward: science, temptation, repression, and the dangerous thrill of becoming someone else.

Topics

Screenings

More Film & Cinema

See all events