Barbara Il Mostro Di Londra - IMPORT

Roy Ward Baker’s and Brian Clemens’ “Doctor Jekyll and Sister Hyde” cleverly turns Robert Lewis Stevenson’s classic novel. This was the third attempt to tell the story from Hammer and the third time was the charm; Baker does a terrific job directing with energy much like his approach to “20 Million Miles to Earth” after the lackluster “Scars of Dracula”.Ralph Bates plays Jekyll as a self absorbed scientist. Jekyll wants to discover an elixir that will lead to immortality. Because women outlive men, he begins using hormones provided by Burke and Hare hoping they will be the key to unlocking this mystery. Instead, he finds a gender bending result as he transforms into a murderous woman.Clemens script cleverly incorporated real life events such as the Jack the Ripper Murders and Burke & Hare into his script. Bates. And Martine Beswick both give terrific performances and those performances complement each other well. Clemens brings his arch sense of humor to the proceedings as well.The Blu-ray from Shout looks quite good with a fresh 2K transfer.The special features are largely licensed from the UK release with two new exclusive commentary tracks from actress Martine Beswick and Bruce Hallenbach. The former provides nice trivia the later focuses )n some of the themes in the film as well as Ralph Bates short career (he died at 51 from cancer).An unusual and fun take on the classic horror film, Clemens’ and Baker’s films will be essential for Hammer fans.

Now this movie is worth watching especially for the beautiful actress who played Ms. Hyde. Seems like every man in the movie was charmed by her beauty. The cops never even suspected that the killer could be woman. If You want to enjoy this movie I suggest buying the DVD version now since VHS no longer exist.

After reading Marcus Hearn & Alan Barnes' THE HAMMER STORY and visiting Chris Woods' cheeky BRITISH HORROR FILMS website (google it, the film reviews are a scream!), I have been working my way through most of Hammer Film's core output especially the often overlooked and unfairly maligned early 1970s films. The first part of this is due to the films being unavailable in America for awhile due to distribution problems while the bad rap comes from unfair criticism from hardcore fans because the company was trying something different. DOCTOR JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE is one of the very best examples of this new approach forging the old style Gothic look with clever scriptwriing that is both reverant and irreverant to the source material. This comes as no surprise since the driving force behind the film is Brian Clemens the man chiefly responsible for THE AVENGERS. In addition to an interesting twist on the Jekyll/Hyde theme, we get Jack the Ripper and Burke & Hare seamlessly added to the mixThe setting is all too familiar. Victorian London with endless fog swirling about the streets. Well to do people in 19th century clothes strolling about while the lower class types are seen milling about the local public houses. Dr Jekyll (Ralph Bates) is seeking an elixir to prolong life and deduces that he needs female hormones to do it. As a result of these hormones, his alter ego becomes a woman and the "battle of the sexes" has begun. In order to keep up his supply he/she is forced to murder prostitutes hence Jack the Ripper. Brilliant! Although 50 years before the Ripper, Clemens works Burke & Hare into the story since they are a part of the British "penny dreadful" tradition and well known to British horror audiences. Add references from Val Lewton's THE BODY SNATCHER and 1968's OLIVER and you have a movie that is a delight from start to finish.Adding to the fun are the remarkable performances of Ralph Bates and especially Martine Beswick as Jekyll & Sister Hyde. They really do seem to be an inseparable part of each other. The transformations are well handled and just watch how Martine handles discovering that she now has a female body. The film is bloody not gory and since it was shot entirely on a soundstage, this allows director Roy Ward Baker to have complete control over the look of the film from the quality camerawork to the sublime set lighting. The lush, psuedo-Rachmaninoff score is also a definite plus. It's an example of where everything came together on a film from the settings to the performances to even the cheeky title which is wonderfully lurid (a publicist's dream) and delightfully appropriate. My favorite 1970s Hammer film after HANDS OF THE RIPPER and an absolute must for fans of the Jekyll/Hyde saga and Jack the Ripper.

I rented this after, years before, my only time to see it on TV, I fell asleep during. While the leads are decent, this is when Hammer was starting to go under and it shows. The story is a bit plodding and the transformation scene-even for the time-a bit underwhelming. Just OK. Still better than Hammer's Creatures the World Forgot!

This movie is a great example of Hammer at its peak. Such a cool twist on the Ripper/Jekyll themes. The uncut Blu Ray transfer looks beautiful and the alternate cover art gets my vote. Lastly buy it for the extras with Martine, priceless!

Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde is a wonderful movie. The blu ray has enhanced clarity for both the sound and picture making the new disc something of a guilty pleasure. The plot merges the Jekyll story with Jack the Ripper, plus the grave robbers Burke and Hare, with the added twist of an unintended ‘sex change elixir’. Wonderful costumes and sets, great acting from Bates and Beswick. It balances serious ideas and themes with some delightfully comedic moments.My one irritation is with the extras. Someone titled a section of the Martine Beswick interview ‘becoming Sister Hide’. Considering the title of the movie, that’s an unforgivable error.

Classic Hammer Horror from 1971. Great picture quality on blu-ray.

Not sure what Robert Louis Stevenson would have thought of this, but I rather enjoyed it. Fine performances from Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick and it's uncanny how much they resemble each other. Great sets, good photography - the usual Hammer fare. If you're looking for something different in a fright film, you just might want to give it a try.

R1 DVD review; Awesome Hammer spin on Dr Jekyll & Jack the Ripper combined into one movie. The leads Beswick & Bates look like brother and sister almost a perfect match for the transformation sequences. This is one of my favorite late period Hammer productions. Quality of the Studio Canal disc and extras are fantastic. If you like Ralph Bates is this he really shines in Hammers `The Horror of Frankenstein' check it out!

It’s a good transfer and worth buying for the clearer view you get of Martine Beswick. Wow! Very clever transition scene where Ralph (also good) turns into Martine! Finally the soundtrack’s Hyde theme is brilliantly atmospheric!