DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE

Evening Star, Issue 17543, 24 December 1920, Page 9

DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE

The mysteries of the " dual personality " have been thoroughly explored by later psychologists, but Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' remains the most alluring and mysterious envisagement of this psychopathic phenomenon "in fiction or reality. A picture version of the famous story will be shown at the Octagon to-night, with the great tragedian, John Barrymore, in the twin roles of good and evil. The .acting of Barrymore, Who is recognised as a pre-eminent tragedian, in the transformation scenes is positively uncanny. The onlooker watches Dr Jekyll as he drinks the potion which he both hopes and dreads will give him. new life with a breathless intensity and feeling of impending abomination. Watching his face as the 'drug takes possession of him, one sees the handsome, clear-cut features of Henry Jekyll change before one's eyes, and grow rapidly into the repellant lineaments of the abominable Hyde. And one sees it done without trickery of any kind. The art of the actor suffices. 'Dr Jekvll and Mr Hyde' is a Paramount-Artcraft Royalty Masterpiece. It takes the same high place in the film sphere as StevenEon's work did in the world or literature. Screenings have been arranged for tomorrow.