Dr. Henry Jekyll, better known as Mr. Hyde, is the main antagonist of the 1953 horror-comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Jekyll was portrayed by the late Boris Karloff, who also played the Frankenstein Monster in the 1931 film, Imhotep in the Mummy series, Fu Manchu in The Mask of Fu Manchu, Gustav Niemann in House of Frankenstein, Hjalmar Poelzig in The Black Cat, and The Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. As Mr. Hyde, he was portrayed by the late stuntman, Eddie Parker.
Biography[]
In this film, Dr. Jekyll uses Hyde to exact vengeance upon others who ridicule his scientific research, as shown at the start of the film when he killed a college of his named Dr. Poole. Jekyll continues his work with unethical experiments on animals, and often abuses his mute assistant, Batley, when he fails to meet his needs. He is also in love with Vicky, a woman whom he had looked after since her father died, and attempts to murder her new love interest, a reporter named Bruce.
Abbott and Costello play British policemen, Slim and Tubby, who are kicked off the force after failing to break up a riot at a women's suffrage demonstration. They realize that capturing Mr. Hyde is the only way they will get their jobs back, but after Costello locks him up, he transforms back into Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll hires them as his body guards so he may kill them once they sleep over at his house. After Costello drinks a serum in Jekyll's lab that turns him into a giant mouse, they attempt to have Jekyll arrested.
When Abbott, Costello, Bruce and Vicky return to the house, he transforms once more (and accidentally turns Costello as well with the injection that turns him into Hyde), Batley is shot to death by Bruce and a chase ensues throughout London.
After a long chase, Jekyll returns to the house and attempts to kill Vicky, when Bruce stops him. Jekyll attempts to escape out from an upstairs window by climbing up using the help of a close tree, but a branch snaps, causing Jekyll/Hyde to fall to his death. As he dies, he transforms from his monster form back into human in front of countless police and civilian witnesses, ultimately revealing that he was the monster behind all of the murders.
Meanwhile, when Costello (also in the form of Mr. Hyde) is brought into the police station, he too transforms back and is cured, but not before biting four policemen and the inspector, turning them all into monsters as well.
Trivia[]
- This characterization of Jekyll is in some ways more faithful to that of the original novella, in which Jekyll only uses Mr. Hyde as an alter-ego so he can commit heinous acts-as opposed to Hyde being a split personality.
- However, it should be noted that Dr. Jekylll still differs in many ways from his literary counterpart. For one thing, Jekyll shows no remorse for the actions he committed as Hyde, unlike in the novella, Also, as Hyde he doesn't speak in words and only growls, and his bite can transforms others into monsters just like him. This makes him more similar to a traditional werewolf in many respects.
- Despite this version being more faithful to the original novella's characterization, the decision to make Dr. Jekyll evil in his own right was met with much negative reception from fans. This could be attributed to lack of knowledge for the original source material. It might also be due to the fact that even though Hyde was only used as an alias for Jekyll, Jekyll still began to feel remorse for his actions and at some point couldn't decide where his true personality lied, whether with Hyde or himself. So there was still somewhat of an internal struggle within, which isn't depicted in the film.
- One of Hyde's victims, Dr. Poole, bears the same name as Jekyll's butler in the original novella.
- While Eddie Parker portrayed Hyde for the majority of the film, Boris Karloff stood in as Hyde during the transformation sequences.
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 Villains
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Who Done It? Abbott and Costello in Hollywood Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Abbott and Costello Go to Mars Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy | ||