Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1911 & 1920 Silent Versions) (MOD) (DVD Movie)

These extremely rare motion pictures are two of the earliest versions of Robert Lewis Stevenson's immortal classic about the doctor who tampers with good and evil and reaps disaster.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920, B&W, Silent): This 1920 Pioneer Film Corporation production is the third screen version of "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and stars Philadelphia native Sheldon Lewis, and was directed by J. Charles Haydon. Noted for playing villains, Lewis appeared as the scoundrel Frochard in D.W. Griffith's Orphans Of The Storm (1922) and had prominent roles in Seven Footprints To Satan and Tarzan The Tiger, both released in 1929. This rendition of the Stevenson classic boasts a high moral tone (Dr. Jekyll does a great deal of charity work with poor children) and a surprise happy ending.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1911, B&W, Silent): This production by the Tanhouser Company, shot in New Rochelle, New York in 1911 and released in 1912, stars James Cruze as Dr. Jekyll and is the earliest film version still in existence. Cruze, who would go on to prominence directing, most notably, The Great Gabbo (1929) and I Cover The Waterfront (1933), appears with his future wife Marguerite Snow who portrays the minister's daughter. Actor Harry Benham plays Mr. Hyde in several scenes, a tactic employed by Tanhouser to speed up production, due to the drastic make-up changes involved. This epic is said to have taken five days to complete, almost double the time that was typical in those days. Directed by Lucious Henderson.