The Son of Dr. Jekyll (1951)

The Son of Dr. Jekyll is a 1951 American historical horror film directed by Seymour Friedman and starring Louis Hayward, Jody Lawrance, Lester Matthews and Alexander Knox. Financed and distributed by Columbia Pictures, it is based on a screenplay by Jack Pollexfen and Mortimer Braus. The film is a continuation of Robert Louis Stevenson's original classic novel Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, although bearing some differences to the horror classic.

Son of Dr. Jekyll is considered to be an unofficial sequel to the 1941 adaptation of the novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring Spencer Tracy, although the two films have a number of plot differences. The main difference is that Jekyll the father survives long enough to marry and have a son which is neither of the earlier film adaptations. Also a Hyde character only appears briefly when the true chemicals that Jekyll the father used rather than the non-functional chemicals listed in the altered notebook and never again in the film.

Jack Pollexfen, the scriptwriter of this film, wrote and produced a sequel in the same vein, The Daughter of Dr. Jekyll (1957), starring Gloria Talbott.

Synopsis

The film begins with a prologue set in 1860, where Mr. Hyde is chased down in the streets of London, after murdering his wife at their Soho flat. He escapes to the house of Dr. Jekyll, where he prepares the potion that will transform him back to the respected doctor. Unfortunately, the mob has already set the house ablaze. The flames drive Hyde to the top floor, and in attempt to leap to the ground, he meets his demise when he falls to the ground. As he dies, he changes back to Dr. Jekyll.

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