Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The silent horror Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) is available to watch online on iFILM. It remains one of the most famous early screen versions of Robert Louis Stevenson's novella: a respected London physician brews a potion that lets his darker half walk free.

Dr. Henry Jekyll believes good and evil can be split apart inside a man. He makes himself the test subject — and the sinister Mr. Hyde begins to take charge. Each new dose makes the way back harder, and Hyde leaves a longer trail of ruin behind him. John Barrymore plays both halves with almost no makeup, sliding from polished gentleman to hunched fiend through posture and face alone. That transformation became one of the most talked-about pieces of acting in early cinema.

Director John S. Robertson shot the film when horror was still inventing its own grammar. Eighty-two minutes without a spoken word, and the first change still gets under your skin. Essential viewing for anyone drawn to silent classics and to horror history at its very source. Stream Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) online on iFILM.