This movie is the second of 3 versions of the classic story I'm seeing in chronological order. The first version was made in 1912, a year before this movie came out, but despite this slight difference in years this movie is highly improved, and is much more involved than the other one. The run-time is longer (26 min, very long for the day) it sticks to the original story much more than the other one (including the characters Utterson and Lanyon, which the 1912 version failed to do) and, while it has a new ending, this new addition is actually an improvement on the story.The film gets off to a slow start. We're introduced to Jekyll, his girlfriend and stuff and told how he cars for the poor. Then the action starts, where Jekyll drinks the antidote and turns into Mr. Hyde. As several other reviewers pointed out, the Hyde here is actually a bit lame. The 1912 version's Hyde had some good makeup and acting, but here there isn't much of that so Hyde pretty much crouches on his knees like an idiot. Then, he goes around scaring people and murdering and stuff until the finale occurs, which I'm not giving away, because it really comes off as surprising.Overall, it is interesting comparing both versions of the story, because they vary a lot. While the Hyde here is envisioned differently than you'd normally think, it makes his appearance new and interesting. Even with 26 minutes of screen-time, Herbert Brenon was really able to stick to the novella. It's definitely worth checking out.

One year after Henderson's film about Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novella, Brenon came out with his own version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This tale was a little more of a let down because of longer drawn out scenes that could have been short and to the point with poor background music chosen. Also, the transformation scene to Mr. Hyde was hack and could have been much more frightening and realistic. The film definitely needed shorter scenes and more written boards to give more information about the plot. Not every viewer of a movie is going to know what's going on because they may not have read the book. I'll give King Baggot credit for doing a good job acting in this silent film but all the other characters were non existent. This movie isn't worth the time and would advise the 1912 or 1920 movies.

This is a hard film to rate. Compared to the later versions of this tale, this film comes up very short. However, compared to films made around 1913, it's pretty good. If you do watch it--just cut it some slack. That's because at 26 minutes it's a very long film for the time and its reliance on overacting instead of makeup for Mr. Hyde was a common device---one that John Barrymore also used a decade later. Why? Part of it is the tradition of the stage--where you couldn't stop a production to apply monstrous makeup. Another reason for doing this is that makeup was only in its very infancy in films. So, it was up to the actor (in this case, King Braggot) to act Hyde-ish. And, unfortunately, Braggot's version of Mr. Hyde was not great---as to make himself seem like Hyde, he doubles over as if he's suffering from a severe bowel obstruction! This version of Hyde loved beating the crap out of innocent people but the lewd aspects of his personality are not to be found. An interesting sanitized interpretation--but I think the perverted version of Hyde was closer to Robert Louis Stevenson's vision of the man.Now it sounds as if I didn't like the film--and this isn't really the case. Apart from the odd portrayal of Hyde, I found it truly amazing that they stuffed so much into only 26 minutes--and they did a nice job of it. Good sets and acting were obvious. The only other complaint I have really is about ALL silents up until about 1920--and that is that they feature too few intertitle cards. Often, the actors acted and acted but nothing was indicated as to what they were saying or doing. Typical but a bit confusing.My advice is to watch this and then perhaps watch the Frederic March version and compare them. Or, try the Barrymore silent version. Either way, there are other silents and talking versions you can compare it to--they must have made a bazillion of them!

Carl Laemmle's Universal Studios was less than a year old when he made this 3 reel version of Stevenson's novel, at least the sixth film version done since 1908! King Baggot, the star, was the moving pictures first real (reel?) superstar, sometimes appearing in a new movie each week (wow!). Baggot later gave up acting and went to the other side of the camera to become a director, doing such things as THE PONY EXPRESS (1924). This version is well done though the first transformation has a bad gaffe. The double exposure is badly timed and for a moment it looks like there are 2 people in the room. Apart from that it is well done and convincing. I like the way Hyde scares the life out of everyone in a seedy pub just by standing in the doorway and glaring at them. It is my life's mission to see as many versions of this film as I can and this one was certainly worth tracking down. Give it a try.