The Ugly Duckling (1959), dir. Lance Comfort, Hammer Film Productions
I took a look at the second Jekyll/Hyde film made by Hammer, so why not look at the first?
You know what the story of Jekyll and Hyde needed? Ballroom dancing, lots and lots of ballroom dancing.
Seriously, the Henrietta Jekyll Old Time Dance Team makes their big entrance at a local dance. Henrietta (Maude Edwards) does alright for herself, but while brother Victor (Jon Pertwee) conducts the music, brother Henry (Bernard Bresslaw) manages to make a total ass of himself.
The brothers own a pharmacy, established by their great-great-great grandfather Henry back in 1812. Victor and Henrietta both despair at their siblings' general idiocy. One lab explosion later, Henry finds a formula written by his forefather, claiming that it can change a timid man into a dragon.
Figuring he has nothing to lose, Henry chugs the formula and finds himself changed into Teddy Hyde, hip man about town.
Teddy hits the town and swaggers his way into the ballroom where he confronts and roughs up Victor. This gets him on the radar of gangster Dandy (Elwyn Brook-Jones). A guy who can pour a drink down another man's pants? Clearly this fellow is a master criminal and must be brought into his latter robbery!
Henry wakes up the next day, figuring the whole thing was a dream. When Victor hears the uncouth fellow who accosted him was named Hyde, he starts to put things together. When Teddy teams up with Dandy to rob some jewels, Henry is going to have some explaining to do.
Eh; starting to see why Hammer didn't do that many comedies. Henry comes across as more sad sack than anything else, and Teddy he comes across as more jerk than unleashed id.
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