Hyde pursues women, stealing their honor, while his alter ego Jekyll is uncomfortable even with his fiancee. This distinct duality is further developed when Hyde's depravities get worse and worse, and the two sensibilities begin to become less distinct. On an unconscious level, the film is also about different classes in the same city. Just as Hyde allowed Jekyll to indulge in forbidden pastimes, the movies allowed Barrymore to indulge his upscale and downscale sensibilities. As a measure of the star's versatility, while this film was in production during the day at Paramount's New York studio, John Barrymore was starring as Richard III on Broadway each evening.
T here are a number of slightly differing editions of the film in release.
The Blackhawk version, available on tape from Kino on Video and on laserdisc from Image Entertainment , has an organ score by Gaylord Carter. This edition is missing bits and pieces, but is still more complete than the Killiam release. The Killiam Shows version, available on laserdisc from Landmark Laservision , was prepared in 1971, and features an organ score by Lee Erwin. Paul Jensen discusses these differences, and the changes from Stevenson's original story, in an extended analysis in Video Watchdog . This site is updated monthly.