Customer Reviews

Daughter of Dr. Jekyll: Edgar Ulmer Collection, Volume Three

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The DVD release of "Daughter of Dr Jekyll" is one of those guilty pleasures fulfilled for fans of 1950's science-fiction and horror films. Fans of director Edgar Ulmer's similar output in this decade (think of "Man from Planet X" or "The Amazing Transparent Man") will enjoy this outing, and will expect to see the work of a stylist struggling against a meager budget. The film stars sci-fi veterans John Agar and Gloria Talbot, but perhaps the real star is the overworked fog machine ulmer uses to try to hide some obvious sets and models. The disc has its fair share of extras, including a trailer, posters/stills, an interesting monologue from John Agar, and an isolated music/effects track. the music is seemingly composed of cues from other sources...die-hard fans will recognize the recurring theme from "Robot Monster". Picture quality in all indoor shots is very sharp; some of the outdoors scenes are a bit fuzzy but add to that late-night television feel where most of us probably first saw the movie. Very enjoyable.

This is a fine example of the archival capabilities of DVD. Presented here is DAUGHTER OF DR. JEKYLL, a silly yet often effective piece of "poverty row" filmmaking circa 1957. The film's director Edgar G. Ulmer almost makes you forget the budget with which he was filming. Excellent camera work and lighting give this film an oft times eerie atmosphere. The film transfer is mostly quite clear, with minimal flecks,lines and scratches. The picture is bright and sharp and the soundtrack wonderfully preserved. Ulmer's daughter's commentary is a welcomed and loving addition, giving the viewer a better understanding of the filmmaker's motivation. She claims this particular film was made for "a buck". Not hard to see, but one feels they are watching something just outside of the usual bargain basement thriller. This is a lovely way to restore a fun pseudo-classic. Buy with confidence!

Gloria Talbott was the Connie Francis of "B" movies in the 1950s. Having appeared as a child performer in the late 1930s, Gloria's heyday was in the 50s, appearing in several films, including "The Cyclops", "The Leech Woman", the infamously titled "I Married a Monster from Outer Space", and, of course,"Daughter of Dr. Jekyll", directed by legendary B-movie director Edgar G. Ulmer ("The Black Cat", "Detour","Bluebeard"). The setting is early 1900s England. The shapely, dark-haired and big-eyed Gloria plays plays Janet Jekyll (No, I'm not kidding!) who, having turned 21, returns to her ancestral home with her new husband John Agar,(No, I'm not kiddding!) to claim her inheritance. Janet, who has always thought her last name was "Smith" (No, I'm not kidding!) learns of her true name, and of her infamous father. Kindly(?) Dr Lomas, played by Arthur Shields, who was Barry Fitzgerald's real-life brother (No, I'm not kiddding!) is the executor of her late father's estate. Janet begins to be plagued by terrible nightmares, in which she has inherited her father's curse of lycanthropy (No, I'm not kiddding!), and attacks and kills young girls in her nocturnal prowlings. She wakes up with bloodstains on her nightgown, and learns that indeed, young girls have been murdered by a ferocious creature. Janet begins to doubt her own sanity...."Daughter of Dr. Jekyll" is a guilty pleasure, filmed on an obviously low budget, with spartan sets, ludicrous dialogue and costumes (John Agar's hideous striped jacket looks like one of John Payne's cast-offs from "Hello, Frisco, Hello", and one victim looks straight out of a Frederick's of Hollywood catalogue, in her black corset), and my favorite scene is in which Ms. Talbott and Mr. Agar are having breakfast, and through the lace-curtained window, one can see 1950s cars zipping down the street! (No, I'm not kiddding!) Also in the cast is the craggy and very American John Dierkes as "Jacob", a surly and suspicious handyman who always talks about "the lads" in the pub, and is laboriously carving out a wooden stake to plunge through "The werewolf Jekyll's heart" (No, I'm not kiddding!)The picture quality and sound on this DVD are superb, so one can really appreciate the tinsel sets and the aforementioned "breakfast scene" in their digitally enhanced crispness. There is also an interview with the late John Agar on the DVD, and a gallery of poster art and lobby cards. It's wonderful that such enjoyable, fun "junk" like this is treated with such reverence, and to give Mr. Ulmer his due, his films were never dull, and considering the miniscule budgets he had to work with, he delivered the goods, even though they were more than a little ridiculous. So, park yourself on your sofa with some refreshments, and enjoy "Daughter of Dr. Jekyll". ..... (sinister laugh) "Are you sure?" Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!!!!!!

Brand new and for $26 as I write this. The set also included four of Ulmer's other films. The picture and sound quality are just as good as this dvd if not better, Edgar G. Ulmer - Archive

The Daughter Of Dr.Jekyll was a good little horror flick from the 50s B movie era. A lot
of people pan this movie because of its low budget values. But I found it to be a good
little 70 min monster/horror movie. No better or no worse than some of today's so called
block busters.

picture quality: Transfer better then from some big name studio, considering how old it is.

extras: enough, again considering how old it is and the source material

The Daughter of Dr. Jekyll ?

Powerful.

Don't write this off as a cheesy 50's "B" movie

I recently viewed this film again after not seeing it for maybe-45 years?
It scared the daylights out of me back then, and still does.

Actually, of all the Jekyll & Hyde films out there, did any of them remotely mention or hint that Dr. Jekyll had ANY children?? I didn't think so.

Definitely a well written, true horror film made when filmmakers & writers actually placed forth efforts, to frighten viewers.

Yeah, it is a low-buck film but if you concentrate closely, it has the same psychological impact as the old, 60's Outer Limits B&W classics.

Powerful acting, effects, makeup & screenplay for a film of this age.

-Definitely projects nightmare content...After all, is'nt that the reason
we view these??

Daughter of Dr. Jekyll is a competent if somewhat lacklustre little Saturday-afternoon time-waster for B-horror fans. Personally, I find little evidence of director Edgar G. Ulmer's celebrated genius on display here (sorry Ulmerophiles). The movie never really rises above it's poverty-stricken origins, yet rarely generates genuinely enjoyable Bad Film ambience either. Gloria Talbott (The Cyclops, I Married a Monster from Outer Space) is radiant as Janet Smith [Jekyll], genre icon John Agar is his usual tabula rasa self, and Arthur Shields is annoyingly Barry Fitzgerald-ish as 'kindly' Dr. Lomas. The script by no-budget producer Jack Pollexfen (Neanderthal Man, Indestructible Man, Monstrosity) is strictly pedestrian, a curious hodgepodge of the Jekyll/Hyde story and werewolf/vampire legends, incorporating such hoary devices as the secret passage behind the bookcase and the monster leering at the half-dressed cheesecake model. The embarrassingly corny "are you sure?" opener and closer is sure to cling to your brain like an exceptionally irritating TV commercial. The movie also suffers at times from lack of budget (exteriors of the 'mansion' are an all-too-obvious model), although it does boast some terrific-looking cobwebs and atmospheric fog scenes. Keep an eye out for the underutilized though potentially quite effective red/green filter technique employed, if less than stunningly, for the monster's climactic transformations (see Mamoulian's 1932 Jekyll & Hyde, She Devil [1957], or Bava's Black Sunday for its much more effective application). Trivia note: Talbott apparently was co-featured with herself on a double-bill of this movie and The Cyclops back in 1957.
Allday continues their tradition of giving first-class DVD treatment to neglected films with this release. The 1.85:1 letterboxed DVD is mastered from the original 35mm fine grain positive and looks excellent overall in terms of brightness, contrast, sharpness, grayscale, and shadow/highlight detail. There is some sporadic very light speckling and spotting, a few stretches with very minor vertical scratches, and some of the exteriors and fog scenes look a bit soft and grainy, but the source print is still far above average for a film of its type and age. Extras include an overall excellent-quality, lightly speckled trailer; isolated music and effects track; still and poster gallery; and on-camera monologues by John Agar (9 mins) and Arianne Ulmer Cipes (16 mins). Ms. Cipes discusses the preservation/legal issues involved with the movie and DVD release, recalls producer Jack Pollexfen, and compares today's indie filmmakers with Ulmer in his pioneering early years. Agar reminisces about his early John Ford films and Universal-era SF flicks, relating precious little about DoDJ; genre fans who read 'zines like Scarlet Street, Psychotronic Video, or Filmfax regularly will learn virtually nothing new in his segment. The movie is gets 3 stars, the DVD package rates 4 or 5.

Edgar G. Ulmer began his career as a set designer to the famous theatrical impressario Max Reinhardt; by 1920 he was working in films, and although often uncredited labored on such legendary films as Fritz Lang's DIE NIBELUNGEN and METROPOLIS. By 1927 he was in Hollywood, and set design work led to assignments as a director. In 1934 Ulmer brought the full force of his talents upon Universal's THE BLACK CAT--a brilliantly realized film that many consider among the finest horror films of that decade. But Ulmer's affair with script girl Shirley Castle, wife of a studio executive, resulted not only in his termination at Universal but placed him on an industry-wide blacklist as well. He would never work at a major studio again.

But Ulmer had a knack for getting the most out of a tiny budget, and he soon found himself in demand as a director at second-string studios and for independent productions. Between his dismissal from Universal in 1934 and his death in 1972 he would direct more than forty films, and he was often noted for his ability to bring a remarkable artistic vision to the screen in spite of low budgets and questionable casts.

All that said, the 1957 DAUGHTER OF DR. JEKYLL was, according to daughter Arianne, a project undertaken for the sake of a paycheck; it is far from Ulmer's most memorable. Even so, as 1950s B-horror flicks go, it is far from the worst--in spite of tenth-rate special effects Ulmer manages to endow the movie with an entertaining atmosphere and the occasional jab of humor, and it is considerably more coherent than most of its kind.

The story concerns orphaned Janet Smith (Gloria Talbott), who has now reached her twenty-first birthday and arrives at the home of her guardian Dr. Lomas (Arthur Shields.) She brings with her future husband George Hastings (John Agar), who soon wins Dr. Lomas' approval, and all seems pleasant. But Janet is in for a surprise: Dr. Lomas tells her that she is heiress to the estate, left to her by her father, the notorious Dr. Jekyll, and no sooner is Janet in residence than corpses begin to crop up. Has she somehow inherited her father's chemically-induced evil?

The script here is extremely transparent, and you'll know what's going on long before Janet does. It is also more than a little odd, managing to wrap ideas about vampires and werewolves into the whole Dr. Jekyll package. Add to this extremely obvious minatures awash in dry ice, mediocre special effects, and a cast that tends toward the obvious at every possible turn--well, the overall effect is somewhat hooty, to say the least.

The print offered here is actually quite good, and the DVD comes with several amusing bonuses. THE DAUGHTER OF DR. JEKYLL will never rank along side the likes of Ed Wood's PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE in the "so bad it's good" cult movie derby--Ulmer is too much of an artist to permit tipsy tombstones--but it is actually amusing in its low-rent efforts. Recommended to fans of the genre.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

I saw this no-budget wonder as a child and remembered very little. I bought the DVD and now know why. Gloria Talbott finds out she's the title character and freaks out. Boyfriend John Agar tries to help allay her fears but there's a mad killer on the loose in the area and all the evidence points to Gloria. Someone is trying to make her think she's inherited the curse of her father's experiments. The killer sports one of the cheapest make-up jobs you're likely to see in a film of this poor quality. Cheap sets and awful dialogue mark this as a "quickie". Talbott and Agar both did their share of low budget horror flicks and they go through the motions as heroine and hero respectively. Ulmer fans may bump this up a couple of notches but it's really a cheap, cheap movie. It's not even very campy. Just dull and really silly.