Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

In this 1920 interpretation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s seminal novella, Dr. Henry Jekyll emerges not merely as a victim of scientific hubris, but as a deliberate architect of his own moral disintegration. Sheldon Lewis portrays the titular physician with a localized intensity, depicting a man obsessed with the ontological schism between human altruism and atavistic impulse. By distilling a chemical catalyst intended to isolate the 'darker' essence of the psyche, Jekyll inadvertently births Edward Hyde—a grotesque, visceral manifestation of uninhibited malice. Unlike other contemporaneous adaptations, this version leans heavily into the psychological claustrophobia of the Victorian laboratory, framing Jekyll’s descent as a harrowing cautionary tale about the fragility of the civilized veneer when confronted with the intoxicating liberty of total depravity.