Release Date
26 Aug, 1920
Runtime
01:47: (HH:MM)
Synopsis
The film was an unauthorized adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but the source material went unrecognized by some of the German media due to changes in the characters' names. Released in 1920, this is one of Murnau's lost films. While the film itself does not survive, the scripts and related production notes do. Because the film is lost, its full length is unknown. Dr. Warren is the Dr. Jekyll character who changes into Mr. O'Connor, a parallel of Mr. Hyde. This transformation is brought about, not by experimentation with chemicals as in Stevenson's original, but through the supernatural agency of a bust of Janus (the Roman god of duality), which Warren purchases in the opening sequence as a gift for his sweetheart, Jane. When she refuses the gift, horrified, Warren is forced to keep the statuette himself.
Original Title
Der Januskopf
Photos
Actors
Conrad Veidt
Magnus Stifter
Margarete Schlegel
Bela Lugosi
Margarete Kupfer
Gustav Botz
Jaro Fürth
Crew
F. W. Murnau
Robert Louis Stevenson
Erich Pommer
Karl Freund