Review of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Well I never read the novel and my knowledge about this story was pretty low before I watched this movie. Well yes the story is pretty straightforward and the characters are introduced in a minimalistic way. Except for Dr. Jekyll we don't get to know most of the characters for real, they look pretty cardboard doing what they are supposed to do. There is little surprises since almost everything that will happen is announced by the title cards. For me a silent is more effective when intertitles are mostly used for dialog while the visuals, the gestures and expressions of the cast should do the rest. That said John Barrymore looks really nasty as Mr. Hyde (now that was some nice piece of horror) and it's incredible both the good Jekyll and the evil Mr. Hyde were played by the same actor. The spider scene was memorable but overall the storytelling was rather choppy and dull.