The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll AKA House of Fright

There you are.

In each one of these dumb human animals...

...there is a personality which shows itself only in play.

Dumb human animals?

Henry, these are not pretty guinea pigs...

...they are children who cannot speak.

But I am convinced that in this case...

...the not speaking is a refusal of one part of the mind...

...to allow the other part to express itself freely.

You suggest they play out what they cannot speak out?

Precisely.

You are the same Henry Jekyll...

...forever seeking keys to the locked doors of the mind.

Thank you, Dr. Jekyll.

They do enjoy coming in the afternoon to your garden.

They really never want to leave, especially Jane.

You see, Ernst.

All of my experiments...

...are directed towards the freeing of the creature imprisoned within.

In your paper, the paper that began all this trouble...

...you wrote of two creatures.

In every human personality...

...two forces struggle for supremacy.

I understand.

But it was rash to publish before you could prove.

Now I don't have to prove anything.

Resigning my appointment freed me from idiots...

...who are no more scientists than I am a priest.

You have been missed, Henry.

Yes, they must have been short of jokes since I resigned.

How they laughed at my last lecture.

Was that a reason to disappear from professional life?

You live like a hermit in the middle of London.

- Is it wise? - Lf one doesn't want to be torn...

...limb from limb by one's colleagues, it's very wise.

Is it fair?

Who in the profession has been fair to me?

Who apart from yourself has even given me a hearing?

Forget the profession for a moment.

What of the others...

...those who care for you?

Yes, I see. Kitty has spoken to you. She asked you to come.

Think how it is for Kitty.

You live here alone without servants, without friends.

What is it like for her? What does Kitty think about this?

In six years of marriage...

...Kitty has never thought about my work.

Forget your work for a moment.

Your home is in ruins.

Your life is in dustsheets.

I need privacy for my work.

I can't think about anything else.

My work is far too near completion for me to stop now.

But to what end are you working, my dear Henry?

Man has always known that his personality is an uneasy...

...and unsatisfactory combination of conflicting elements.

We must accept this conflict and support the good in us.

Good. Evil. This moral quibbling is useless.

Man as he is comprises two beings.

One whom I call man as he could be.

In his perfection...

...this inner man is beyond good and evil.

And the other man?

He, too, is beyond good and evil. Man as he would be.

Free of all the restrictions society imposes upon us.

Subject only to his own will.

A very dangerous man, my friend.

For what civilizes us, other than these moral restrictions...

...of which you make so little?

We are scientists, Ernst.

It is for us to release and understand every force in nature.

This higher man you speak of is the weaker element in us.

Our lust and our violence feed the weaker man.

That is why there are so few saints and so many sinners.

Will you cut evil out of man with a scalpel, Henry?

How you fall back into the conventional way of thinking, Ernst.

I am not concerned with a moral operation...

...but with the control of every resource of the human personality...

...by science.

Here, Toto.

Quietly, now.

Quietly. Quietly, now.

Quietly. Here we are. That's it. Quietly.

Quietly.

Quietly.

Now watch.

See?

Even in the most primitive of men's forebears...

...there is an even more primitive totally unrestrained energy.

What is this? You have turned a placid, affectionate little animal...

...into a miniature devil.

Within four hours, when the drug has worn itself off...

...he will revert to his former placid self.

Can you not take a violent creature...

...and with some opposite drug, transform it to its higher nature?

I am working to that end...

...but I must understand the enemy I have to fight against.

Henry, have you experimented with this drug...

...upon any other creature?

Excuse me, professor.

- I'm sorry to disturb but... - I am working, Kitty.

I'm sorry, Henry, but Paul Allen is here again.

Don't give in to him, he's such a useless waster.

You will excuse me. I will be late for my lecture.

Oh, do stay longer.

It's so good to have someone who understands.

I will come again as soon as I can. Goodbye.

Let me tell Allen to go.

All Paul ever wants is money, my dear.

Tell him I will sign his notes as usual.

But, Henry, he takes advantage of you.

- Lf only you'd give more attention... - lf only you could understand, Kitty.

If only you could begin to understand.

What do you think, Ernst?

I am perplexed...

...and to be frank, a little frightened. - You too?

Henry is working in a very dangerous field.

He locks himself in that laboratory for days and nights on end.

Sometimes he looks so ill.

A few weeks ago, I had to carry him to bed.

- He got up as soon as he could walk. - You should have sent for me.

He wouldn't let anyone examine him.

One whole night...

- Oh, it was terrible. - Tell me.

- I was so frightened. - Tell me the facts.

I heard him in his room.

He was shouting.

It was a strange, terrible sound. It...

It was a fever brought on by exhaustion.

But the voice, Ernst.

It was a strange voice.

I see.

Kitty, my dear, there is nothing wrong with Henry...

...that rest and yourself cannot cure.

Rest perhaps, but not me. I can't cure anything for him.

You are married to a man of very great talent.

Genius, perhaps.

Such men are always difficult to live with.

- Surely, you must realize... - Tell me frankly, Ernst.

Could his mind be seriously disturbed?

Disturbed?

Seriously enough for him to be sent away?

Well, you worry excessively, my dear.

Henry is obsessed.

He is obsessed with his experiments.

Such concentration is unwise but hardly insane.

You must try to help him.

We must both try to help him.

Yes, we must.

Well, goodbye, my dear.

I will go this way.

- Well? - Well?

Don't look grim.

I hate to ask for help as much as you hate me for asking for it.

At least you admit that the situation lacks dignity.

What did he say?

You and Henry are such children.

As long as you have your toys and he has his, you're both happy.

The hounds are at my heels.

Stop enjoying yourself and tell me about it.

Against my wifely advice, dear Paul, yes.

Henry will save you once again.

- You're too good to me, Kitty. - I am.

Far too good.

I won't put you in this position again. I don't want you to lie for me.

Of course you don't.

I don't deserve you, Kitty.

You don't.

But I deserve you.

I deserve nothing better than you.

I'm sorry you won't come.

How can you bear these endless dinner parties, Kitty?

Oh, they can be quite gay.

To listen to a lot of braying asses full of cant and hypocrisy?

These are my friends, Henry.

Kitty?

Let's both take the evening off.

You from being social and me from being antisocial. Let's be together.

Diana Ashburnham would never forgive me.

It would ruin her table.

Yes, of course.

How stupid of me.

Above all, we must not upset Lady Ashburnham's arrangements.

Now, Henry, would it be fair?

You should have said you wanted me to stay in this evening. I did ask you.

I need you tonight, Kitty.

Stay.

Oh, really, Henry, it's too selfish of you to make such an issue.

You may not need friends but I do.

And I'm not going to insult them for the sake of your whims.

My dearest Kitty...

...have I ever complained against any of your charms?

Your boredom is only too clear.

It's my fault. A woman who shows her feelings loses dignity.

Come, I offer to show you the other more amusing side...

...of the respectable society which bores you so much when I do sulk.

Is it so especially amusing?

I feel sure that those gentleman you meet...

...at those dinner parties will agree with me when I say...

...that there is no entertainment that the Sphinx cannot provide.