Slash-Mess Day 12: Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde (1971)

On the 12th Day of Slash-Mess my true love gave to me - one mixed up movie.

Merry Slash-Mess! On this, the 12th Day of Slash-Mess, the Sleaze-A-Saurus presents: Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde (1971).

Oh, unwary manlings! Your so-called "Sexual Revolution" pathetically epitomized your lack of clear identity within your own confused culture. The Sleaze-A-Saurus, being it's own self-contained civilization, scoffs at your befuddled attempts to re-arrange the role of your bifurcated species loins. This self-inflicted confusion has never been more apparent then in Roy Ward Baker's Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde (1971).

Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde's director was Ray Ward Baker. Baker was something of a legend in his own right which explains his knack for turning B-movie material into a thought-provoking film. Early in his career, Baker worked as an Assistant Director for Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938) before WWII turned vast areas of urban England into war torn rubble.

Baker signed up for the British Army Kinematograph Unit, a news reel production unit - the American Signal Corp being the American counterpart and documented battles against the Nazi's as well as the bombing campaigns in his home country. The experience undoubtedly shaped his future view of humanity as he went onto direct dozens of horror and suspense movies and television shows.

Selected Filmography:
The October Man (1947)
The Weaker Sex (1948)
Paper Orchid (1949)
Morning Departure (1950)
Don't Bother to Knock (1952)
Inferno (1953)
Jacqueline (1956)
Tiger in the Smoke (1956)
The Singer Not the Song (1961)
Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
The Anniversary (1968)
Scars of Dracula (1970)
The Vampire Lovers (1970)
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971)
Asylum (1972)
The Vault of Horror (1973)

Roy Baker Ward published his memoirs Director's Cut: A Memoir of 60 Years in Filmat the age of 86 in 2002. In October of 2010, Ward reached the end of his remarkable life in London passing away of natural causes.

References:
IMDB, Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde (1971)
Wikipedia, Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde
Wikipedia, Roy Ward Baker
Imperial War Museum, Roy Ward Baker