This Hammer reworking of the Jekyll and Hyde story has Army Game star Bernard Bresslaw as Henry Jeckle, a mild, timid and gormless chemist’s shop assistant and the great-great-grandson of the infamous doctor.
Henry is a bumbling buffoon, sweet, amiable and harmless, who is refused membership of the local teenage hooligan gang – The Rockets – for being too square.
The Rockets comprise tough, aggressive leader Bimbo (Jess Conrad), his flashily dressed gum-chewing girl Angel (Norma Maria), and Snout (Jean Muir), a young tomboy in an oversize sweater.
Messing about in the garden shed, Henry transforms into Teddy Hyde, a womanising spiv with a rakish moustache – a man easy in the company of girls and gangsters alike and the terror of the local Palais. Trouble lies ahead.
It’s very jolly and harmless light entertainment, with the central plot involving a robbery of precious jewels.
The first-class cast includes Jon Pertwee, Reginald Beckwith, Maudie Edwards, Richard Watiss, Michael Ripper, Shelagh Dey and David Lodge, all propping up the ever-likeable Bresslaw.
The Ugly Duckling was the first of three Hammer adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The other two were The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll (1960) and Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971).
Henry Jeckle/Teddy Hyde
Bernard Bresslaw Reginald
Reginald Beckwith Victor
Jon Pertwee Henrietta
Maudie Edwards Snout
Jean Muir Angel
Norma Marla Inspector Barclay
Richard Wattis Bimbo
Jess Conrad Miss Angers
Shelagh Dey Joe Loss & His Orchestra
Themselves Dandy
Elwyn Brook-Jones Fish
Michael Ripper Peewee
David Lodge Benny
Harold Goodwin Figures
Keith Smith Mark Pasco
Michael Ward Det. Sgt. Barnes
John Harvey Monsieur Blum
Jean Driant
Director
Lance Comfort
Video
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The Rockets comprise tough, aggressive leader Bimbo (Jess Conrad), his flashily dressed gum-chewing girl Angel (Norma Maria), and Snout (Jean Muir), a young tomboy in an oversize sweater.
