_**What if Dr. Jekyll morphed into an alluring woman rather than a monster?**_

In the late 1880s, murders of prostitutes start piling up in the Whitechapel district of east London where a professor (Gerald Sim) starts to suspect a colleague (Ralph Bates), who’s working on a curious elixir of life that needs female hormones taken from fresh cadavers. Martine Beswick plays Jekyll’s “sister.”

"Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde” (1971) was the third Hammer film inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's famous story from 1886. The other two were "The Ugly Duckling" (1959), a horror comedy, and “The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll" (1960). “Two Faces” is the best one, but “Sister Hyde” is interesting and has some highlights.

For instance, it mixes in two historical serial murder accounts: The Jack the Ripper slayings, which occurred from 1888-1891, and the Burke and Hare murders, which took place in 1828 Edinburgh. Since Stevenson based his 1881 yarn “The Body snatcher” on the Burke and Hare case, scriptwriter Brian Clemens felt it would be a fitting addition. In any case, I like the way Jekyll justifies his diabolical doings for the (supposed) greater good of humanity.

The key deviation of the story is helped by the fact that Bates and Beswick have a similar look.

As with most Hammer flicks there are a few notable beauties, whether costarring or in the periphery. Besides Martine, there’s Susan Brodrick as the winsome Susan, plus a couple others.

The film runs 1 hour, 33 minutes, and was shot in Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, just northwest of London.

GRADE: B-