An Ian Christie lecture about Gothic London on film

This a terrific lecture by Ian Christie, whose writings did much to bring the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger back to prominence.

His Gothic London begins with early Dickens adaptations, made because there was a ready public for them. And Dickens, after all, was a cinematic novelist before cinema was invented.

Then we go though Jekyll and Hyde, Jack the Ripper and the London fog to reach the early Hitchcock. The exoticism of Limehouse, with its opium dens and Chinese population, also figures. 

Next we take in the Blitz and this blog's favourite topic of bombsites, before returning to Dickens in the shape of David Lean's peerless Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. Carol Reed's 1970 film of Lionel Bart's Oliver!, says Christie, was the first colour adaptation of a Dickens novel.

And we end with some modern Gothic takes of London, including Death Line and From Hell.

David Hemmings in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (BBC, 1980)

Made by the BBC in 1980, this is a superior telling of the tale. It features David Hemmings in the two title roles, with support from Lisa Harrow, Ian Bannen, Clive Swift, Toyah Wilcox and Diana Dors.

The change in Hemmings when he transitions from Jekyll to Hyde is a remarkable one. The baroque facial hair of a Victorian gentleman falls away, revealing the glamorous film star beneath. A few years later Hemmings was to look more like Jekyll than Hyde in real life, but in 1980 he was still recognisable as the lead in Blow-Up.

A problem with the story is that the revelation that Jekyll and Hyde are the same man was the climax of the original story, whereas that is now the one thing that everyone knows about it. So those who adapt it have to introduce a new ending. The one here, as Jekyll loses control of when he turns into Hyde and then of what he turns into, does not disgrace the original.

And, let's face it, any film with Hemmings in is worth a look.