To say that early horror cinema was restrained is to lie. Between the perverted screams of a mid-vivisection Charles Laughton in Island of Lost Souls and Karloff’s expressionist flaying in The Black Cat, the screen played host to all manner of abominations.

This bodes well for an unrepentantly horrific and surprisingly steamy rendition of Stevenson’s novella, two strands that reach an unforgettable climax in the agonising boudoir scene between Hyde and his mistress. Director Rouben Mamoulian offers technical innovation and theatrical splendour well in excess of the film’s eighty years, from his pioneering use of subjective camera to a flamboyant celebration of Bach.

This would of course count for nothing without strong acting, which this production certainly contains – particularly from Bette Davis’s arch-rival Miriam Hopkins as the streetwalker Ivy and Oscar-winning Fredric March as the eponymous double act. A shame that it was suppressed for the high-gloss MGM remake.