Edwige Fenech in an Unconventional Adaptation of 'Dr Jekyll' story

    

original title: DOTTOR JEKYLL E GENTILE SIGNORA [Dr Jekyll and the Alluring Woman}
also known as DR JEKYLL LIKES THEM HOT

director: Stefano Vanzina (as Steno)
starring: Edwige Fenech · Paolo Villaggio · Gianrico Tideschi · Gordon Mitchell · Paolo Paoloni

          

In an odd reversal of roles - for this rendering of the famous Robert Louis Stevenson story - Doctor Jekyll is an evil, selfish brute-of-a-man. He works for a greedy International conglomerate and entertains himself by assisting world tyrants and doing everything he can to keep the common man down. When Jekyll stumbles upon his grandfather's famous transformation formula, it turns him into his opposite: Eddie Hyde, a ineffectual do-gooder. He and his ball-busting secretary (now transformed into an angelic blonde) concoct a plan to spray the formula everywhere, thus causing world peace. But things don't go as planned...

When this film was made, Paolo Villaggio was Italy's superstar comedian. His shtick - perfected in the hapless everyman Ugo Fantozzi series (1973-99) - consists of broad delivery and a hammy performance [quite similar to an Italian Jim Carry]. Perhaps, for genre fans, the film's draw today is the excellent Edwige Fenech performance during her most prolific period. Director Stefano Vanzina (better known as simply Steno) was a respected studio filmmaker who helmed 76 movies from 1949 until his death in 1988 at age 71. He was best known for his popular comedies starring Bud Spencer (the FLATFOOT series).