The Ugly Duckling (1959 film)

The Ugly Duckling
British quad poster
Directed byLance Comfort
Screenplay bySid Colin
Jack Davies
Story bystory by Sid Colin
Produced byMichael Carreras
Tommy Lyndon-Haynes
StarringBernard Bresslaw
Jon Pertwee
Reginald Beckwith
Michael Ripper
CinematographyMichael Reed
Len Harris
Edited byJohn Dunsford
Music byDouglas Gamley
Color processBlack and white
Production
company
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • 10 August 1959 (1959-08-10)
(UK)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£110,000

The Ugly Duckling is a 1959 British science fiction comedy film, directed by Lance Comfort and starring Bernard Bresslaw, Jon Pertwee and Reginald Beckwith. The screenplay was by Sid Colin and Jack Davies. The film is a comic adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde storyline and the opening credits include "with ideas stolen from Robert Louis Stevenson". The film has no connection to the Hans Christian Andersen story. The tagline on posters read "He's a changed man after taking Jekyll's family remedy." Around this time, Hammer announced they were also producing a straight version of the Jekyll-Hyde theme in the near future to be called The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll.

John Peverall, Hugh Harlow and Tom Walls were Assistant Directors, Bernard Robinson and Don Mingaye were the Art Directors, and Roy Ashton did Makeup. The film's working title was Mad Pashernate Love, and it was filmed from May 4 to June 10, 1959. It was trade shown on July 28, 1959 at the Columbia Theatre, and was released in the UK on Aug. 10, 1959. The film is today considered a lost film.