The Ugly Duckling (1959 film)

The film begins with Joe Loss and his Orchestra playing at a dance. Joe Loss then introduces Henrietta Jekyll Old Time Dance Team and her brother Henry Jekyll (who is standing in for the normal dancer). They give a display of formation ballroom dancing with their brother Victor (Jon Pertwee) taking over the conducting from Joe Loss.

Henry Jeckle (Bernard Bresslaw) is a bungling, awkward and socially inept man working in his brother’s pharmacy, which is still named after their great-great-grandfather: "Dr Henry Jekyll M.D. - Pharmacy, Estabd. 1812". Victor and Henrietta discuss their worries about Henry as he goes to bed with his golliwog.

Reginald Bannister comes to woo Henrietta but suggests that Henry should be kept out of the way if they marry. Henry is in the pharmacy lab when his elfin young female friend Snouty appears and accuses him of being a square. Luckily they are both in the rear yard when the lab explodes. The explosion reveals a small metal box containing a scroll. The scroll contains an old formula created by Dr Jekyll in the 19th century which claims to turn "a man of timid disposition into a bold, fearless dragon". He eagerly mixes the formula, takes one drink, and is transformed into the suave, dashing and self-confident Teddy Hyde, who makes a big impression at the local dance hall and with the ladies. He encounters Victor at the bar but is unrecognised, and belittles Victor by pouring a drink down the front of his trousers. This draws attention to the crooks who own the dance hall. They are initially going to throw him out but he impresses the boss, Dandy, with his bravado. He thereby joins this gang of crooks. He leaves just as the potion wears off and wakes in his own bed with a headache. The events of the previous night feel like a dream.

He becomes a key figure in carrying out a daring and ambitious jewel robbery. However, when the formula wears off after a few hours, Teddy changes back into Henry, and neither has a memory of being the other.

When Snouty tells Victor that the person at the dance call was called Hyde he immediately understands the connection and realises something must be done. Meanwhile Teddy breaks into a house through a rooflight and cracks a safe to steal its content of jewels. He gives them to Dandy then wanders home. The formula wears off and when Dandy draws up to pick him up he no longer recognises him.

Victor and Snouty realise what has happened to Henry, and try to find where he has been. They are shocked to find the jewels still in his pocket. Snouty breaks into the gang headquarters to try to find where the jewels are from. She is caught by the gang.

Henry then starts to remember being Hyde and they try to replace the jewels before they are missed, but they barge in on a special event to show off the jewels, which Henrietta and Reginald are attending. Dandy and a sidekick also turn up at the same event to make another attempt at getting the jewels (which they think are already back), not realising that Victor and Henry are on the roof and have not yet returned them. They struggle on the roof due to their fear of heights. Meanwhile the show organisers find the jewels gone. Victor and Henry eventually get in and stumble into the girls' dressing room before finding the still-open safe and returning the jewels. The owners then find the jewels and the show recommences as intended. Dandy in the audience realises the jewels are back. They pull guns on the owners to rob the jewels.

Snouty convinces Jekyll that he can do anything Hyde can do and he takes on the armed gang member. Victor lurks behind Dandy and before he can fire on the unflicking Henry he knocks him out.

Back at the dance hall Victor and Snouty (in a dress) dance for the first time.

• Bernard Bresslaw as Henry Jeckle / Teddy Hyde
• Jon Pertwee as Victor Jeckle
• Reginald Beckwith as Reginald Bannister
• Maudie Edwards as Henrietta Jeckle
• Jean Muir as Snouty
• Richard Wattis as Inspector Barclay
• Elwyn Brook-Jones as Dandy
• Michael Ripper as Fish
• Harold Goodwin as Benny
• David Lodge as Peewee
• Keith Smith as Figures
• Michael Ward as Mark Pasco
• John Harvey as Sgt. Barnes
• Jess Conrad as Bimbo
• Norma Marla as Angel
• Jean Driant as Monsieur Blum
• Verne Morgan as the barman
• Robert Desmond as Dizzy
• Roger Avon as Reporter
• Cyril Chamberlain as Police Sergeant
• Joe Loss as Himself

The film was shot in the summer of 1959 and was not a success at the box office losing £20,000.[1]

A brief extract from James Bernard’s theme to Dracula (1958) (also made for Hammer Films) is played whenever Jeckle drinks the potion.

TV Guide gave the film two out of five stars, and wrote, "This attempt at comedy never really pays off."[3]

• The Ugly Duckling on IMDb