The Head of Janus

Synopsis

The film was an unauthorized adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but the source material went unrecognized by some of the German media due to changes in the characters' names. Released in 1920, this is one of Murnau's lost films. While the film itself does not survive, the scripts and related production notes do. Because the film is lost, its full length is unknown. Dr. Warren is the Dr. Jekyll character who changes into Mr. O'Connor, a parallel of Mr. Hyde. This transformation is brought about, not by experimentation with chemicals as in Stevenson's original, but through the supernatural agency of a bust of Janus (the Roman god of duality), which Warren purchases in the opening sequence as a gift for his sweetheart, Jane. When she refuses the gift, horrified, Warren is forced to keep the statuette himself.

Main Cast

Conrad Veidt

Dr. Warren

Age : 50 | Popularity : 19%

Magnus Stifter

Warrens Freund

Age : 65 | Popularity : 3%

Margarete Schlegel

Grace

Age : 87 | Popularity : 7%

Willy Kaiser-Heyl

o. A.

Age : 77 | Popularity : 6%

Bela Lugosi

Warren's Butler

Age : 73 | Popularity : 6%

Margarete Kupfer

o. A.

Age : 72 | Popularity : 3%

Danny Guertler

o. A.

Age : N/A | Popularity : 3%

Gustav Botz

o. A.

Age : 74 | Popularity : 5%

Crew

Department	Role	Name
Production	Producer	Erich Pommer
Camera	Director of Photography	Karl Freund Carl Hoffmann Carl Weiss
Writing	Screenplay	Hans Janowitz
	Novel	Robert Louis Stevenson
Directing	Director	F. W. Murnau
Art	Set Designer	Heinrich Richter
Department	Role	Name

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