The Head of Janus (1920)

Interesting facts

• Based on: Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Der Januskopf is a lost 1920 German silent film directed by F. W. Murnau. The film was an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Little is known about the film's production: it was shot and previewed under the title Schrecken, with shooting starting in either February or March 1920.

Production

The film was developed under the name Schrecken (lit. 'Terror') and directed by F.W. Murnau at an early point of what authors Gary Don Rhodes and Bill Kaffenberger described as his "illustrious career in Germany and America." At this point, Murnau had only directed three feature films.

The film is based on Robert Louis Stevenson's novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886). The screenplay for the film was written by Hans Janowitz. Exactly when the film titled Schrecken was shot is hard to determine. One published production calendar suggests it was shot in late February 1920 but as the film's cinematographer Karl Freund was not reported as hired until 6 March, it is possible it was shortly later.

The surviving screenplay and additional production materials suggest that this work was the first in film history to introduce and utilise the "moving camera". In a scene where the doctor ascends the stairs to his laboratory, Janowitz writes the following sentence in his screenplay: "The camera follows him up the stairs."

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