Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick stand side by side in one of the defining publicity images from Hammer’s DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE (1971), an extraordinary portrait that transforms the film’s central idea into a single unforgettable visual statement. Dressed in remarkably corresponding Victorian clothing, patterned neckwear and ornamental brooches, Bates and Beswick appear almost like reflections of one another—two bodies representing the male and female manifestations of the same identity.

Look from one face to the other.

Then back again.

The resemblance is deliberate.

The photograph doesn't merely promote the film—it explains it.

Two Faces of the Same Identity

Directed by Roy Ward Baker, DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE (1971) offered Hammer Films one of its most imaginative reinterpretations of Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous story.

Ralph Bates portrays Dr. Henry Jekyll, whose experiments in extending human life lead him to incorporate female hormones into his research.

The result is not simply a change in personality.

Jekyll physically transforms into a woman—

Sister Hyde, portrayed by Martine Beswick.

As the transformations continue, Sister Hyde develops an increasingly powerful identity of her own.

That premise presented Hammer with an unusual casting challenge.

The audience had to believe that Bates and Beswick could represent different physical manifestations of the same person.

Their natural resemblance helped make the idea work.

This photograph exploits that resemblance brilliantly.

The performers are positioned at almost identical height within the frame.

Both wear dark Victorian clothing.

Both have patterned fabric arranged closely around the neck.

Each costume features an ornamental piece at approximately the same visual point on the chest.

Their dark hairstyles create corresponding shapes around their faces.

Even their expressions are restrained.

Nothing distracts from the comparison.

The photographer wants us to study them.

Bates.

Beswick.

Bates again.

The longer we look, the more correspondences emerge.

And that makes the portrait far more sophisticated than a conventional two-star publicity photograph.

They are not presented as romantic leads.

Not adversaries.

Not simply two characters from the same film.

They are presented as variations of one human being.

That is the collector WHY.

Many publicity photographs require knowledge of the film before their significance becomes apparent.

This one works in reverse.

See the photograph first—

and you already understand something fundamental about the movie.

Two faces.

Two bodies.

One carefully coordinated visual identity.

The costumes are particularly important.

If Bates and Beswick had been dressed very differently, the conceptual connection would weaken immediately.

Instead, the dark fabric creates similar silhouettes while the corresponding neckwear and jewelry encourage the eye to compare one performer directly with the other.

The resemblance is never hidden.

It is the entire point.

That makes this one of those rare publicity photographs in which casting, costume design and photographic composition all serve the same idea.

And for the Hammer collector, there is another fascinating dimension.

DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE arrived during a period when Hammer was pushing familiar Gothic material into increasingly provocative territory.

The Jekyll and Hyde mythology was already deeply established.

Hammer's audacious move was to make the transformation not simply psychological or monstrous—

but male to female.

Bates and Beswick make that audacity visible.

Martine Beswick also carries substantial appeal beyond Hammer.

Before portraying Sister Hyde, she had already become familiar to James Bond audiences through FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963) and THUNDERBALL (1965), giving the photograph an additional point of interest for collectors whose interests cross between British horror and classic 007 cinema.

But here, she belongs completely to Hammer.

No Caribbean sun.

No Bond glamour.

No Paula Caplan.

Sister Hyde.

And standing immediately beside her is the man whose reflection she effectively becomes.

That is why this photograph deserves such prominence within a collection devoted to the film.

A dramatic scene still can show what Jekyll does.

A transformation image can show what happens to him.

A portrait can preserve either Bates or Beswick individually.

This photograph gives us the entire concept.

Dr. Jekyll.

Sister Hyde.

Male.

Female.

Original.

Alter ego.

Two performers standing side by side—and somehow, one character staring back at us.

Preserved within the KissMeMonster photographic archive, this exceptional color publicity portrait has been carefully restored to retain the corresponding details of Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick’s Victorian costumes, patterned neckwear, ornamental accessories, dark hairstyles and expressive facial features—preserving one of the most conceptually distinctive images associated with DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE and Hammer’s remarkably inventive Gothic cinema.