starring Peter Lorre, Frances Drakes, Colin Clive
directed by Karl Freund
68 minutes
Doctor Gogol (Peter Lorre) is in love with performer Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drakes). He comes to see her show every night but she is married and doesn't have any interest in him. Stephen (Colin Clive), her husband, is a composer and concert pianist. His hands are badly damaged in a train wreck.
Doctor Gogol does what he can for Stephen, after Yvonne begs him for his help. He replaces Stephen's hands with those of Rollo, a knife-throwing murderer who was executed that same day. The operation is a success, to a degree. Stephen is able to use his new hands but he can't play the piano as well as he once did.
Things take a more sinister turn when Stephen discovers his new hands seem to act on urges that he himself does not possess. Yvonne talks to Doctor Gogol who suggests that Stephen and Yvonne should spend some time apart. Stephen's stepfather turns up dead, with a knife in his back. Stephen quickly becomes the number one suspect.
Thoughts
This story is set in Paris, France. It wasn't clear to me what nationality most of the characters were supposed to be. Very few of them were speaking with French accents
The story is an adaptation of a novel, The Hands of Orlac (1920) by Maurice Renard. It was first made into a movie in 1924 by Robert Wiene. The movie starred Conrad Veidt.
There are a few more characters in this story that I didn't mention in my description of the movie. One is Doctor Gogol's housekeeper. Another is an American reporter who witnesses the execution of Rollo and then pesters Doctor Gogol for more information on what happened to Rollo's body.
This was fun. It was very melodramatic in a way that I really enjoyed. The ending is a bit abrupt, which isn't unusual.
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