Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Hitchcoc The inimitable Peter Lorre plays Dr. Gogol, an incredibly gifted surgeon. He has a weakness, however. He has fallen for an actress whose being rules his life. When she tells him she is married he is crestfallen. Her husband is a renowned classical pianist. He is injured in a train wreck, his hands crushed. Lorre works to cure him, but until he transplants the hands of a murderer, a knife thrower, the man cannot be whole. Of course, he now has the hands of a murderer and they want to kill, using knives. He thinks he will get the girl, but he disgusts her. Her rejection sends him over the edge. Great vehicle for the wonderful Lorre as he expresses madness and pain. Very well done horror tale.

Johan Louwet Apparently this movie is a remake of the Austrian silent "The Hands of Orlac" which I really want to see now since I thought "Mad Love" was awesome. This is mainly thanks to the role of Peter Lorre as the creepy looking and acting Dr. Gogol. That gaze in his eyes, that laugh when he disguised himself as the murderer that was insanely good. Another good role was for Gogol's housekeeper played by May Beatty together with her parrot putting some humor in an otherwise very serious and dark movie. Gogol's love interest Yvonne is played by Frances Drake, beautiful actress of who the doctor keeps a wax statue in his home. At the start of the movie I really thought that statue was a real person, so real it looked. The scene where Yvonne pretends to be the statue to fool Gogol is just awesome. The story is simple but really effective.

TheRedDeath30 Thank the gods for the internet, huh? In this modern age, internet communities and online reviews give us a chance to discover films that would otherwise go well below our radar. It is was the case that I found this movie to be highly recommended by several sources and it did not disappoint.I have been a monster kid since I was a young one in the 70s and read every horror movie history book I could get my hands on, but this movie never seemed to pop up in those mentions. Part of that is no doubt due to its' oddity among its' 30s brethren. This is a not a "monster movie" as was so popular during those days. Instead it predates the more thriller oriented horror of the 40s that would come later on, focusing instead on a deranged and slightly maniacal doctor longing for a love that he cannot have. Doing a little research on the movie, I also find that critics were not kind to it during its' day, but have come around in the past few decades, probably another reason that it is more mentioned now than it was during its' time.That seems to be a surprise because the movie is a horror fiend's dream. Based on a novel that had already been filmed as THE HANDS OF ORLAC with CALIGARI's Conrad Veidt. Directed by legendary cinematographer Karl Freund, with a script from Guy Endore, whose novel THE WEREWOLF OF Paris was a heralded classic made into the Hammer film CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF. The cast features the wonderful Peter Lorre in his first American role, along with Doc Frankenstein himself, Colin Clive. All of these parts together were almost certain to yield something worthwhile.The beginning of the movie sets a dark tone right from the start. Using the Grand Guignol stage as its' backdrop, we are immersed in a world of chills, as each employee of the theatre is dressed in spooky costume, before our heroine takes the stage in a production that would make Mario Bava proud. From there, we go to a beheading, complete with shiny, sharp guillotine and gallows humor. While there are no fantastic monsters present (as in Universal's work of the time), there are certainly chills to mark this firmly in horror territory.The story strays from the plot of the earlier HANDS OF ORLAC by placing much more emphasis on the new character of Dr. Gogol, played by Lorre. He's the glue holding this movie together, as he displays impressive range. We know from the beginning that there's something a little off about him. Clearly, he's obsessed with the heroine and maybe a little too much with torture, beheadings and deathly theater. In an early scene, we see that he's a little bit socially backwards as he takes an opportunity for a peck on the cheek with our heroine as a chance to plant a deep kiss on her.From there, his obsession spirals out of control, just as much as his grip on sanity seems to be spiraling downwards. His plot to make Yvonne his own ultimately ends with a dastardly surgery and murderous plot. By the time he comes to dress as a dead serial killer to further his ruse with Orlac, it's clear that he's crossed from damaged goods to full- on maniacal villain.The directing of Freund is spot on, as always. His movies look incredible and this is no exception. Watch the early conversation between Gogol and Yvonne in her dressing room and the use of close ups for a director clearly in firm grasp of his craft. The movie would work almost as effectively on mute as it does with sound.I recommend this to any fan of early horror or thrillers. What it may lack in a memorable monster, it more than makes up for by presenting a good story with great characters.

GL84 After an accident leaves him with crushed hands, a concert pianist's wife goes to the obsessed doctor in love with her to help him get over the accident, and when he agrees, the serial killer's hands he chooses for the operation have a life of their own after the successful surgery.This was enjoyable for what it was, though it's still quite flawed at times. As was the case most often with these early 30s horror efforts, not a whole lot of time is spent on actual horror, as the love affair showcased isn't all that well thought-out, leaving this one to just completely meander around during the beginning. While this makes his transformation into a psycho all the more credible, the actions don't move the film along into the horror arena. It's also pretty incredulous to believe the complete lack of knowledge gathered into who's hands were used, as the police investigation turns up nothing and the reporter never solves it, but for such an important procedure to take place, the fact that there's hardly anything known about that isn't brought up makes this section wholly unbelievable. While not a lot of action is done to suggest that this is a horror film, it certainly looks the part with it's impressive visuals, great layout and rather chilling sets as well as the fun final twenty minutes when the ruse has been uncovered, which does drag it out of the doldrums but is hardly enough to make it an out-and-out classic.Today's Rating-PG: Mild Violence