PETER LORRE stars in this film masterfully directed by Karl Freund and photographed by Gregg Toland in the best German expressionist style. It's the kind of role that turned Lorre into the screen's foremost anti-hero of suspenseful horror classics.
He's Dr. Gogol, a mad doctor so in love with an actress (FRANCES DRAKE) that when her musician husband (COLIN CLIVE) loses his hands in a train wreck, the doctor arranges to have the hands of an executed murderer attached to the pianist. The musician's wife thinks he is merely performing an operation to replace the man's own hands.
The plot thickens when Clive discovers he can no longer play pieces on the piano in his former way and has a propensity for throwing knives with alarming accuracy. Of course, when Lorre's scheme becomes known to the wife, her life is in danger and so is her husband's, especially after the doctor has a wax figure of the woman transported to his apartment. A few clever twists take care of the rest of the story.
Fun to watch as a Gothic horror film, a Halloween sort of fantasy come to life. Lorre is excellent in the key role of the mad doctor with a Pygmalion complex and Frances Drake makes the perfect foil for his mad schemes. COLIN CLIVE acts in that silent screen manner that he's famous for (think of FRANKENSTEIN), but Sara Haden and Key Luke do nicely in supporting roles.
As the American reporter, TED HEALY plays a brash American reporter in a manner that rivals Lee Tracy. Why are these reporters always pictured as such caricatures of The Ugly American???
Summing up: Well worth watching for Lorre's expertise in one of his maddest roles.
He's Dr. Gogol, a mad doctor so in love with an actress (FRANCES DRAKE) that when her musician husband (COLIN CLIVE) loses his hands in a train wreck, the doctor arranges to have the hands of an executed murderer attached to the pianist. The musician's wife thinks he is merely performing an operation to replace the man's own hands.
The plot thickens when Clive discovers he can no longer play pieces on the piano in his former way and has a propensity for throwing knives with alarming accuracy. Of course, when Lorre's scheme becomes known to the wife, her life is in danger and so is her husband's, especially after the doctor has a wax figure of the woman transported to his apartment. A few clever twists take care of the rest of the story.
Fun to watch as a Gothic horror film, a Halloween sort of fantasy come to life. Lorre is excellent in the key role of the mad doctor with a Pygmalion complex and Frances Drake makes the perfect foil for his mad schemes. COLIN CLIVE acts in that silent screen manner that he's famous for (think of FRANKENSTEIN), but Sara Haden and Key Luke do nicely in supporting roles.
As the American reporter, TED HEALY plays a brash American reporter in a manner that rivals Lee Tracy. Why are these reporters always pictured as such caricatures of The Ugly American???
Summing up: Well worth watching for Lorre's expertise in one of his maddest roles.