I have never read the novel THE HANDS OF ORLAC, but the story has been used so frequently that it is easy to recall it. Peter Lorre is Dr. Gogol, a brilliant surgeon who has fallen in love with a concert singer Yvonne (Frances Drake). She however falls for the concert pianist Stephen Orlac (Colin Clive), and marries him despite Gogol's attempts to woo her. Then, Orlac is in a terrible train accident that destroys his hands. Yvonne goes to Gogol and pleads for him to restore Stephen's hands. He does this by grafting the hands of Rollo (Ed Brophy), a convicted murderer (a knife thrower), after Rollo is guillotined. This seems to be the best chance for Stephen, except that he is having difficulty training the new hands to work on his piano keyboard. He also keeps finding that the hands like to play with knives. Then, after the death of a relative of Stephen's (Ian Wolfe), who was not friendly to him, Stephen begins to wonder if the hands are still under the control of the murderer, and if he is committing more killings. The final blow is a meeting at a hotel with the dead criminal - who explains that Gogol has reconnected his head!
Is Stephen going insane? Or is there some rational explanation of what is happening here?
MAD LOVE holds up pretty well today, mostly due to Lorre's performance as Gogol, and the support of Clive, Drake, and Brophy. Perhaps the only really bad element is Ted Healey, as a nosy reporter - his antics were meant as comic relief, but the creator of the "Three Stooges" was actually a pretty unfunny guy by himself. Moreover his part has been severely cut in the film. Probably just as well. In recent years Pauline Kael suggested that Lorre's bald appearance as Gogol was used as a model for Orson Welles' bald appearance in CITIZEN KANE (as the aging tycoon when his second marriage collapses). Welles when confronted by this suggestion said he never saw MAD LOVE, so that particular coincidence is only a coincidence. I may add that the older Kane has a mustache, whereas Gogol has none.
Is Stephen going insane? Or is there some rational explanation of what is happening here?
MAD LOVE holds up pretty well today, mostly due to Lorre's performance as Gogol, and the support of Clive, Drake, and Brophy. Perhaps the only really bad element is Ted Healey, as a nosy reporter - his antics were meant as comic relief, but the creator of the "Three Stooges" was actually a pretty unfunny guy by himself. Moreover his part has been severely cut in the film. Probably just as well. In recent years Pauline Kael suggested that Lorre's bald appearance as Gogol was used as a model for Orson Welles' bald appearance in CITIZEN KANE (as the aging tycoon when his second marriage collapses). Welles when confronted by this suggestion said he never saw MAD LOVE, so that particular coincidence is only a coincidence. I may add that the older Kane has a mustache, whereas Gogol has none.