The Hands of Orlac, 1924 starring Conrad Veidt: Streaming Review

A world-famous pianist loses both hands in an accident. When new hands are grafted on, he doesn't know they once belonged to a murderer. We review The Hands of Orlac, 1924.
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Summary: Orlac is a world famous pianist. One day he is badly hurt in a big train wreck. He is in danger of losing both his hands so his wife begs the doctors to save them. They eventually manage to transplant his hands with those of another deceased person. After his recovery Orlac discovers that there is something seriously wrong with his new pair of hands -- it is as if they had a will of their own. But Orlac doesn't know that they actually belonged to a dangerous murderer.
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[@OuterGalaxyLounge]

Thank you again for showing respect for the better-known and lesser-known classics.

[@omnitrixbearer7364]

I've only seen the 1935 remake, Mad Love, which is a good movie itself, especially due to the performance of Peter Lorre.

[@johnathonhaney8291]

Same...that one had far different themes too despite the same setup. There, the emphasis was more on possession of the pianist's wife while the hand transplant was almost incidental (though it did play a critical role in the climax).

[@euansmith3699]

The props for Rollo the Knife Thrower's mechanical hands are a wonderful bit of Art Deco design.

[@omnitrixbearer7364]

@@euansmith3699 That whole scene is just pure nightmare fuel.

[@davenobody26]

Same here.

[@johnrudy9404]

Good one, DC. The scene at 2:30 seems right out of an Edward Hopper painting. Most specifically, the large room, with a very large window. Veidt was great.

[@spennybullen2178]

A fine review of an all too often forgotten movie. Well done sir.

[@alext8828]

Now, I have to see it. Thank you for your maniacal craziness.

[@robotrix]

Is it possible to dislike anything with Conrad Veight? You've done Hands of a Stranger but with the version made in France with Christopher Lee and other adaptations there's almost a special waiting to be made of these

[@johnathonhaney8291]

I particularly like his WB period, All Through The Night and Casablanca. That he literally dropped dead of a heart attack so young is a tragedy to me.

[@ashleys9397]

More than merely some passing mention has to be made of Karl Freund's MAD LOVE (1935). Not so much because it happens to be one of MY favorite Thirties horrors (which it is), but more because it remains such a thoroughly unique and exceedingly well-crafted macabre entertainment entirely in its own right. Though not as vividly atmospheric and dramatically stylized as the silent German original, it instead draws hugely from Peter Lorre's incredible acting turn as the dementedly love-obsessed surgeon "Dr. Gogol". In a contemporary review, the writer Graham Greene perfectly limned this great actor's sinister screen essence: "Those marbly pupils in the pasty spherical face are like eye pieces of a microscope through which you can see laid flat on one side the entangled mind of a man; love and lust, nobility and perversity; hatred of itself and despair jumping out at you from the jelly". Though a superficially straightforward remake on its face, MAD LOVE nevertheless downplays the pivotal predicament of the tragically maimed Orlac (played here by Colin Clive) while shifting the main plot focus to Dr. Gogol's twisted fixation on actress Francis "Galatea" Drake. And there's where Lorre's creepy charisma comes so effectively into play, bolstered by suggestions of erotomania and perhaps necrophilia in defiance of production code restrictions. Given its evident artistic merit, it remains elusive why the film still isn't held in such similarly high regard as such canonical Thirties horror fare as DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN, THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and any others one could well name. This is more than a quibbling or minor oversight. By contrast the 1960 French-made version is partly enjoyable but lacks altogether the hallucinatory ambience and stylistic flair that made the previous incarnations such striking productions. Mel Ferrer mostly makes for a banal and uninvolving Orlac, and he's regularly upstaged by Christopher Lee as "Nero" the seedy night club magician turned blackmailer. And the less said about the purple-prosy HANDS OF A STRANGER (1962) the better.

[@ERJones-fd6oh]

The performer despite the limitations of the medium at the time projects his tormoil powerfully

[@tomjohnson4922]

I haven't seen this version but I've seen and enjoyed Mad Love, I thought this sounded familiar. I love silents so will give this a whirl.

[@doctorx3]

You are so on my wavelength right now. I LOVE Weimar cinema, and I feel that Robert Wiene was an underappreciated and under-funded talent. The man churned out a preposterous amount of celluloid in his brief life, and while most of it is lost forever, I feel that "Hands of Orlac," "Caligari," and the 88 minute cut of "Genuine" are all glittering marvels. I can't help but wonder what he might have done, if he'd been given more time and resources, and had lived longer. It's worth remembering that both Alfred Hitchcock and Chang Cheh began as cogs in studio machines. What remains of Wiene's filmography hints that he might also have emerged to become a master craftsman, if only the dice had tumbled in his favor.

[@DarkCornersReviews]

His films seriously need proper restorations. Some that were big hits at the time are impossible to find now.

[@l.a.gothro3999]

I thought that Veidt had become better-known as Major Strasser in "Casablanca".

[@MorristheMinor]

I always remember him from 'The Spy In Black', but that's just me....

[@johnathonhaney8291]

Check him out in All Through The Night, as a Nazi spymaster.

[@MorristheMinor]

@@johnathonhaney8291 Funny how he's playing Nazis and yet he left Germany in the 30s because he was anti-Nazi.

[@Shadowman4710]

@@johnathonhaney8291 I enjoyed that film.

[@Shadowman4710]

@@MorristheMinor Not a singular occurrence. Just about every actor playing Nazis in "Hogan's Heroes" was Jewish.

[@earlleeruhf3130]

Did this film inspire Manos, Hands of Fate! Seriously back before many Special Effects were invented films were made with clever shots and editing to bring out the mood. Men like Conrad Veidt and Alfred Hitchcock were gifted.

[@Collector261]

I look at this and I think “Dam, I wish that the lost Veidt film “Janus Face” had survived.

[@Yungbeck]

I for sure enjoyed the film when I first saw it

[@IronSalamander8]

Looks very intriguing. I shall have to watch it.

[@AndriannaZ13]

Great film!!

[@Madmax-rz5hz]

Better Orlac's hands than Gary Gilmore's Eyes (I still have that Adverts single...)

[@ashleys9397]

And I still have their full 1978 album CROSSING THE RED SEA WITH THE ADVERTS (it includes the inspired classic "Gary Gilmore's Eyes"). Punk Will Never Die!

[@Madmax-rz5hz]

@ashleys9397 at the time I was tempted but ended up with the Vibrators' V2, which I liked

[@ashleys9397]

@@Madmax-rz5hz The Vibrators' first album "Pure Mania" is also a good 'un. Whips & Furs y'all!

[@TheRealNormanBates]

isn't Conrad Veidt the name of Ozymandius in *Watchmen?* I also wonder if that is where Voight came from in *The Boys.*

[@johnathonhaney8291]

ADRIAN Veidt, actually, for Watchmen. Far as I know, no relation to Voight in The Boys, which was more likely one of Garth Ennis' name jokes (Voight refers to someone who is a supervisor).

[@WilliamWorkman-wg1ib]

I love both this version and Mad Love. Mad love had the creepy sex-obsessed doctor played by--who else?--Peter Lorre. But the earlier version had more original and disturbing visuals. I never once thought to compare it with Caligari.

[@Collector261]

They made a couple of ‘Batman & Robin’ serials back in the 1940’s. I often muse; what if Conrad Veidt had survived his demise, and was convinced to play a role in those movies serials as ‘The Joker’? Imagine. The very man who inspired the DC comics to create The Joker, PLAYING The Joker in a movie?!! It might have been able to happen! Maybe on a parallel world.

[@wilfridwibblesworth2613]

"The Left Testicle of Orlac, 1925" was OK but "The Bellend of Orlac, 1926" was a bit of a flop.

[@davidlionheart2438]

If only they'd had Viagra in 1926..........

[@skylx0812]

Wasn't Michael Caine in a similar not too well recieved film?

[@DarkCornersReviews]

Yes. The Hand. 1981

[@ashleys9397]

@@DarkCornersReviews Hardly one of Michael Caine's finest hours. Nor one of director Oliver Stone's either. However, Ollie did make an earlier and much more interesting horror picture titled SEIZURE. One of its cast is Jonathan "Barnabas Collins" Frid.

[@JohnSmith-x8s5g]

👏

[@futuristica1710]

All I want for Christmas is a biopic about Veidt.

[@Bigbadwhitecracker]

YES!!!!

[@johnathonhaney8291]

Per Robin, a DC special on him is on the way.

[@onbearfeet]

You might enjoy Kaz Rowe's video essay on him.

[@ritawing1064]

Conrad Veidt!❤

[@johnathonhaney8291]

A forgotten giant who deserves to be better known.

[@ritawing1064]

​@johnathonhaney8291 Jerome K. Jerome, of "Three Men in a Boat" fame, wrote a horribly mawkish story called "The Passing of the Third Floor Back", in the film of which Conrad Veidt plays the lead: no-one else could have portrayed that character with such dignity and charisma. The film would probably appal viewers these days for its sentimentality, but there are some sterling performances as well as Veidt's. On youtube for the curious.

[@DarkCornersReviews]

It's a lovely little film.

[@johnathonhaney8291]

​@@ritawing1064 Sounds similar to Crackup, a discount Hitchcock style film whose sole redeeming quality is Peter Lorre's performance as a vicious spy who masquerades as a harmless eccentric. That's ALSO on KZbin.

[@ritawing1064]

@@johnathonhaney8291 thanks, I'll look it up!

[@Adam_Le-Roi_Davis.]

This is an excellent film, and one which deserves to be better known and more loved. The performances are overall great particularly from the lead, and the atmosphere is amazing, not just from the acting, but also in the way it is shot and the use of the score. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.

[@johnathonhaney8291]

It strikes me that this film's remake, Mad Love, had more emphasis on Peter Lorre's mad surgeon than Colin Clive's tortured pianist. Never saw Hands of Orlac but might give it a look soon.

[@DarkCornersReviews]

It definitely did. All the adaptations go different ways because the book apparently is not so great.

[@johnathonhaney8291]

​@@DarkCornersReviews Believe it...sometimes the movie IS better than the book (see also The Manchurian Candidate and John Boorman's Point Blank).

[@markdavidwelsh3340]

@@DarkCornersReviewsI have the book and it’s certainly different from the films. It’s been a while since I read it but, as I recall, a large part of the story involves a neighbour/relative? who is a medium so there is quite a bit of seance related material. The thing I do remember, though, is that surgeon Dr Gogol appears on only about half a dozen pages. He’s barely a character at all, so way different from the Lorre version. Overall, I didn’t think it was great, but it was interesting and I do plan on giving it another read sometime.

[@NGMonocrom]

I've seen the film. It is brilliant, but far too melodramatic. The scene with the maid.... Though she at first is clearly aroused by his touch. She has a sudden realization, and immediately rebukes him in a very cold and horribly cruel manner. The film is definitely worth a watch.

[@buzzawuzza3743]

This film is way better than the sequel that never got made, The Dentures Of Orlac. In his mind, Orlac can't believe that his new teeth are really PART of him so he takes them out of his mouth every night and leaves them in a glass by the side of his bed. From there the horror begins.

[@mmattson8947]

I think that was due to the box office failure of the sequel that was made, “The Middle Fingers of Orlac.” (For some reason, audiences felt the movie was disrespecting them.)

[@skylx0812]

A supernatural non-denture horror adventure just sounds like a really bad time.

[@earlleeruhf3130]

I'm still waiting for the sequel to The Hills have Eyes. It's titled The Valley has Ears.

[@ashleys9397]

I can picture it: Orlac's falsies nocturnally coming to life, escaping from the glass, and embarking on a terror-filled night of frenzied biting and gnashing and chewing. Freaky Deaky! It would've made for a good double bill with my own unmade project "The Night of the Man-Eating Vagina". Yowza y'all!

[@frankb821]

I'd heard of Mad Love, but not Hands of Orlac! Gotta track it down before 10/31!

[@mahatmarandy5977]

Somehow whenever I hear “Conrad Veidt” I always think of “Hans Conreid.”

[@ronsapp]

Quite a few years ago I was in a bar at the beach,a guy wanted people to buy him drinks,saying he was Conrad Veidt's grandson.Noone yjere aside me knew who it was,so if it wasn't some truth in it he would've names a more popular person. Anyway,never saw him again,and no,no one bought him drinks.

[@willhouse]

Veidt was one of the greats 💯

[@spews1973]

I'm going to have to set aside more time to watch more silent films.

[@steveng2475]

I first saw this film in 1980-something at a cinema - they played 3 (maybe more?) silent horror classics, and this was one - and I loved it from the first. Such a wonderful film.

[@helenj4902]

So many movies are based on this very horror. Peter Lorre The Beast with 5 fingers for example and Mad Love

[@ConnorNotyerbidness]

Somehow i knew after caligari that this would soon follow

[@DarkCornersReviews]

It was either this or Student of Prague.

[@historylover]

This is a great movie. I highly recommend it. Although its sound remake with Peter Lorre might be better known. But, I absolutely love Veidt.

[@shannondore]

I've heard of this but have never seen it. Definitely gonna remedy that. I've seen Mad Love which I really liked mostly because I adore Peter Lorre.

[@ashleys9397]

I too utterly adore Peter Lorre. One of the incontestable true movie greats---and in so many great roles!

[@johnathonhaney8291]

​@@ashleys9397 And yet such a tragic life with some good stretches thrown in. The World Inferno/Friendship Society made a offbeat concept album based on Lorre's life and work called Addicted To Bad Ideas that I can't recommend enough.

[@benediktschander7609]

I think it is important always to discuss the score in the reviews of a silent film. Because this score by Johannes Kalitzke is certainly not for everyboy. It's extremly hard to bear for some, according to the european Amazon reviews, despite undoubtletly being a very clever piece of music in theory. But it ruins the film for me. i think the Paul Mercer Score is a bit nicer. But in my opinion this movie really lacks an orchestral score that equals its impressive imagery and acting.

[@jannewass4540]

I was hoping you'd do this one after Caligari. It remains one of my absolute favourite performances in cinema history.

[@mikesilva3868]

Good movie 🎉

[@euansmith3699]

🎶 Gary don't need his eyes to see. Gary and his eyes have parted company 🎶

[@zm73will]

Manos: Hands of Orlac

[@glowmentor]

2:29 and the reveal of Edward in Edward Scissorhands?

[@TheMadAfrican1]

To devalue a film only because it is not like another made by the same director is madness to me.

[@aaronkindig8016]

Edward Scissor Hands stole the walk also.

[@bryangraham7926]

yes I am a fan and I own a copy but I tend to enjoy Mad Love a lot more

[@jorgeroaro]

In the Spanish-speaking world, the 1935 remake of this movie, "Mad Love", with Peter Lorre, did not have that name, but was called "The Hands of Orlac" again. In Malcolm Lowry's classic novel "Under the Volcano", from 1947, the action (depicting the last day of the life of the British Consul in the Mexican city of Cuernavaca) takes place during the Day of the Dead, November 1, 1938, in Cuernavaca. And there is a scene, at the beginning, were a French man, a friend of the British diplomat, is considering entering the movies, and the local theater is playing "The Hands of Orlac", with Peter Lorre, made three years earlier, and still playing in this small Mexican town. The Frenchman has already seen the movie, and also has seen the earlier version, with Conrad Veidt, the film discussed here, and he doesn't like very much neither of them, but considers the original clearly better. And then he starts to elucubrate about the meaning of the film, thinking that the murdered represents the Weimar Republic, and the assasin, with all of his obsessions, represents the toxic forces that destroyed the Republic, and assumes the value of the Expressionist films made in Germany a testament both of a sick and decadent society, and of a civilization and a culture that still is capable of producing real art. It's a brief scene, but interesting nonetheless.

[@johnradovich8809]

Great comment. I’m a big fan of Huston’s film and have been wanting to read the book for a long time.

[@thrashpondopons8348]

2:06... a real Hand Maid's Tale!

[@itowmyhome797]

🎉

[@alandhopewell]

I've yet to see it, but I 'm sure that I 'll like it better than the repulsive 1960 remake.

[@ashleys9397]

The one decent thing about the shoddy '60 version is that it stars Christopher Lee in the villainous supporting role.

[@dawwe8869]

Eyy

[@monicariba4309]

Finnaly this damn good movie getting some recognition. I wonder, where can I find it in high quality online and for free. When I first saw It It was on a channel named "Lummiere Factory", but the channel is now deleated, a shame too, there were some of the best quality silents I've seen online.

[@DarkCornersReviews]

Pretty good copy here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4jMinynfcymfpI

[@monicariba4309]

@@DarkCornersReviews Thanks.

[@AmityvilleFan]

So Orlac, not Orloc. Finaly got it.

[@euansmith3699]

Orloc is a brand of security devices for row boats. 🤭

[@AmityvilleFan]

@@euansmith3699 And the name of the vampire in Nosferatu.

[@rsacchi100]

I believe there was at least one later American movie that had a similar premise.

[@ashleys9397]

You're probably thinking of a 1962 low-budget B titled HANDS OF A STRANGER. It's not very good; take it from me.

[@rsacchi100]

@@ashleys9397 Yes, that's it.

[@maplebob23]

Was this the inspiration for All of Me?

[@skylx0812]

The film where Lily Tomlin as a spirit says to Steve Martin "How dare you say 'penis' to a dead woman!'?

[@Bigbadwhitecracker]

@@skylx0812 It was the '80s. They had to get PENIS in there somewhere.

[@ashleys9397]

@@skylx0812 Yep. You got it.