User Reviews

I'm glad I had this chance to check out yet another German Expressionist classic – even if I had to make do with faint Spanish subtitles over the original German intertitles (then again, the narrative is easy enough to follow)! It took me some time to warm up to the film: the pace is extremely sluggish (the aftermath of the train-wreck at the beginning seemed interminable), while the all-important decision to exchange the damaged hands of famed concert pianist Orlac with those of a murderer felt too abrupt.

In preparation for this review, I re-read Michael Elliott's comments on the film: while I generally concur with his opinion, at this stage I wouldn't put this above the 1935 Karl Freund/Peter Lorre/Colin Clive remake MAD LOVE (Ted Healy's intrusive comedy relief, to me, is just about the only negative element in that film – while adding Dr. Gogol's obsessive yearning for Orlac's wife, hence the new title). Still, I was surprised by how much the later film actually followed the Silent version – especially the two scenes in which Orlac meets the 'executed' murderer – of the Maurice Renard story; another remake appeared in 1960, co-starring Christopher Lee and which I watched on Italian TV not too long ago but already can hardly remember anything about it!

Conrad Veidt's lanky figure and stylized approach to acting perfectly suited the requirements of the leading role (his posture generally echoing that of Cesare the Somnambulist in the same director's THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI [1919]); the expressionist sets were also notable but the film's style is generally an internalized one in that it deals primarily with Orlac's state of mind filming him in tight shots whenever possible. However, the avant-garde score which accompanied the Grapevine Video edition I watched was a matter of taste – featuring a female vocalist who frequently attempted to simulate the various characters' emotions with an annoying array of wails, shrieks and faint whispers!

It's unfortunate, too, that the backlog I have of unwatched films on DVD doesn't permit me to check out the Kino edition of CALIGARI for the moment – especially since it contains a lengthy condensed version of another intriguing Wiene title, GENUINE: A TALE OF A VAMPIRE (1920)…

The pianist Paul Orlac (Conrad Veidt) is on tour and his wife Yvonne Orlac (Alexandra Sorina) anxiously waits for his return. While traveling back home, there is a train wreck at Montgeron and Orlac is very injured in both hands in the accident.

Yvonne begs to Dr. Serral (Hans Homma) to save his hands that are his life. Meanwhile, the robber and murderer Vasseur that claims that is innocent is sentenced to death since the police investigator had found his fingerprints everywhere near the victim. Dr. Serral transplants Vasseur's hands in Orlac and when he recovers, he feels that there is something wrong with his hands.

Orlac asks the surgeon about the hands and learns that he belonged to a criminal, and Orlac decides to never touch Yvonne again with those hands. His family becomes poor since he is not working anymore and Yvonne pays a visit to her father-in-law (Fritz Strassny) to ask for help. However, Orlac's father is a cruel man and does not help her. When Orlac returns home, Yvonne asks him to visit his father and when he arrives at his house, he finds his father dead. They call the police and they find Vasseur's fingerprint everywhere. Orlac is the only heir of his father fortune but sooner he is followed by a stranger named Nera (Fritz Kortner) that blackmails him and demands a small fortune. Orlac is not sure that he had killed his father and goes with Yvonne to the police. Sooner they discover a secret about Vasseur.

"Orlacs Hände" is a Gothic and dark German Expressionist film with an unbelievable plot (but who matters?) but wonderful theatrical performances like in most silent classics and perfect use of shadows in a gloomy atmosphere. The music score fits perfectly to the film and this is the first time that I watch this little masterpiece. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "As Mãos de Orlac" ("The Hands of Orlac")

I've been looking for a DVD of THE HANDS OF ORLAC ever since I knew the film existed. Now it's finally here, and like most silent films it's a mixed bag. I find the image on the new KINO disc to be acceptable considering the problematic nature of the source material. There's a loss of definition in some scenes, but there are also moments of sharpness in the restored Murnau Foundation print. It's a shame we can never experience non-talking films the way 1920s audiences did, without washed-out contrasts, image-flickers, frame-jitters, dirt, and print damage. Even the best restorations don't look new.

The plot concerns a concert pianist whose hands are smashed in a train wreck. A surgeon replaces them with the hands an executed criminal. Soon the pianist is obsessed with thoughts he might be a killer. The performances are generally excellent in the Expressionistic style. Conrad Veidt's exaggerated grimacing as his character Paul Orlac approaches madness is tempered by moments that are extremely moving.

The score of mostly string music on the KINO disc is creepy and works well for a while, but is so monotonous over the entire length of an already ponderously paced film that I grew tired of it. This film cries out for music that varies its mood to fit what is happening on screen. Contrasts in the mood of the music would make the creepy parts seem even creepier. An optional score in a traditional style would have been nice. Nevertheless, the Gothic set design and shadow-infested cinematography by Gunther Krampf - particularly the scenes at Orlac's father's house - create the atmosphere we know and love in early horror films. These chiaroscuro light-and-shadow effects just cannot be achieved with color.

However, to evoke fear without the modern cheats of gore and violence - to create what the Germans call "stimmung" (mood) - requires not only imaginative lighting and set design, but time. Unfortunately director Robert Weine spends too much time on the actors' very deliberate expressionistic movements at the expense of pacing.

The ending is likewise unsatisfactory, although it does follow Maurice Renard's novel. I won't give too much away other than to say the ending undercuts an apparently fantastic element, yet makes the "logical" explanation seem almost as implausible. Nevertheless, the build-up to the resolution as well as Veidt's engrossing performance makes this a worthwhile, if uninspired, film.

Director Robert Wiene and star Conrad Veidt reteam for this Austrian horror suspense drama. Veidt plays Paul Orlac, a famous concert pianist who gets severely injured in a train crash. Dr. Serral (Hans Homma) tries an experimental technique wherein he grafts the hands of a dead man onto Orlac's arms, and the surgery is a success, but afterward, when Orlac learns that the hands belonged to an executed murderer, he starts to lose his mind, believing that the hands are commanding him to kill again. Also featuring Alexandra Sorina, Fritz Strassny, Paul Askonas, Carmen Cartellieri, and Fritz Kortner.

Wiene continues to use Expressionistic techniques and visual schemes, but they are toned down, and used to accentuate the narrative rather than overwhelming the proceedings. The film marks an important step in the transition from purely arthouse Expressionism to the techniques used in the visual language of film noir. Veidt gives an intense, tortured performance, although Kortner pales in comparison to the later remake Mad Love and Peter Lorre's take on the character. Most sources list this as being roughly 90 minutes, but the version I watched was 113 minutes. I felt that could have been trimmed down a bit, as some scenes dragged. That being said, I enjoyed the film quite a bit, and the cinematography was beautiful.

Interesting and well made German silent version of Maurice Renard's novel "Les Mains d'Orlac" from the same folks behind the highly regarded expressionist classic THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920). Conrad Veidt gives an outstanding, creepy and memorable dramatic performance as the tormented Orlac, a famous pianist whose hands are replaced by those of an executed thief and murderer after a train accident. He soon begins to think he's not only received a maniac's hands, but also his desire to commit crimes. The cavernous and sparsely decorated interiors as well as the typically exaggerated performances often give this the feel of a theatrical production, and while the movie is a little overlong and slow-going (definitely requires a more patient type of viewer to appreciate it), it's still worthwhile for Veidt's amazing performance, some nice visuals and a surprise twist ending. I also need to point out that the Kino DVD of the film runs 110 minutes, though it is listed here as running just 98. Bonus features on the disc include scene comparisons of domestic and international cuts, excerpts of Renard's Novel, an essay by author John Soister, a trailer and an image gallery.

The same tale would later be the basis for 1935's MAD LOVE (starring the inimitable Peter Lorre) and 1960's THE HANDS OF ORLAC (starring Mel Ferrer, and also with supporting turns from Christopher Lee and Donald Pleasence), as well as the uncredited basis for 1962's HANDS OF A STRANGER and several other films.

Flirting with a (then) science fictional theme of body part transplantation, the film explores the feelings of a concert pianist, who having lost his hands in a train wreck, receives a new pair of hands that belonged to an executed murderer. Austrian director Robert Weine, who created the landmark 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' (1919) here reunites with and directs its star, Conrad Veidt, as the tormented pianist Paul Orlac.

The camera focuses on Veidt's many moods and reactions to his plight -- his hands are not capable of his concert abilities, and he feels that they are taking him over with thoughts and deeds of crime and murder. He does an outstanding job, but too much of the film is slowly paced. From the beginning extended train crash rescue, on through scene after scene of Orlac's, his wife's and the maid's over the top Expressionistic gesturing, the scenes seem to go on too long.

This slow pace is exaggerated by the lack of camera movement (everything is mostly wide shots with little tracking), the wonderfully and effectively spooky new musical score (on the KINO 2008 version), that sometimes lacks verve and variety, as well as the extensive time spent on the actors' Expressionist movements.

The film certainly has its high points. It's great to see an entire film shot in shadows and low light, all with Gothic sets. This is great German Expressionism. If you can relax and just go with the pace of the film, you can really enjoy the acting of Conrad Veidt-- whose hands keep getting creepier and scarier.

If it were cut to about sixty minutes to pick up the pace, it would be easier to enjoy and to see the great care that went into its creation and execution.

I'll have to give it a six.

One of the real classics of Expressionism -- even the Americans think so, to judge from the fact that they've remade it (badly) several times. To be sure, the premise won't stand examination (but then, it's horror), and a modern viewer may find it hard to adjust to the actors' Expressionist grimacing. However, the movie is consistently suspenseful due to its heavy dark atmosphere and communication of mental torment. The fear of one's own body is a dynamite theme if it's as well presented as it is here.

A famous pianist (Conrad Veidt) has his hands crushed in a train accident, and he receives new ones through an experimental transplant. But whose hands were they before? The hands of a killer!

This is a rather long film, probably more than it needs to be. The train wreck shots are beautiful, but go on a while, with the story being relatively simple.

The focus here is more on Orlac's mental state, and less on the others in any way, with the love affair angle of "Mad Love" (its remake) completely absent. For fans of "Mad Love", this picture needs to be respected, as they clearly borrowed scenes (noticeably where Orlac meets his donor), but "Mad Love" is the superior film in many ways.

Ah, what aristocratic days are these!!... These modern times of the new 21st century have many similarities to the old youthful times that Herr Graf spent in Deutschland at the beginning of the ancient 20th century; that is to say, during those days the world had a tremendous financial crisis not to mention the menace of a world flu pandemic. It seemed appropriate then that Herr Von decided to revisit those memories by watching at the Schloss theatre a strange, oppressive film, a picture that reflected those times and the aristocratic mood. A perfect soirée, indeed!... The film was "Orlacs Hände" (1924) by Herr Robert Wiene.

It was a pleasure ( you have to know that German aristocrats have fun in a different and dark way .. ) to watch again such a classic Expressionist masterpiece. Thanks are owed to the longhaired youngsters at Kino who did an excellent restoration of this old nitrate which includes a bearable music score by Herr Paul Mercer that helps one to suppress the memory of the terrible score that was included some time ago in another release of the film; that music was scarier than the film itself.

Even today, to watch "Orlacs Hände" is a disturbing experience aside from appreciating its Expressionist values. Early in the film, the train crash sequence is full of dark and impressive shots that capture the confusion, warning the audience that this is a special oeuvre. It bespeaks a terrible chaos, uncertainty and darkness that engulfs the viewer in an oppressive, tormented atmosphere.

Due to the train crash, Herr Orlac ( Herr Conrad Veidt ) our hero will suffer horrible wounds to body and soul. The physical scars heal up but the psychological wounds are more difficult to overcome, especially when Herr Orlac discovers that his new hands belonged to an assassin. This marks the beginning of a terrible "tour de force" between body and soul that will torment Herr Orlac throughout the film. His fragility is challenged by pain and suffering and though solace and calm ultimately prevail he must first face constant uncertainty, delirium and the threat of insanity.

The Expressionist shadows, appropriately enough, surround the main characters ( The performances by the great Herr Veidt and Dame Alexandra Sorina are also in the Expressionist manner ) and their habitats; their home, at the hospital, and in the streets. An oppressive, morbid, gloomy atmosphere prevails and suits perfectly a story of wicked impulses and disturbed minds.

Hands demanding crimes, the weakness of the human will, blackmail from an unscrupulous criminal, a medical experiment, a father who hates his son… such are the subjects in "Orlacs Hände", an unnerving masterpiece and the perfect aristocratic silent film choice for a cloudy soirée in these 21st uncertain times.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must lend a hand in this time of crisis by drinking only a glass of Rhine white wine instead of the whole bottle.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

This is not a great movie, I admit. Certainly the acting is bizarre (though often moving) and the rhythm takes getting used to. But I thought I would put in a good word based on a recent viewing experience. I am not rating it high but I really enjoyed it a lot.

6 or 7 years ago I went on a Conrad Veidt spree and bought copies of some his silents from an ebay seller/devotee. The quality varied and I recall that he particularly apologized for this item, which was barely viewable. All you could really see was Veidt's face... The other night TCM showed the Kino restoration and I sat down to see the film "for real." It was a pleasure to be able to take in the wonderful decors and costumes, and to get a relatively coherent version of the plot. The train wreck scene is stirring. And Veidt's face, again, as he progresses from sensitive soul to tormented monstrosity... In short, it was very rewarding.

I saw Orlacs Hände at the Ghent filmfestival this year with a live score. I must say I thought it was very good, although I didn't agree with the new score all the time... The story is both simple and ridiculous (like any good scare movie): A world renown pianist loses his hands in a trainaccident and gets a transplant from a convicted criminal. The hands of course take over or do they. This film does not excell in great acting or storytelling but more in the subtle building of an atmosphere that becomes so haunting that it nearly becomes unbearable. If you like horror movies from the silent age, without blood or gore but with loads of atmosphere, then this is an absolute must-see.

Previous writers have covered the plot of this film pretty comprehensively. My copy is poor, visually, but has a score made up of preludes and fugues, trio sonatas and chorale preludes by J.S Bach played on the organ and including, in the confrontation between Orlac and "Vasser", the Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV565).This has no connection with the plot of the film, but makes for a decent recital in its own right. This copy, from English Language Video, is made up of the best bits of three prints from various sources with renewed intertitles. This means that the tale seems to lack logic and continuity, however, enough remains to hold the interest and to point up the films origins in the expressionist school. Veidt's portrayal of Orlac's descent into near insanity occasionally draws on Cesare,the somnambulist of "Dr. Caligari" but the story does not have the depth or psychology of the wider impressionist canon. In all, a curiosity but little else, even for fans of Conrad Veidt.

I watched THE HANDS OF ORLAC on TMC, when they featured at least three, maybe four movies dealing with the subject of hands. The first was HANDS OF A STRANGER, which is based on this silent film. However, when I recorded THE HANDS OF ORLAC, I hadn't realized that is was a silent film.

I find them to be very slow and plodding, which this film was. However, it was also very confusing.

There was one character, introduced early in the film, interacting with the maid; but, we didn't know who he was; and, I won't spoil it for anyone. But, the dialog just didn't make sense in the context of the film.

The cinematography, especially during the scene with the train was very impressive; but, after that the lighting was inconsistent and very dark.

The plot was fairly linear; but, there were a number of jump cuts that seemed jolting. The idea of transplanting human body parts seems very much ahead of its time, just as The Modern Promethius was ahead of its time. It was a good watch; but, it was a long two hours.

Hands of Orlac, The (1924)

*** (out of 4)

This German version of the famous story is certainly a lot better than the boring 1961 version with Christopher Lee and is also a step up from the more famous 1935 film Mad Love with Peter Lorre. As the story goes, a concert pianist (Conrad Veidt) has his hands damaged during a train wreck but doctor's do a transplant and accidentally give him the hands of a killer. Soon afterwards the hands take on a life of their own and start killing. Here's another German Expressionism horror film that really takes control of the viewer and takes them for a ride. The director, Robert Wiene, also made the masterpiece The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and this film serves as one of the more chilling silent horror films. The best aspect is the performance from Veidt who I found just as good here as he was in The Man Who Laughs. He's able to get sympathy out of the character and he also manages to be very menacing during the murder scenes. The film also has some very eerie and creepy moments including the first scene where the hands come to life. This is a rather rare film and various versions are out there. I was able to view the longest cut of the film (93 minutes) but the title cards were in German with Spanish subs. The music score was also quite horrid so I actually turned the sound off while watching this. With a proper screening I'd certainly raise the rating.

I thought they would never get the guy out of the train after the crash. There is ten minutes of useless footage. Of course, it is an early silent film, so I was OK with the long dramatic poses. Conrad Veidt is about as spooky as one can be and his wife is a close second. I wonder why they never mentioned the procedure for putting another man's hands in place of his. He is suddenly in the hospital and knows all about it. This is a classic horror piece that has been done many times. In a later incarnation, the hands get up and act on their own, sort of like the Addams family Thing. At times it is hard to follow because there is virtually no sound editing. As a matter of fact, they could have trimmed twenty to thirty minutes, had a relatively long film, and made it much more accessible. I love silent films and don't regret wading through this one.

I must say I was pretty disappointed while watching this one. It's one of the classic movies from the age of German Expressionism, but I cannot call this a masterpiece. Wiene was a director of remarkable "Kabinett des Doktor Caligari" and "Orlacs Hände" doesn't seem to be as successful as this great picture. The action is quite interesting, acting is very good, idea is inspiring but it's also very naive. Specially the ending was too childish and I found myself hard to believe in it. But, I should also admit that Wiene's movie has some kind of intriguing atmosphere, which makes the whole thing worth watching. If you're enthusiastic to German cinema of the decade you should watch this one, but don't expect too much.

The first name people spontaneously think about when referring to films from the silent era is that of Lon Chaney "The Phantom of the Opera", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", "The Unholy Three"...). Although he was undeniably brilliant, I personally feel the greatest horror actor from the silent era was Conrad Veidt. Thanks to his legendary roles in "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and "The Man Who Laughs", Veidt proved (to me, at least) that someone can look ultimately menacing and terrifying without producing a single spoken word. This man's dark and penetrating eyes, as well as his mysterious charisma, represent the oldest form of cinematic horror as far as I'm concerned. For this reason, I put "Orlac's Hände" on my wish list. The story has been made into several different films, including by the Hammer Studios during the sixties, but I desperately wanted to see Veidt in the role of the tormented pianist who, after a terrible accident, receives the hands of an executed murderer via a transplant operation. The hands don't want to play music but still desire to commit vile crimes, or at least Orlac believes they do.

I watched a beautifully restored version of "Orlac's Hände" with a running time of 112 minutes, which is a lot long that the times mentioned here on the website. I'm not sure if any footage, that perhaps once was considered lost, got added. Even though the picture quality is impeccable, and the story utmost fascinating, I can't deny the film should have been 30-40 minutes shorter. Certain scenes, like the footage of the train wreck near the beginning, or some of Orlac's anxiety outbursts last much longer than necessary. Still, Veidt carries the entire film masterfully, and particularly the climax is very tense.

Even in real life, Veidt was a genuine hero, since he despised the upcoming Nazi regime in his home country and refused to work in the business under the dictatorship of Goebbels. He emigrated to the States, where he surely still could have made a great career (he even appeared in "Casablanca") but, sadly, died prematurely from a heart-attack in 1943 at the age of 50.

There has been more than one film adaptation of Maurice Renard's novel 'Les Mains d'Orlac' of 1920. There are those of Karl Freund, Edmond T. Greville and someone called Newt Arnold but in the humble opinion of this reviewer nothing can begin to match the atmosphere and emotional power of the version directed by one of the masters of German Expressionism Robert Wiene. Some critics have drawn attention to the 'operatic' style of acting but surely that is part and parcel of the genre. The mental and emotional torture of pianist Paul Orlac and his wife are wonderfully expressed by Conrad Veidt and Alexandra Sonna. The scene where he embraces his beloved piano and tries to play for the first time after leaving hospital whilst his heartbroken wife looks on is simply magnificent. The scene across the table at the inn between Orlac and Nerra, played by Fritz Kortner, is excellent. As for the film itself the lighting, framing and composition of scenes is exceptional. Wiene was a master of the visual and here has the talents of Gunther Krampf as Cinematographer and Stefan Wessely as Art Director. Yes, this is a horror film but also a work of art. The version I saw recently was even more effective having been spared the curse of the 'specially composed' score. Gott sei Dank!

I'm a big fan of Conrad Veidt, from Caligari to Casablanca. That said, this is not a film I would recommend for someone who's never seen him before. Man who laughs or cabinet would be my recommendations.

Veidt, of course, is great. He's one of the best, most expressive silent actors. The pace is slow, but that's not uncommon in silents. The camera sits still, but cameras weighed two hundred pounds and were hard to move.

The problem with this movie is the script. The ending is a perfect example of deus ex machina. The maid, who has known the blackmailer's plot all the time, suddenly decides to save Orlac. What changed her mind? And the blackmailer had made special wax casts of Vasseur's fingerprints? And why was Orlac's father so against him? I don't know how much of that came from the novel.

I'm going to watch Mad Love now, and look forward to seeing what the differences are. I'm a big fan of Peter Lorre, too.

It's always odd to me that, when discussing the directors of the German expressionist movement in cinema, Robert Wiene's name is generally omitted from the conversation. Of course, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" specifically is often mentioned, but Wiene himself rarely is. Instead, the "big three" of German expressionist cinema — Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau, and Georg Wilhelm Pabst — seem to get all the attention. The reason I say I find this odd is because, from what I've seen, Wiene is clearly the consummate expressionist among the group. Lang, Murnau, and Pabst were great filmmakers, but a lot of their work from the '20s isn't even expressionistic to begin with. One of Pabst's early films was a work of New Objectivity (an early movement in cinematic social realism -- or, in other words, the polar opposite of the formalistically inclined expressionist movement). Half of Lang's and Murnau's respective silent bodies of work could be considered non-expressionistic, and even their expressionistic work pales in comparison to the sheer psychological angst exhibited by films like "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and "The Hands of Orlac", which embody the expressionist modus operandi far more fully than any film I've ever seen by Lang, Murnau, or Pabst.

Wiene is simply the most unrelentingly expressionistic filmmaker I've seen from the silent era. "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", with its surrealistic painted backgrounds conveying a distorted, twisted German landscape — and, by extension, a distorted, twisted German mentality in the wake of World War I — was highly innovative for its time. "The Hands of Orlac", if possible, is even more expressionistic, although the overall aesthetic is different here than it was in Wiene's previous film. Firstly, there's no color tinting here. This was crucial to the film. Color tinting in general I think takes away from a film's artistic integrity, and here, especially, the stunning black-and-white cinematography would have been completely destroyed by the use of tinting.

Truly, the cinematography is brilliant in "The Hands of Orlac", as much as I've seen in any film from the silent era. The atmosphere is so thick, the mood so dark, the style so Gothic, the tone of the film so heavy and bleak, that the film's aesthetic takes on an uncannily palpable texture. The lighting is fantastic. The use of darkness and shadows is a hallmark of expressionistic cinema, but never realized more masterfully than it is here. I was reminded very much of the film's of David Lynch, namely "Eraserhead", "Lost Highway", and "Inland Empire", films which refined the expressionist mode of cinema to its most viscerally and sensorily potent form.

Unfortunately, the film's weakness is in the narrative. The mood and tone and atmosphere of the film are so amazingly brilliant that any elements of plot and story are secondary in priority, if not all together superfluous. But the film is based on a novel, and Wiene puts too much emphasis on realizing the narrative aspects of the source material. The actual action of the film is almost entirely redundant. Everything that needs to be said is said through the film's form, not its content, and yet too much attention is given to the content by the filmmaker. The ending of the film, specifically, is where it begins to lose traction. The film falls apart, to some extent, in the last twenty minutes or so, because it offers too much resolution. This is a flaw we see in virtually all German expressionist films, and in silent cinema in general from this time period. The medium of cinema was still in its childhood and hadn't yet learned important facets of the art of filmmaking such as subtlety, ambiguity, et cetera. Lynch's gift was his ability to take expressionism to the next level, by doing what Wiene was unable to do here, which is to apply on a content level, not just a formal one, the anxiety and fear and bleakness that define the expressionist movement. Formally, Wiene captures the essence of expressionism impeccably with this film, but where he falls short is in transposing this essence from the film's form to its content. This can be done in a multitude of ways. Lynch did it by denying his audience almost any resolution whatsoever to the narrative, leaving the viewer alienated and uncomfortable, and thus enhancing the visceral impact of the viewing experience.

That, however, is my only criticism of the film, along with the fact that, at times, the acting is overwrought. The exaggerated gestures and histrionics are somewhat like the horror equivalent of what you'd see in an early D.W. Griffith short for Biograph. This is common in silent cinema, though, and overall the film has more than enough strengths to compensate for any shortcomings.

If "The Hands of Orlac" is narratively flawed, it's flawed in the execution of that narrative, not in its premise, which has a strong thematic core revolving around notions of personal identity, manipulation, submission, and the psychology that drives human action. Where does the essence of our natures as individuals come from? It is physical or mental? Does it originate in the body or in the mind? Wiene's film, as well as presumably the source material that it's based on, seems to suggest the latter, and this is consistent with German expressionist cinema in general, which places a strong emphasis on the psychological (from the psychic powers of Lang's Dr. Mabuse villain, to Pabst's "Secrets of a Soul", the original film about psychoanalysis).

Along with Murnau's "Faust" and "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans", this may be the best German silent film of the thirty-plus I've seen. It's unique and it's formally brilliant by any and all standards. I recommend it to fans of German expressionism, of silent films in general, and of cinema of any kind.

RATING: 7.67 out of 10 stars

I realize this movie was a true original. Well, kind of, anyway. Maurice Renard wrote the novel in 1920, and he wrote the original mixed-up transplant novel in 1908 about organs being transplanted not just from human to human but to animals, plants, and even machines. One wonders what it must have been like to be Maurice Renard's room mate. But, in fact, maybe the whole business began with Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and lasted at least through the latest version of "The Fly" and "Robocop." Anyway, yes, I realize the film is an original and that it was directed by the same guy, Robert Wiene, who had earlier given us "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," which I truly believe was dreamed up on some kind of amusement park ride.

But, man, this is one slow slog. Example: Conrad Veidt as Orlac has discovered his hands have been transplanted from a murderer and he sits brooding on the couch. Behind him stands his wife, Alexandra Sorina, staring at him without his realizing that she's there. I tried to time the motionless scene in which she stares at his back and he sits, but my LED clock was in shadow and I couldn't read it. It must be thirty full seconds. Nothing happens. Finally she drops -- verrry slowwwly -- to her knees and creeps towards him until she's able to nuzzle his hand. Veidt jerks it away in disgust.

I hate modern movies that are stylishly edited so that each shot lasts a fraction of a second, but this was like watching actors move inside a huge vat of corn syrup. Sorina overacts too. Everybody is expected to overact in a silent movie but this goes a bit over the edge. Veidt, the central figure, has a handle on his role and projects emotions exquisitely. The doctor too reins himself in, though that doesn't stop him from looking like a chump from the Keystone Cops.

There's none of the loop-the-loop quality of "Dr. Caligari." There aren't any surprises in the set dressing or the story itself, once we get the picture. Although it's dark, it's been beautifully photographed. Superb use is made of lights in night-for-night shots. The musical score is hard to assess. It sounds like The World Saxophone Quartet for strings, full of extended shimmering dissonant chords and occasional weird shrieks and squeaks. I kind of enjoyed it.

It was more or less remade ten years later as "Mad Love" with Peter Lorre in the role of a crazed doctor who performs the transplants. The victim is treated coincidentally. "Mad Love" goes nuts at the end. At least this one is grounded, given the initial fantastic premise.

But, mind you, it IS slow.