Mad Love (1935)

Director:

Karl Freund

Writers:

Maurice Renard (novel)
Florence Crewe-Jones (translation and adaptation: novel "The Hands of Orlac")

Release Date:

12 July 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Horror

Tagline:

His love was pitiful...hopeless...madness...yet "The Thing" tired of pity - and demanded love!

Plot:

An insane surgeon's obsession with an actress leads him to replace her wounded pianist's hands with the hands of a knife murderer which still have the urge to throw knives.

Plot Keywords:

Knife Throwing | Surgery | Autograph | Fingerprints | Knife Murder

Cast

Peter Lorre	...	Doctor Gogol
Frances Drake	...	Yvonne Orlac
Colin Clive	...	Stephen Orlac
Ted Healy	...	Reagan, the American Reporter
Sara Haden	...	Marie, Yvonne's Maid
Edward Brophy	...	Rollo the Knife Thrower
Henry Kolker	...	Prefect Rosset
Keye Luke	...	Dr. Wong, Gogol's Assistant
May Beatty	...	Françoise, Gogol's Housekeeper
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
George Davis	...	Chauffeur (scenes deleted)
Billy Dooley	...	Undetermined Role (scenes deleted)
Harold Huber	...	Thief (scenes deleted)
Isabel Jewell	...	Marianne (scenes deleted)
Leo White	...	Undetermined Role (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

The Hands of Orlac (UK)

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) | USA:Approved (PCA #1034)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Peter Lorre was under contract to Columbia Pictures. He agreed to be loaned out to MGM for this film if Columbia would do a film version of Crime and Punishment (1935/I) with him in the role of Raskolnikov.

Quotes:

Doctor Gogol: There's blood on your cheek, Galatea.
[giggles]
Doctor Gogol: It seems that wax can bleed.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Futurama: The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings (#5.16)" (2003)

Lorre's entry into classic horror filmdom

Excellent, morbid story of a brilliant sureon's (Lorre) obsessive, fetishistic love for a Grand Guignol style actress. The early scenes are perhaps the best film evocative of actual Grand Guignol sadefests. Lorre manages to procure a perfect waxen statue of his love object, thus introducing doppleganger horror, a relatively rare treat in American horror. The main plot focuses on Lorre's attempt to implicate Drake's husband in a series of murders by convincing him that the hands he grafted for him are acting of their own will (as in "Hands of Orlac"). Many subtle moments (which critics have not credited the film for), some garishly out-of-place slapstick humor is the only negative aspect. Fantastic photography.

This is Lorre's entry into classic horror stardom: Karloff has his Frankenstein monster, Lugosi has Dracula (forever, folks), Chaney Jr. has the wolfman, and Lorre's got this lesser-known but equally classic film to recommend him as one of the major horror stars of the classic era. This film represents MGM's entry into the early 30s horror film sweepstakes as well, and they did well to associate themselves with solid hands like Freund's and Lorre's. Hands..... hmmmmm unintended pun. Anyway, if anyone out there is a fan of classic horror films and has not yet seen this one, put it at the top of your list.