Customer Reviews

Beast With Five Fingers [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A superb and atmospheric early horror film with fine acting, super effects, tight script and haunting soundtrack. Lorre is in top form and the severed hand effects(in most cases)easily stand up against 1991's Addams Family 'Thing' effects.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the fantastic horror score by the great Max Steiner. The score to this film was re-recorded by William Stromberg and is available on two different compilation CD's right here on Amazon:

STEINER: Lost Patrol (The) / Virginia City

Murder and Mayhem: Suites from The Lodger (1944 Film) / The Beast With Five Fingers (1946 Film) / The Uninvited (1944 Film) [3 on 1]

Worth a watch just for the magnificent Mr. Peter Lorre's delivery of the single line "It was the hand I tell you!!!"

It takes a while to get the story rolling but when it does, the payoff is fantastic. Peter Lorre is so over-the-top pathetic and creepy, it's almost up there with his insanely perfect acting in "Mad Love" (1935). There has never been an actor like him and there never will be. Furthermore this story of an avenging hand must have inspired films like "The Crawling Hand", "Evil Dead 2" etc. Forget crud like "Scream" check out this near-classic horror tale.

Altho nominally based on a short story by W.F. Harvey, this film uses only the title (a great title!) and the basic gimmick of a living disembodied hand. A bit too slow-moving, but with several memorably scary scenes that have that perfect atmosphere you can only get with an old black-&-white horror film. The final "evil plot and hallucinations" payoff is not really satisfying, but Peter Lorre is at his unique best as a revenge-crazed madman. He dominates the film, despite his third billing. The scenes involving the living hand are technically excellent, and probably could not be improved on today.

The Beast with Five Fingers (Robert Florey, 1946)

1946 was the last year Peter Lorre worked for Warner Brothers, and his parting from the company was career suicide; while he remains one of the world's most famous actors, endlessly imitated and paid tribute, from his parting with Warner Brothers until his death in 1964, Lorre picked up only the odd film here and there (though some of them are truly excellent) and some TV guest appearances. Thus it is that The Beast with Five Fingers is something of a bittersweet film for the nostalgia buff; it is a great Lorre performance, but it marked the beginning of the end.

Set in the late nineteenth century in northern Italy, The Beast with Five Fingers is the tale of Frances Ingram (Victor Francen), a pianist with a rather motley crew of eccentrics living with him. There's Bruce Conrad (Robert Alda), a smooth con man who's in love with the old pianist's companion/nurse Julie Holden (Andrea King). This wouldn't necessarily be so bad, but read "companion/nurse"as a rough equivalent to "trophy wife" here. Then there's Hilary Cummins (Lorre), a crackpot who's collected a great number of very old books on all sorts of topics while looking for... something, we're never quite sure what. Conrad, con man that he is, is in a state of detente with the local police commissioner, Castano (J. Carrol Naish); they seem to cordially despise one another. Until, that is, the old man finally kicks the bucket, setting off a nasty inheritance battle between Julie and the pianist's blood relations, Raymond (Charles Dingle) and Donald (John Alvin) Arlington. But all of that is beside the point; the real plot here is that the dead pianist's hand was removed, and is now the leading suspect in the murders of some of the inhabitants of the house.

It's your basic potboiler horror flick, really, with the expected silly ending, snatches of overacting, and all the other things that make so many genre horror films cheesy. But the reason to watch the film is Hilary's descent into madness, played to pitch-perfection by Lorre. (Contrasting this with his role in Mad Love is a great way to examine how much effect a good script can have on a movie.) It's otherwise watchable, if a bit dumb, but Lorre's performance raises it above the level it would normally be. *** ½

Great movie. I would really like to see Warner Brothers re-release this in DVD format. Anyone else agree???

I seen this movie when I was 4 years old and I have been haunted by it every since. I'm so happy I got to see the movie now that I am an adult and can truly see what a masterpiece this film was.

This is a well-titled, but bizarre horror film from Warner Bros, a studio not known for producing horror films. Victor Francen stars as a renowned pianist living in one of those dark creepy movie mansions/castles. One hand is useless, so he uses his other hand to play. He relies heavily on his nurse, Andrea King, shuns his secretary, Peter Lorre, and sometimes seeks the company of Robert Alda who helped adapt the music for one-handed playing. When Francen dies (violently) and leaves his estate to his nurse, this sets off a series of strange events as everyone is terrorized by his disembodied hand!!

Sound bizarre? Well the film certainly is strange, establishing a foreboding mood early on and then taking the story in "unusual" directions. The characters are not well defined, especially the nominal leads Alda and King. It's one of those films where the characters need a slap to the head since they act so stupidly at times (or maybe it's the writers who should have been slapped around a bit). Only Peter Lorre really establishes a presence and performance here, going all the way in his characterization of the decidely strange secretary. It's perfect casting for the role and he capitalizes on it.

Director Robert Florey does establish some mood and atmosphere, but the outright silliness and illogic of the whole story hurts the film. It's fun to watch at a certain level, but with a better script and director it could have been a much more effective chiller.

What a fine thriller this film turned out to be. It's set in 19th century Italy. A wealthy old pianist dies a mysterious death which is thought to be murder. The great Peter Lorre is in classic form as an occultist as only Lorre could be. Robert Alda does a dandy job as a dapper and humerous con man.

The terrific character actor J. Carrol Naish had perhaps the funniest line of dialog in any horror film. Naish played the role of a befuddled Italian police chief, who spoke in a heavy Italian accent. Half way through the film, after the dead pianist's body is discovered in his crypt with it's left hand found dismembered and missing, J. Carrol Naish states matter of factly to Robert Alda, "Inna my minda, there isa no doubta that da handa is walka 'rounda somewhera."
It's an hysterically funny line, given the fact that this is a horror film and Naish said the line with a straight face.

The great screenwriter, Curt Sidomak, who wrote the screenplay for the original Wolfman with Lon Chaney Jr., and also Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, wrote the script for this atmospheric thriller, The Beast With Five Fingers. Robert Florey directed this film. He would have made a director like Fritz Lang proud. The entire cast of this movie were terrific. The scenes where Peter Lorre witnesses the severed hand playing a moody solo on the piano is priceless. You can't help but laugh out loud since that little scene is intentional black comedy but you really don't know what's going on in Lorre's mind until the end of the film. The scenes where Lorre struggles and fights with the hand a duel to the death is unforgettable.

I had to view this film three times on three consecutive nights to fully appreciate it the way I do. There is a lot you can miss by only watching this film once. Take a phone call or go to the bathroom or get a drink and you've missed an important scene like a piece of the puzzle. This film is just, like a jigsaw puzzle. It leads you one way and then does a few u turns all along the way, leaving you guessing until the surprising end. In my mind, this was Peter Lorre's best role, a forgotton horror classic to be sure. We need it to be released on dvd all across the world.

I was very well pleased with my product and it got to me in a timely fashion.

If not for Peter Lorre, this movie might be too silly to sit through. But Lorre turns in a grand performance, along with G. Carroll Nash as the detective.

If you can not laugh when 'THE HAND' starts crawling around, then you are indeed a serious horror movie fan!

Recommended for Lorre's performance.