THE HANDS OF ORLAC (1961)
THE HANDS OF ORLAC video artwork
MEL FERRER.....Steven Orlac
CHRISTOPHER LEE.....Nero
DANY CARREL.....Li-Lang
LUCILE SAINT SIMON.....Louise
SIR FELIX AYLMER.....Dr. Francis Cochrane
BASIL SYDNEY.....Maurice Sedelman
SIR DONALD WOLFIT.....Professor Volchett
DONALD PLEASENCE.....Graham Coates
DAVID PEEL.....Pilot
Directed by EDMOND T. GREVILLE
Written by JOHN BAINES and EDMOND T. GREVILLE
Additional Dialogue by DONALD TAYLOR
Produced by STEVEN PALLOS and DONALD TAYLOR
SYNOPSIS AND REVIEW BY TROY R. HOWARTH
SYNOPSIS:
World renowned concert pianist Steven Orlac is flying home to meet with his fiancee, Louise, when his plane runs into bad weather. The plane crashes before Louise's horrified eyes, but Orlac survives. However, his hands have been badly burned.
In an effort to save her fiance's hands, Louise takes Orlac to the clinic of Professor Volchett. The professor performs an operation, which proves successful, and Orlac is released into Louise's care.
Weeks later, Orlac is distressed to find that no matter how hard he tries, he cannot seem to play the piano any longer. As he becomes increasingly neurotic, Orlac remembers that, on the night of his accident, the strangler Vasseur was executed. Because of his precarious state of mind, Orlac comes to suspect that his hands have been replaced with those of Vasseur. In addition, he fears that in place of his former musical ability, he will now be compelled to commit acts of violence.
Fleeing from Louise and his loved ones, Orlac takes a room in a seedy hotel in town. Also staying at the hotel is a third-rate musician named Nero, and Nero's luscious assistant, Li-Lang. By snooping around, Nero discovers Orlac's identity, as well as the fear that is consuming him. Planning blackmail, Nero plays on Orlac's neuroses, first by having Li-Lang seduce him, and then by insinuating that Vasseur was a good friend of his...and that he wants his hands back!
Orlac flees and is re-united with Louise. His life seems to be getting back to normal, but Nero will not be rid of so easily. Before his comeback concert, Orlac receives a pair of gloves, inscribed with the name "L. Vasseur." Unhinged by this cruel joke, Orlac's appearance is a disaster.
Worried about the safety of Louise, he uncle Francis takes some finger prints from Orlac. The results prove that they are indeed his actual hands, and in the mean time Nero is arrested after he murders Li-Lang, who has threatened to turn him over to the authorities. The happy ending sees Orlac alive and well, in the midst of a triumphant comeback performance, as Louise looks on lovingly.
REVIEW:
Maurice Renard was a popular French fantasy writer, but his most popular book by far is Les Mains D'Orlac. The story has been adapted officially on at least four occassions: Orlacs Haende (1924), Mad Love (1935), Hands of a Stranger (1962), and this flawed but intriguing Franco-British production. In addition to these official adaptations, the basic scenario has been pilfered by such films as Body Parts (1990), and others too numerous to mention.
Though not without interest in and of itself, Edmond T. Greville's Hands of Orlac is more interesting from a production standpoint. A co-production between France's Riviera International and England's Pendennis Productions, the film was actually filmed in TWO versions, one French, the other English. In other words, after finishing a take in English, the same scene was played again in French. However, the story is not so simple as that. In addition to being filmed in two languages,
there are at least two variations between the two versions. First of all, the cinematographer on both versions is not the same. The English version is shot by the distinguished Desmond Dickinson (Olivier's Hamlet), while the French one is credited to Jacques Lemare. Secondly, the key role of Professor Volchett is filled by two different actors. The English version features Sir Donald Wolfit, the great Shakesperean actor who previously slummed in the schlock of Blood of the Vampire (1958) and later provided the inspiration for Albert Finney's character in The Dresser, is featured in the English version. The French version casts Antoine Balpetre, best known to horror buffs as Professor DuGrand in Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava's seminal horror classic I Vampiri (1956), as the sinister medic. All in all, this results in a film that is quite different depending on the version available. Adding to the confusion is the fact that some public domain copies of the English version, retitled Hands of the Strangler, omit several minutes of footage, including the participation of guest star Donald Pleasence!
Seen in its entire 95 minute English langauge cut (the French version is longer by ten minutes, but it is doubtful that the film could support that much added weight), Hands of Orlac strikes one as a stolid, yet stylish, exercise in psychological horror. Director Edmond T. Greville approaches the film with documentary precision, detailing the mental disintegration of its unfortunate hero from an almost contemplative distance. Because of this restraint, the first section of the film seems to drag. It's a valid approach, foreshadowing in some ways the approach favored by Roman Polanski in Repulsion (1965), but it nevertheless robs the viewer of any chance of identifying with Orlac. Too much of the story seems telegraphed, and so the viewer is left in no doubt but that Orlac's imagination is running over time. More could have been done with his dilemma, and this surely would have added to the impact of the film.
That said, the film picks up speed when Orlac meets Nero. Christopher Lee obviously relished playing the two-bit con man/magician, and he delights the viewer with a carefully shaded image in sleeze and amorality. Nothing is too vile for a character like Nero, and Lee and Greville are to be congratulated for resisting the temptation of giving him a conscience. As some reviewers have noted, the night club ambience and Nero's character are suggestive of Greville's cult favorite, Beat Girl, which was made the same year and which also features Lee as a shady character.
Surprisingly enough, it is Li-Lang who "humanizes" the film. Beautifully portrayed by the voluptuous Dany Carell, Li-Lang initially seems to be stock character, a further variation on the beautiful deceptress. Though repeatedly dismissed by Nero as a "slut," Li-Lang evokes great sympathy in the viewer. She is not a malicious character, but is held under the conrol of Nero, who threatens her with violence whenever she questions his orders. Carrel succeeds in taking this character into the third dimension, so that she is not only sexy but sweetly sympathetic as well.
In terms of physical execution, the film is admirably crafted. Dickinson's velvety black and white photography is suggestive of a Hollywood musical from the 1930s, but such romanticism is tempered with the seedy boarding houses and run down avenues populated by prostitutes which immediately speaks of the "social realism" of the late 50s and 60s. Jazz musician Claude Bolling augments the classical pieces suited to Orlac's profession with more modern pieces, and the effect is generally effective.
The thing that is most immediately striking about the film is the
exceptionally fine cast. Despite the limitations of the role as
(under?) written, Mel Ferrer does a commendable job as Orlac. Actually, 1960 served as an introduction of sorts for Ferrer to the horror genre. That same year, he also top-lined Roger Vadim's elegant Blood and Roses, which offered another variation on Le Fanu's ever-popular "Carmilla." Alas, his future forays into European horror tended to be less distinguished, though he does die memorably in Tobe Hooper's darkly amusing Eaten Alive (1976). As noted earlier, both Christopher Lee and Dany Carrel are memorable in their better-developed roles. Fine performances are also offered by Donald Wolfit, Felix Aylmer and, in a choice cameo, Donald Pleasence. Hammer Horror fans will be pleased to note David Peel (Baron Meinster in Terence Fisher's classic, The Brides of Dracula) as Orlac's doomed pilot; soon after his starring role in the Fisher film, Peel retired from acting and went into the antique business, before dying in the early 80s. The combined efforts of such distinguished pros helps to add class and substance where Greville's uneven direction and the formula-bound screenplay falter.
In the end, perhaps the best summation of this minor but enjoyable film is offered by Christopher Lee: "A very good part, not a very successful film, I believe. It could have been much more exciting and frightening than it was." (The Films of Christopher Lee, by Robert W. Poohle, Jr. and Douglas C. Hart, with the participation of Christopher Lee, page 81.)
Synopsis/Review submitted by Troy R. Howarth
Synopsis/Review © 1999 Troy R. Howarth. All Rights Reserved.
Video artwork © 1990 THE AL TAYLOR COMPANY / WALTERSCHEID PRODUCTIONS, INC. All Rights Reserved.
Title and logo designed by Karen Rappaport
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