Die unheimlichen Hände des Dr. Orlak

This is a fairly rare film starring Christopher Lee, Mel Ferrer and Dany Carrel. Three fine actors in the movie that actually make the film worth watching. Christopher Lee is good as usual in this film... he plays a really wicked blackmailer - watch this film just for his performance if nothing else.

The story is an interesting one: a pianist looses his hands in a accident and surgically gets new hands but he did no know that the hands originally belonged to a murderer.

So we have good actors and a good story. What's wrong with the film is the cinematography.... it's really flat, one-dimensional - amateurish yet watchable. As others have mentioned, there is the lack of some creepy or suspenseful music - if the film had that it would have added a new layer of underlying horror if it was present in the movie.

Over all, I enjoyed this film.... it's just a lack of better cinematography and eerie music that is all that is missing - otherwise a decent story and good acting.

7/10

> Christopher Lee told online entertainment site 'Entertainment Asylum' that > there were some movies of his that he'd never watch again. This one was > undoubtedly one of them. The dialogue and plot are banal, and the background > music is virtually nonexistent, meaning that the movie is full of long, > pregnant pauses as actors stride into rooms to read their > lines. > > Nevertheless, Christopher Lee plays an excellent villain. In fact, when put > up against Mel Ferrer's weak portrayal of concert pianist Stephen Orlac, > it's impossible to avoid rooting for the bad guy. > > This is a picture of British horror entertainment before Hammer came along. > All I can say is, thank goodness for Hammer! Watch it for Lee's acting, > Other than that, be prepared to laugh your head off.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Edmond T. Greville; Produced by Donald Taylor and Steven Palios, for Britannia Films; Released in America by Continental Distributing. Screenplay by John Baines and Greville; Photography by Desmond Dickinson and Jacques Lemare; Edited by Oswald Hafenrichter and Jean Ravel; Music by Claude Bolling; Production Manager: Ben Arbeid. Starring: Mel Ferrer, Christopher Lee, Dany Carrel, Louise Saint-Simon, Felix Aylmer, Basil Sydney, Donald Wolfit and Donald Pleasence.

Remake of a classic silent film has exactly the same plot as "Hands of a Stranger", but poorly done.

I have to admit to dozing a bit during this film. I thought it would be a B movie, hands out of control film. Instead, there are missing action , loooooots of talking, and a silly plot that defies everything that was set up. Christopher Lee is pretty good as the villain, but this story goes nowhere. If one could give up enough of one's life to watch this again, try to understand what Lee was trying to accomplish. It's just plain dull.

I liked this film how cunning Christopher lee was to black mail Mel Ferrer, and how he nearly got away with it, the french version seems to have more pieces to the film compared to the englisch version, (Christopher lee) he spoke excellent french, i have this englisch version i enjoy watching it over and over again.