No film of the Hays Code era revels in its own perversity quite like Mad Love (1935). Mad science, body horror, insanity, obsession, executions, gaslighting, sadomasochism—it’s all here and presented with unparalleled excellence of craft. Though it may seem tame compared to pre-Code fare like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Freaks, and Island of Lost Souls (both 1932), it manages to just barely sneak its lurid subject matter by the censors under a layer of dark humor, exceptional cinematography, and a masterful performance by Peter Lorre in his first American film.
After Dracula proved to be a huge success for Universal, other Hollywood studios became eager to get in on the horror game, though many of these studios felt the genre was beneath them. Metro Goldwyn Mayer was considered the most prestigious of the golden-age studios, famous for its big budget musicals, epic spectaculars, and boasting “more stars than there are in the heavens.
After Dracula proved to be a huge success for Universal, other Hollywood studios became eager to get in on the horror game, though many of these studios felt the genre was beneath them. Metro Goldwyn Mayer was considered the most prestigious of the golden-age studios, famous for its big budget musicals, epic spectaculars, and boasting “more stars than there are in the heavens.
- 2/15/2023
- by Brian Keiper
- bloody-disgusting.com
What a Halloween treat! Karl Freund stopped directing after this classic, which is a shame — it’s German expressionism’s most exciting foray into classic Hollywood horror of the ’30s. Peter Lorre is incredible as Dr. Gogol, making himself as creepy and repulsive as possible while retaining a giddy audience sympathy. It’s Grand Guignol all the way — macabre, funny and irresistible. The screenplay toys with uncomfortable Body Horror and psychological weirdness; Colin Clive must contend with becoming the recipient of murderous hands. Frances Drake is the beauty that drives Dr. Gogol mad, and comedian Edward Brophy is a highlight in a non-comedic scene. “I have conquered science. Why can I not conquer love?!”
Mad Love
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1935 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 68 (86) min. / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date October 19, 2021 / 21.99
Starring: Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive, Ted Healy, Sara Haden, Edward Brophy, Henry Kolker, Keye Luke, May Beatty, Billy Gilbert,...
Mad Love
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1935 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 68 (86) min. / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date October 19, 2021 / 21.99
Starring: Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive, Ted Healy, Sara Haden, Edward Brophy, Henry Kolker, Keye Luke, May Beatty, Billy Gilbert,...
- 10/26/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“I have conquered science! Why can’t I conquer love?”
Peter Lorre in Mad Love (1935) will be available no Blu-ray October 19th from Warner Archive
In his American feature-film debut, Peter Lorre turns in one of his creepiest performances as a renowned plastic surgeon whose sadistic obsession with an actress drives him over the edge of sanity.
Dr. Gogol (Lorre) is in love with Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drake), an actress whose appearance in a Grand Guignol-like horror theater has mesmerized him. She quits the theater to travel with her concert pianist husband, Stephen (Colin Clive), enraging Gogol. But when Stephen’s hands are crushed in a train accident, Yvonne turns to Gogol as a last resort. Motivated by sadistic intentions, Gogol secretly replaces Stephen’s hands with those of a guillotined murderer, hoping that the operation will send Yvonne rushing into his arms as the murderer’s hands take on a life of their own.
Peter Lorre in Mad Love (1935) will be available no Blu-ray October 19th from Warner Archive
In his American feature-film debut, Peter Lorre turns in one of his creepiest performances as a renowned plastic surgeon whose sadistic obsession with an actress drives him over the edge of sanity.
Dr. Gogol (Lorre) is in love with Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drake), an actress whose appearance in a Grand Guignol-like horror theater has mesmerized him. She quits the theater to travel with her concert pianist husband, Stephen (Colin Clive), enraging Gogol. But when Stephen’s hands are crushed in a train accident, Yvonne turns to Gogol as a last resort. Motivated by sadistic intentions, Gogol secretly replaces Stephen’s hands with those of a guillotined murderer, hoping that the operation will send Yvonne rushing into his arms as the murderer’s hands take on a life of their own.
- 9/27/2021
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Reviewed by Colleen Wanglund, MoreHorror.com
Mad Love (U.S.A 1935) Movie Review
Director: Karl Freund
Based on the novel The Hands of Orlac by Maurice Renard and a remake of the original 1924 silent film (with the same title as the novel), Mad Love stars Peter Lorre as Doctor Gogol, a surgeon who is obsessed with stage actress Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drake). Yvonne is listening to her husband’s piano concert on the radio after her last show when Gogol comes to see her. Gogol is distressed to learn that Yvonne is leaving the stage to be with her husband Stephen (Colin Clive). Dr. Gogol is so obsessed with Yvonne that he pays the moving men a large sum of money to have her wax statue delivered to his home.
Yvonne goes to the train station to meet Stephen, who is coming home after a tour, but there has been a terrible train accident.
Mad Love (U.S.A 1935) Movie Review
Director: Karl Freund
Based on the novel The Hands of Orlac by Maurice Renard and a remake of the original 1924 silent film (with the same title as the novel), Mad Love stars Peter Lorre as Doctor Gogol, a surgeon who is obsessed with stage actress Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drake). Yvonne is listening to her husband’s piano concert on the radio after her last show when Gogol comes to see her. Gogol is distressed to learn that Yvonne is leaving the stage to be with her husband Stephen (Colin Clive). Dr. Gogol is so obsessed with Yvonne that he pays the moving men a large sum of money to have her wax statue delivered to his home.
Yvonne goes to the train station to meet Stephen, who is coming home after a tour, but there has been a terrible train accident.
- 9/23/2012
- by admin
- MoreHorror
After the much-publicised, creative differences-fuelled departure of David O Russell from the video game adaptation Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, producers Avi Arad, Charles Roven and Alex Gartner have been scouting around for someone new to sit in the big folding chair. Now it looks like they have their man, with Limitless director Neil Burger in negotiation to take on the job.Burger, who also directed The Illusionist (the Edward Norton magician drama, not the ‘toon) and The Lucky Ones, apparently impressed the producers and the bosses at Sony with his take on the material, which means he’ll be writing another new draft of the script originally penned by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer.The studio is itching to get moving on the film, which it is no doubt hoping will launch an Indiana Jones-style franchise about the rugged Nathan Drake, a descendant of Sir Frances Drake, who goes...
- 7/8/2011
- EmpireOnline
As Valentine's Day hurtles towards us at heartbreak-neck speed, let's remember what it feels like to reject or be rejected
From Shakespeare to Billie Holiday to Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty, the arts are full of unrequited love stories. If opinion is divided as to which party in an unrequited love affair suffers the most – is it better to be the rejecter or the reject? – without doubt the worst scenario of all is to be in unrequited love with someone, while simultaneously finding yourself the unwilling subject of someone else's romantic fixation. As the central link in a chain of unrequited lovers, you cannot help but realise that the queasy mixture of feelings you have for your unwanted suitor – chiefly pity, tinged with a hint of revulsion – is probably pretty similar to how the object of your ardent desires is feeling towards you.
To be hopelessly in love with someone...
From Shakespeare to Billie Holiday to Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty, the arts are full of unrequited love stories. If opinion is divided as to which party in an unrequited love affair suffers the most – is it better to be the rejecter or the reject? – without doubt the worst scenario of all is to be in unrequited love with someone, while simultaneously finding yourself the unwilling subject of someone else's romantic fixation. As the central link in a chain of unrequited lovers, you cannot help but realise that the queasy mixture of feelings you have for your unwanted suitor – chiefly pity, tinged with a hint of revulsion – is probably pretty similar to how the object of your ardent desires is feeling towards you.
To be hopelessly in love with someone...
- 2/9/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
I took these photos off my TV the other night, with my iPhone, whilst watching Mad Love on Turner Classic Movies (the 1935 horror film about the brilliant but creepy doctor who tries to steal the wife of one of his patients, not the Drew Barrymore movie about manic depressive teenage runaways. It was Peter Lorre night.) This post partially exists to see if I can successfully blog from the iPhone WordPress App. It's also an excuse to repeat two of my favorite lines from Mad Love. 1. Frances Drake tells Lorre's Gogol that even if she didn't love her husband, the doctor would still be too scary for her to consider dating him. "You are cruel!" he cries. Then he reconsiders."But ...
- 8/15/2008
- by Karina Longworth
- Spout
Sci Fi net takes voyage with 'Drake'
Adrian Paul and Temuera Morrison are set to face off in Sci Fi's original movie Captain Drake.
The cast of the pirate-themed fantasy-action movie also includes Wes Ramsey (Charmed) and newcomer Sofia Pernas.
Drake stars Paul (Highlander) as the title character, real-life English pirate/admiral/adventurer Frances Drake, who sets out on a quest to find the legendary Tree of Life to save the life of his daughter (Pernas). Along the way, he battles the Spanish Armada, sea monsters, a mystical Persian sorceress and the legendary Norse God-creature the NidhoggCQ. Ramsey will play Peter, Drake's first mate and Pernas' love interest.
Morrison, known for his role as Jango Fett in two of the Star Wars prequels, plays Drake's real-life adversary, the Spanish pirate Sandovate.
The movie, which is being filmed on location in the Black Sea and Eastern Europe, likely will debut late next year as part of Sci Fi's Saturday night lineup.
David Flores is directing from a script by Rafael Jordan, who has written multiple Sci Fi movies.
The cast of the pirate-themed fantasy-action movie also includes Wes Ramsey (Charmed) and newcomer Sofia Pernas.
Drake stars Paul (Highlander) as the title character, real-life English pirate/admiral/adventurer Frances Drake, who sets out on a quest to find the legendary Tree of Life to save the life of his daughter (Pernas). Along the way, he battles the Spanish Armada, sea monsters, a mystical Persian sorceress and the legendary Norse God-creature the NidhoggCQ. Ramsey will play Peter, Drake's first mate and Pernas' love interest.
Morrison, known for his role as Jango Fett in two of the Star Wars prequels, plays Drake's real-life adversary, the Spanish pirate Sandovate.
The movie, which is being filmed on location in the Black Sea and Eastern Europe, likely will debut late next year as part of Sci Fi's Saturday night lineup.
David Flores is directing from a script by Rafael Jordan, who has written multiple Sci Fi movies.
- 11/2/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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