Plot

In Paris, a demented surgeon's obsession with a British actress leads him to secretly replace her concert-pianist husband's mangled hands with those of a guillotined murderer with a gift for knife-throwing.

In Paris, great surgeon Dr. Gogol falls madly in love with stage actress Yvonne Orlac, and his ardor disturbs her quite a bit when he discovers to his horror that she is married to concert pianist Stephen Orlac. Shortly thereafter, Stephen's hands are badly crushed in a train accident--beyond the power of standard medicine. Knowing that his hands are his life, Yvonne overcomes her fear and goes to Dr. Gogol to beg him to help. Gogol decides to surgically graft the hands of executed murderer Rollo onto Stephen Orlac, the surgery is successful but has terrible side effects.—Ken Yousten <kyousten@bev.net>

Doctor Gogol is a renowned surgeon who is so obsessed with stage performer Yvonne Orlac that he he actually goes to the theater every evening just to see her. He is disappointed to learn from her that she is leaving the show to join her husband, famed pianist Stephen Orlac, on a long-delayed honeymoon. The Orlacs no sooner set off than they are involved in an accident in which Stephen's hands are crushed. Yvonne begs Dr. Gogol to do anything to save her husband. He decides to graft new hands to replace the crushed ones, and he uses hands from recently-executed prisoner Rollo the Knife Thrower. When Stephen regains the use of his hands, those around him find that he has also undergone a personality change and is now prone to violent fits of temper. He's also very good at throwing knives.—garykmcd

In Paris, Dr. Gogol is infatuated with theater actress Yvonne Orlac and returns to his same box seat for her every performance. Yvonne is married, however, to concert pianist Stephen Orlac. They plan to move to England. When Stephen's talented hands are crushed in a train wreck, Yvonne asks for Dr. Gogol's help by operating to save them. Although the doctor can't save Stephen's hands, he will do anything to help Yvonne. His solution is to replace the hands with those of an executed knife-throwing murderer. Gogol's obsession with Yvonne grows while Stephen discovers that his proficiency at the piano has been replaced by an uncanny accuracy with throwing things, especially knives. The doctor's next move is to play on Stephen's mental distress to convince him that he is crazy--and a murderer. It is the only way he can get Yvonne.—Gary Jackson <garyjack5@cogeco.ca>