This offbeat fantasy feature is both funny and imaginative, combining a surreal story idea with some down-to-earth slapstick gags. It also features a pretty good range of special camera effects, and most of them work well. In the first decade of the 1900s, many film-makers strove to come up with off-the-wall ideas to give extra life to their comedies, and this is one of the better examples of its kind.
The story starts with a one-armed street peddler who earns the gratitude of a rich passer-by. To show his gratitude, the rich man takes him to a store that sells limbs, and from then on the story is amusingly bizarre. The poor man's new arm quickly displays a will of its own, leading to some entertaining situations. The closing gag is, by that time, somewhat predictable, but it is funny, and it works in rounding off the story neatly.
The special effects of "The Thieving Hand" in action seem to be relatively straightforward in terms of technique, but most of them are convincing and fun to watch. The camera tricks and the wacky nature of the story both make this short comedy an enjoyable one.
