Mad Love

"Mad Love" is not nearly as well known as other '30s horror classics, but certainly deserves to be! The director, Karl Freund, was one of early cinema's most innovative cinematographers, having worked with F. W. Murnau, James Whale, and others on such gems as "Frankenstein" and "The Last Laugh." The film presents Frances Drake as one of the most emotionally strong female characters to be featured in a '30s flick. Lorre gives one of his creepiest perfomances... it's great, high camp. Colin Clive (Dr. Henry Frankenstein himself!) lends strong support and the comic relief (annoying to some, not to me) is supplied by vaudeville great Ted Healy, the man who brought the Three Stooges together as his second bananas before they went solo. But the star of the show is Freund's direction - this is one of the most eerie, atmospheric films ever made. Sure, it's a bit over the top, but what '30s and '40s horror film isn't? A classic! Do yourself a favor and check it out.

This adaptation of Renard's The Hands of Orlac is quite good, yet a bit on the stagy side. It is one of Peter Lorre's early films and his first for Hollywood. Lorre is quite good, and almost sympathetic in a way, as a surgeon who has hopelessly fallen in love with the wife of a great pianist. Colin Clive of Frankenstein fame plays the musician, and Frances Drake plays his rather annoying, overacting wife. The visuals of the film are first-rate, as it was directed by great cameraman Karl Freund. Ted Healy adds some unnecessary comic relief. What I liked best about the film was the staging of the story against some beautiful expressionistic sets and Freunds expressive camerawork.

When acclaimed concert pianist Stephen Orlac (Colin Clive) is in a terrible accident, his hands are crushed and must be amputated. His wife Yvonne (Frances Drake) appeals to the brilliant Dr. Gogol (Peter Lorre) to use his surgical genius to save Stephen's hands. Gogol accepts as he's madly in love with Yvonne, but instead of saving Stephen's hands, he replaces them with those from an executed murderer.

This was Lorre's first American film, and one of his very best performances ever. He's at once menacingly creepy and pathetically sympathetic, a brilliant mind trapped in an ugly body, deeply in love with someone he can never have. I also really like Drake as the object of affection, beautiful, classy and empathetic. Lorre's costume late in the film is a visual highlight of 1930's film, and the moody cinematography is excellent. Recommended.

Dr. Gogol (Peter Lorre) is a brilliant surgeon who is obsessed with actress Yvonne Orlac (Francis Drake). She tells him she is leaving the stage to be a full time wife to her husband Stephen Orlac (Colin Clive), a concert pianist. Gogol is crushed. Stephen Orlac loses his hands in a train wreck.

At the request of Yvonne, Orlac grafts on a new pair of hands to Stephen. Unfortunately, they happen to be the hands of Rollo, an executed murderer who loved throwing knives. It seems the hands have a life of their own--Stephen can't play the piano anymore but can throw knives accurately and he has a desire to kill. He slowly starts to go crazy. Gogol again tells Yvonne that he loves her. She rejects him and Gogol cracks. He sets out to drive Stephen mad--and drive Yvonne into his arms.

The plot is silly but it still works. Anyways, the film isn't respected for its plot--it's because of Lorre and the sets. The sets in this film are huge, designed very strangely and add to the weirdness of the plot. They're all dimly lit giving the film a dark, depressing look. The acting is almost all good. Drake is just beautiful and perfect as the suffering wife. Clive is way too serious and looks horrible--sadly the man suffered from alcoholism...and it shows. Lorre is just superb as Gogol. He's very severe looking with his shaved head. You see him start out as kindly but obsessed and slowly slip into madness. Also there's a genuinely terrifying meeting Orlac has with Gogol (disguised as someone else) in a hotel. And director Karl Fruend throws in an amusing in joke--someone's repeats the "It went for a little walk" line from his "The Mummy" (1932)! The only real debit is the unnecessary "comic" relief from Ted Healy and an alcoholic landlady (sorry, but alcoholism isn't funny).

This is still mostly unknown more than 60 years after its release. Why? It bombed badly when it came out, was too grim for most people and it almost never pops up on TV. That's a shame--it's one of the best horror films to come out in the 1930s. See this if you get a chance--it's only 70 minutes and it's well worth it! One of Lorre's best performances.

Excellent, morbid story of a brilliant sureon's (Lorre) obsessive, fetishistic love for a Grand Guignol style actress. The early scenes are perhaps the best film evocative of actual Grand Guignol sadefests. Lorre manages to procure a perfect waxen statue of his love object, thus introducing doppleganger horror, a relatively rare treat in American horror. The main plot focuses on Lorre's attempt to implicate Drake's husband in a series of murders by convincing him that the hands he grafted for him are acting of their own will (as in "Hands of Orlac"). Many subtle moments (which critics have not credited the film for), some garishly out-of-place slapstick humor is the only negative aspect. Fantastic photography.

This is Lorre's entry into classic horror stardom: Karloff has his Frankenstein monster, Lugosi has Dracula (forever, folks), Chaney Jr. has the wolfman, and Lorre's got this lesser-known but equally classic film to recommend him as one of the major horror stars of the classic era. This film represents MGM's entry into the early 30s horror film sweepstakes as well, and they did well to associate themselves with solid hands like Freund's and Lorre's. Hands..... hmmmmm unintended pun. Anyway, if anyone out there is a fan of classic horror films and has not yet seen this one, put it at the top of your list.