The Hands of Orlac Movie Review

Trailer here.

The Hands of Orlac is a 1960 horror/thriller directed by Edmond T. Greville and starring Mel Ferrer and Christopher Lee.

Stephen Orlac(Ferrer) is a concert pianist. He is very famous and he has a great career. He is on a plane when it crashes and he is injured. His hands are in a bad way. In a strange coincidence, there is a strangler being executed that very night. Stephen is brought to the hospital and a man called Professor Volchett(Donald Wolfit) is brought in to operate on him and give him new hands which just happen to be the executed mans. When Stephen wakes up, he is naturally very upset to find out what has happened to his hands. Six months later and he is dismayed to find that he can't play the piano the same way. Stephen has an idea that the hands he has are not his. His girlfriend, Louise(Lucile Saint-Simon) wants to get married. Stephen is at a funfair and he tries out the strength machine. He finds that he has really strong hands. He knows that this isn't right.

Stephen calls Volchett but he isn't there. Louise and Stephen go to the French Riviera for a break. The cat won't go near him and shortly after, it is found dead.  He tells Louise that he is afraid of himself. He puts his hands around her neck. He thinks that he is losing it. Stephen goes off by himself to Marseille and he wanders into a hotel. A magician called Nero(Lee) is staying there. He has an assistant called Li-Lang(Dany Carrel). She is afraid of Nero. She meets Stephen and they talk about Nero. She tells Stephen that she is afraid of him and that he is a madman. She comes onto Stephen. Stephen goes to a club called The Blue Monkey where Li-Lang performs. He watches her and Nero watches him. He is setting something up. Louise arrives at the hotel and asks for Stephen. Nero tells her that he is there. Stephen meets Li-Lang and she tells him that she will meet him in her room. 

Louise meets him when he gets back from the club. Nero is eavesdropping on their conversation. Stephen tells Louise that his hands are the killers hands. Louise thinks that he is imagining it. He tells her to leave. Li-Lang shows up and Stephen tells her that he is leaving but Nero bursts in. He tells Stephen that he knows who Orlac is. He tells him that the killer was a friend of his and he makes fun of Stephen. Stephen returns to the villa. He tries to get back to normal. He starts playing the piano. He and Louise get married. They are happy together. Stephen decides that he is going to play in public again.

He receives a package and in it are gloves with the killers name on them. It causes him to lose his confidence. He cannot play. He throws the gloves into the river. Stephen gets a call looking for Louis Vasseur, the killer. Louise gets a visitor from a woman who is talking about her husband. She tells her that her husband died in bad circumstances and that he left a message for Stephen- it says not to trust what belongs to him. Louise goes to a clinic to get a break from it all.

Nero is behind the message for Stephen and the wife. Stephen tells Louise what has been happening. Nero wants money. Li-Lang doesn't want to help him, but he threatens her. Louise confronts Li-Lang and she asks her what's going on. Li-Lang confesses all. She makes a deal with Louise to go to the police. Nero overhears this. Nero calls Stephen and he says that he wants to talk. He tells Stephen that Louise is planning to put him into an asylum. Louise's godfather wants to know more about Vasseur and he gets Stephen's prints on a cigarette case and hands it to the police for investigate. Stephen thinks that Louise might be plotting against him. The police think that she is in danger. They arrive at the villa and meet Stephen. He hasn't killed Louise. He disappears. Nero murders Li-Lang. The police are after him but he runs off. Stephen finds him and confronts him. There is a fight but the police grab Nero. They tell Stephen that the fingerprints they found from the cigarette case are his own. The hands that he received belonged to an innocent man. It turns out that Vasseur was not guilty so the hands are not evil. The movie ends with Stephen playing the piano once again.

This is a good film. I like the cast and the story is interesting too. Christopher Lee plays a good villain in this film. It is interesting to see him in this early role. I would recommend this if you enjoy old horror movies. There isn't much in the way of scares, but it was made in 1960, so you can forgive that. There is enough in it to entertain. It is certainly worth your time. I will give it a 6/10.