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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{short description|1924 film by Robert Wiene}}
{{short description|1924 film by Robert Wiene}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2022}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox film
{{Infobox film
| name = Orlacs Hände<br>The Hands of Orlac<br>Les Mains d'Orlac
| name = The Hands of Orlac
| image = Orlacs Hände poster.jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| caption =
| director = [[Robert Wiene]]
| director = [[Robert Wiene]]
| producer = Pan-Film
| studio = Pan-Film<ref name="filmportal" />
| screenplay = Louis Nerz<ref name="filmportal" />
| writer = Ludwig Nertz (play)<br>[[Maurice Renard]] (book)
| based_on = ''[[Les Mains d'Orlac]]'' by [[Maurice Renard]]
| narrator =
| starring = [[Conrad Veidt]]<br>[[Alexandra Sorina]]<br>[[Fritz Kortner]]<br>[[Carmen Cartellieri]]<br>Fritz Strassny<br>Paul Askonas
| starring = {{plainlist|* [[Conrad Veidt]]
* [[Alexandra Sorina]]
* [[Fritz Kortner]]
* [[Carmen Cartellieri]]
* Fritz Strassny
* Paul Askonas}}
| music = Pierre Oser
| music =
| cinematography = [[Günther Krampf]],<br>[[Hans Androschin]]
| cinematography = {{plainlist|* [[Günther Krampf]]
* [[Hans Androschin]]<ref name="filmportal" />}}
| editing =
| editing =
| distributor = Pan-Film<br>[[Berolina-Film]]<br>[[Aywon Film Corporation]]
| distributor =
| released = {{film date|1924|5|6|df=yes}}
| released = {{film date|1924|9|24|Berlin|1925|3|6|Viena|df=yes}}
| runtime = 90 minutes
| runtime =
| country = Austria
| country = Austria
| language = [[German language|German]], [[English language|English]], [[French language|French]]
| budget =
| language =
| gross =
| image= The Hands of Orlac VideoCover.png
}}
}}
'''''The Hands of Orlac''''' (German: '''''Orlacs Hände''''') is a 1924 [[Cinema of Austria|Austrian]] [[silent film|silent]] [[horror film]] directed by [[Robert Wiene]] and starring [[Conrad Veidt]], [[Alexandra Sorina]] and [[Fritz Kortner]]. The film was also released as ''Die Unheimlichen Hände des Doktor Orlac''. The film's plot is based on the book ''[[Les Mains d'Orlac]]'' (1920) written by [[Maurice Renard]].
'''''The Hands of Orlac''''' (German: '''''Orlac's Hände''''') is a 1924 Austrian [[silent film|silent]] film directed by [[Robert Wiene]] and starring [[Conrad Veidt]], [[Alexandra Sorina]] and [[Fritz Kortner]]. It is based on the novel ''[[Les Mains d'Orlac]]'' by [[Maurice Renard]].<ref name="filmportal">{{cite web|url=https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/orlacs-hande_ea43d4a6a71b5006e03053d50b37753d|work=[[Filmportal.de]]|title=Orlacs Hände|accessdate=November 5, 2023}}</ref><ref name="filmdienst">{{cite web|url=https://www.filmdienst.de/film/details/514227/orlacs-hande |title=Orlacs Hände |language=de |website=Filmdienst |access-date=28 December 2022}}</ref>


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==Plot==
Wiene had made his name as a director of [[German Expressionism|Expressionist]] films such as ''[[The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari]]'' (1920), and in ''The Hands of Orlac'' combined expressionist [[Motif (visual arts)|motifs]] with more [[Naturalism (arts)|naturalistic]] visuals.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/robert-wiene-p116718|title=Robert Wiene &#124; Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos|website=AllMovie}}</ref> The film has been remade three times: as ''[[Mad Love (1935 film)|''Mad Love]]'' (1935) directed by [[Karl Freund]], as ''[[The Hands of Orlac (1960 film)|The Hands of Orlac]]'' (1960), a British/French co-production, and as a low-budget American company as ''[[Hands of a Stranger]]'' (1962) directed by Newt Arnold.<ref name=tcm/> The film ''[[Body Parts (film)|Body Parts]]'' (1991) also drew extensively on Renard's story.<ref>Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 277. {{ISBN|978-1936168-68-2}}.</ref>
[[File:Orlacs Hände (1924).webm|thumb|left|thumbtime=1|''The Hands of Orlac'' (1924)]]
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Concert pianist Paul Orlac loses his hands in a horrible railway accident. His wife Yvonne pleads with a surgeon to try and save Orlac's hands. The surgeon transplants the hands of a recently executed murderer named Vasseur. When Orlac learns this, horror obsesses him. He is tortured by the presence of a knife he finds at his house, just like that used by Vasseur, and the desire to kill. He believes that along with the hands he has acquired the murderer's predisposition to violence. He confronts the surgeon, telling him to remove the hands, but the surgeon tries to convince him that a person's acts are not governed by hands but by the head and heart.


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Orlac's new hands are unable to play the piano, and in time he and his wife run out of money. Creditors give them one more day to pay their bills. Yvonne goes to Paul's father for money, but she is refused. Orlac himself then goes to see his father, but finds he has been stabbed to death with the same knife like Vasseur's. He starts to think he himself committed the murder and goes to a café for a drink. There he meets a man who claims he is Vasseur. The man tells Orlac that the assistant of the surgeon who did the hand transplant reattached his – Vasseur's – head to his body. As proof, he shows Orlac what looks to be a scar on his neck from the surgery. The man then tells Orlac he wants money to keep quiet about the murder.
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== Plot ==
⚫
Concert pianist Paul Orlac ([[Conrad Veidt]]) loses his hands in a horrible railway accident. His wife Yvonne ([[Alexandra Sorina]]) pleads with a surgeon to try and save Orlac's hands. The surgeon transplants the hands of a recently executed murderer named Vasseur. When Orlac learns this, horror obsesses him. He is tortured by the presence of a knife he finds at his house, just like that used by Vasseur, and the desire to kill. He believes that along with the hands he has acquired the murderer's predisposition to violence. He confronts the surgeon, telling him to remove the hands, but the surgeon tries to convince him that a person's acts are not governed by hands, but by the head and heart.


⚫
In the meantime, police find Vasseur's fingerprints at the scene of the crime, causing confusion. Paul and Yvonne Orlac go to the police and try to explain that while Vasseur's hands are on Paul's arms and may have caused the death of his father, Paul has no recollection of killing him. He also tells the police about the man claiming to be the executed murderer and the blackmail money. It turns out that the man is actually a con man named Nera who is well known to police. Orlac's maid tells the police that Nera was a friend of Vasseur and that he made a set of rubber gloves with Vasseur's fingerprints. The gloves were used during the murders. They all conclude that Vasseur was innocent of the murder he was convicted of, which means that Orlac's new hands are the hands of an innocent rather than a murderer.
⚫
Orlac's new hands are unable to play the piano, and in time he and his wife run out of money. Creditors give them one more day to pay their bills. Yvonne goes to Paul's father for money, but is refused. Orlac himself then goes to see his father, but finds he has been stabbed to death with the same knife like Vasseur's. He starts to think he himself committed the murder, and goes to a café for a drink. There he meets a man who claims he is Vasseur, who tells Orlac the same surgeon who did the hand transplant also transplanted a new head onto Vasseur's body. He then tells Orlac he wants money to keep quiet about the murder.


==Cast==
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In the meantime, police find Vasseur's finger prints at the scene of the crime, causing confusion. Paul and Yvonne Orlac decide to go to the police and try to explain about Vasseur's hands being on Paul's arms, but that he had no recollection of killing his father. He also tells the police about the man claiming to be the executed murderer, and the blackmail money. It turns out that the man is actually a con man named Nera, well known to police. Orlac's maid tells the police that Nera was a friend of Vasseur, and that he had made a set of rubber gloves with Vasseur's fingerprints. The gloves were used during the murder.

== Characters ==
* [[Conrad Veidt]] as Paul Orlac
* [[Conrad Veidt]] as Paul Orlac
* [[Alexandra Sorina]] as Yvonne Orlac
* [[Alexandra Sorina]] as Yvonne Orlac
Line 42: Line 45:
* Paul Askonas as Servant
* Paul Askonas as Servant


== Production ==
==Style==
Film historian [[Lotte H. Eisner|Lotte Eisner]] said the film was part of the [[German expressionist cinema]] movement, while critic [[Tony Rayns]] argued it did not belong in that category. Rayns wrote in ''[[Sight & Sound]]'' that the film belonged closer to the wave of pulp-thrillers such as those by [[Louis Feuillade]] or [[Fritz Lang]]'s ''Dr. Mabuse'' films.{{sfn|Rayns|2021}}
{{unsourced section|date=February 2016}}

''Orlacs Hände'' was based on the book ''Les Mains d'Orlac'' by [[Maurice Renard]]. It was one of the first films to feature the motif, often recurring in later films, of hands with a will of their own, whether or not attached to a body, as well as popular fears around the subject of surgical transplants, in the days before such procedures were possible. It was shot at the studios of Listo-Film in [[Vienna]] by the Pan-Film production company.
==Production==
''The Hands of Orlac'' was based on [[Maurice Renard]]'s novel ''[[Les Mains d'Orlac]]'' which had been translated into German by [[Norbert Jacques]] in 1922.{{sfn|Jung|Schatzberg|1999|p=115}}


''The Hands of Orlac'' was produced by the Austrian Pan-Film company in association with the German distribution company Berolina Film{{efn|Not identical with the German post-war era company of the same name.}} and shot at the studios of Listo Film in [[Vienna]].<ref name="Giesen">{{cite book|title=The Nosferatu Story. The Seminal Horror Film, Its Predecessors and Its Enduring Legacy |last=Giesen |first=Rolf |publisher=McFarland |year=2019 |page=204 |isbn=9781476672984}}</ref> The sets were constructed by the film architects and set builders Stefan Wessely, [[Hans Rouc]], and Karl Exner.<ref name="filmportal" /><ref name="Giesen" />
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The Austrian premiere took place on 6 May, 1924. Distribution was carried out by the [[Germany|German]] [[Berolina-Film]] company. The German premiere followed on 24 September 1924 in the Haydn-Kino in [[Berlin]]. The [[French language|French]] version had the title ''Les Mains d'Orlac'', the [[English language|English]] version ''The Hands of Orlac''. The film was first shown in the United States in 1928, where its promotion and distribution were undertaken by the [[Aywon Film Corporation]].


==Release==
The sets were constructed by the film architects and set builders [[Hans Rouc]], Karl Exner, and Stefan Wessely.
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The film premiered in [[Berlin]], Germany, on 24 September 1924. The regular cinema release followed in early 1925, on 31 January in Berlin and on 6 March in Vienna. Distribution was carried out by Berolina Film.<ref name="filmportal" /> The French version had the title ''Les Mains d'Orlac'', the English version ''The Hands of Orlac''. The film was first shown in the United States in 1928, where its promotion and distribution were undertaken by the [[Aywon Film Corporation]].<ref name="Giesen" />


== Reception ==
==Reception==
Contemporary film critics in Germany praised the film, specifically noting Wiene's ''[[mise-en-scène]]'', Nerz's script, and the acting of [[Conrad Veidt]], [[Fritz Kortner]], and [[Alexandra Sorina]].{{sfn|Jung|Schatzberg|1999|p=115}} A review in ''Film-Kurier'' specifically spoke about Wiene's direction, stating that "that one has found the right director for the rendering of the mysterious psychology and the suspense-ladne story of this film. The enigma of man's fate is a subject that Robert Wiene knows how to deal with."{{sfn|Jung|Schatzberg|1999|p=115}} A review in ''Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' stated that Wiene was on par with other directors of the era such as [[Ernst Lubitsch]], [[Fritz Lang]], [[F. W. Murnau]] and [[Karl Grune]] and that he had the actors work well together that was last best seen in ''[[Husbands or Lovers (1924 film)|Husbands or Lovers]]'' (1924).{{sfn|Jung|Schatzberg|1999|p=115}}
{{expand section|date=February 2016}}
* ''Paimann's Filmlisten'', Nr. 441, 1924, p. 181: "the presentation of the subject is extremely gripping and tension is maintained right up to the last scene: an extraordinarily well-chosen ensemble headed by Konrad Veidt makes the very most of the possibilities. The direction is taut and careful, especially in the very realistic scenes of the railway accident, the decor tasteful, the events of the action effectively emphasised. The photography is of the highest quality in every respect. An Austrian film that is the equal of the best foreign products."
<!--* [[Kinomatograph]], Nr. 938, 8. February 1925:<ref>as quoted at[http://home.arcor.de/pierre.oser/orlac.htm] retrieved 5 January 2007</ref> „''Ein selten spannender, phantastischer Film, nach dem Roman von Maurice Renard außerordentlich geschickt inszeniert, in der Mischung von Impression und Realistik, getragen von der unerhörten Gestaltungskraft Conrad Veidts. [Beschreibung der Handlung] Wie gesagt, ein ausgezeichnetes inszeniertes Bild, vor allem von Veidt unerhört gespielt, neben dem Fritz Kortner und Sorina stehen. - Bei der Premiere [in Berlin] stritten sich Pfeifer mit der Majorität der Begeisterten, die unendlichen Beifall bei den Aktschlüssen und bei offener Szene spendete. Der Film läuft vor täglich ausverkauftem Hause, ausgezeichnet illustriert durch Schmidt - Gentner, und im Mozartsaal - man möchte fast sagen - persifliert durch einen amüsanten kleinen Linder - Film "Zu Hilfe!", den man allerdings besser nicht vorher, sondern nachher gespielt hätte, damit das Düstere, das Schreckliche, Gespenstische und Grauenvolle, das dieser Film naturgemäß erzeugen muß, etwas gemildert worden wäre.- Trotzdem muß noch besonders betont werden, daß "Orlacs Hände" bereits thematisch eine Bereicherung unseres gleichförmig gewordenen Kinospielplanes bedeutet. Selbst in den Provinzkinos wird man den Realismus herkömmlicher Produktion gern durch ein Werk phantastischer Wucht unterbrechen.''“ - add translation-->
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* On its U.S. release in 1928, ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' wrote "Were it not for Veidt's masterly characterization, The Hands of Orlac would be an absurd fantasy in the old-time mystery-thriller class";<ref name=tcm>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/554250/The-Hands-of-Orlac/articles.html|title=The Hands of Orlac (1925) - Articles - TCM.com|website=Turner Classic Movies}}</ref> and ''[[The New York Times]]'' opined "Although it is raw, hardly the sort of thing some people want to look at after the evening demi-tasse or just before retiring. "The Hands of Orlacc," an old German production now at the Greenwich Village Theatre, is not without merit."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/06/05/archives/a-gruesomo-tale.html|title=A Gruesomo Tale.|date=5 June 1928|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref>


⚫
''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' wrote "[W]ere it not for Veidt's masterly characterization, ''The Hands of Orlac'' would be an absurd fantasy in the old-time mystery-thriller class";<ref name=tcm>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/554250/The-Hands-of-Orlac/articles.html|title=The Hands of Orlac (1925) - Articles - TCM.com|website=Turner Classic Movies}}</ref> and ''[[The New York Times]]'' opined "Although it is raw, hardly the sort of thing some people want to look at after the evening demi-tasse or just before retiring. ''The Hands of Orlacc''&thinsp;<sup>{{Bracket|[[sic]]}}</sup>, an old German production now at the Greenwich Village Theatre, is not without merit."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/06/05/archives/a-gruesomo-tale.html|title=A Gruesomo Tale.|date=5 June 1928|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref>
== Versions ==
{{unsourced section|date=February 2016}}
The original version was 2,507 metres long, the equivalent of 92 minutes. The reconstructed version is 2,357 metres long, which corresponds to about 90 minutes. On 11 January 2001 [[Arte River|ARTE]] broadcast a version reconstructed in 1995 by the [[German Federal Archives | Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv]] in Berlin, [[Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau|Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau]]-Stiftung and the [[Deutsches Filminstitut]] with the cooperation of [[Yugoslav Film Archive | Jugoslovenska Kinoteka]] in Belgrad. This version had new music by [[Henning Lohner]] and was also given background noises and the sound effects of an interrogation scene off, which was not universally approved. Since then the film has been shown at many film festivals worldwide. Another version was released on DVD by [[Kino International (company) | Kino Lorber]] in 2008, based on the 1995 reconstruction and restored by Bret Wood with a score by composer Paul Mercer and additional footage courtesy of The [[Raymond Rohauer]] Collection in Columbus, Ohio. The [[Filmarchiv Austria]] has restored the film with material from its archives. It will premiere at Konzerthaus Wien on 13 June 2013 as part of the Vienna Music Festival, with a new score by American composer Donald Sosin, performed by the composer at the piano and Dennis James at the Rieger organ.


Following World War II, retrospective reception of the film has varied. Reviews of the film by [[Siegfried Kracauer]] and [[Lotte Eisner]] only gave the film brief mentions in their overview of cinema of the era.{{sfn|Jung|Schatzberg|1999|p=116}}
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== Censor's decisions ==
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The film was approved for German release on 25 September 1924, but for adults only. An application was made by the Ministry of the Interior of [[Saxony]] dated 10 January 1925, urging that the film should be censored, because it "is likely to endanger public safety and order... Based on an assessment by the Provincial Criminal Office at [[Dresden]] the Government of Saxony does not think it appropriate to make publicly known the internal arrangements and tools of the criminal police, particularly in connection with the taking of finger prints, as this would make the fighting of crime more difficult. Further, the representation of means which enable the criminal to obliterate his prints and deceive the police, is highly unsuitable."


On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film has an approval rating 91% based on reviews from 11 critics, with an average rating of 7.8/10.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Hands of Orlac |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1054061-hands_of_orlac |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=25 June 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
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The application for censorship was refused by the Higher Inspectorate, as an expert from the police headquarters in Berlin, when questioned by them about it, described the specialist content as unrealistic. There were so far no experiences across the whole of Europe of the falsification of finger prints by the use of wax impressions or similar techniques, leaving aside any other methods of falsifying prints. The Inspectorate did concede that if the film had shown a realistic method of forging fingerprints, if any existed, then it would have raised issues of public security, but concluded that what was shown in the film was pure fantasy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.deutsches-filminstitut.de/zengut/df2tb1002z.pdf|title=Deutsches-Filminstitut.de: digitised version of the censor's decision of 5 February 1925}}</ref>


⚫
==Censor's decisions==
In 1996, the film was re-evaluated and released; an age limit was retained.
{{More citations needed|section|date=December 2022}}
⚫
The film was approved for German release on 25 September 1924, but for adults only. An application was made by the Ministry of the Interior of [[Saxony]] dated 10 January 1925, urging that the film should be censored, because it "is likely to endanger public safety and order […] Based on an assessment by the Provincial Criminal Office at [[Dresden]] the Government of Saxony does not think it appropriate to make publicly known the internal arrangements and tools of the criminal police, particularly in connection with the taking of finger prints, as this would make the fighting of crime more difficult. Further, the representation of means which enable the criminal to obliterate his prints and deceive the police, is highly unsuitable."


⚫
The application for censorship was refused by the Higher Inspectorate, as an expert from the police headquarters in Berlin, when questioned by them about it, described the specialist content as unrealistic. There were so far no experiences across the whole of Europe of the falsification of finger prints by the use of wax impressions or similar techniques, leaving aside any other methods of falsifying prints. The Inspectorate did concede that if the film had shown a realistic method of forging fingerprints, if any existed, then it would have raised issues of public security, but concluded that what was shown in the film was pure fantasy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.deutsches-filminstitut.de/zengut/df2tb1002z.pdf|title=Deutsches-Filminstitut.de: digitised version of the censor's decision of 5 February 1925}}</ref>{{dead link|date=November 2023}}
== Remakes ==
There were two direct remakes:
* ''[[Mad Love (1935 film)|Mad Love]]'' (USA 1935) with [[Colin Clive]] & [[Peter Lorre]], directed by [[Karl Freund]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6af87163|title=Mad Love (1935)|website=BFI}}</ref> This version is repeatedly evoked in Malcolm Lowry's ''[[Under the Volcano]]'' (1947), under its Spanish title : "''Las Manos de Orlac''. Con Peter Lorre".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H6R0CSdZCH0C&q=under+the+volcano+mad+love+1935&pg=PA40|title=A Companion to Under the Volcano|first1=Lawrence J.|last1=Clipper|first2=Christopher|last2=Ackerley|date=1 November 2011|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=9780774845038|via=Google Books}}</ref>
* ''[[The Hands of Orlac (1960 film)|The Hands of Orlac]]'' / ''Les mains d'Orlac'' (GB/FRA 1960) with [[Mel Ferrer]] and [[Christopher Lee]], directed by [[Edmond T. Gréville]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-hands-of-orlac-v21389|title=The Hands of Orlac (1960) - Edmond T. Gréville &#124; Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related|website=AllMovie}}</ref>


==See also==
In addition to these it has inspired a number of other films, ''[[Hands of a Stranger]]'' (1962) most directly, but see also ''[[The Beast with Five Fingers]]'' (1946), ''[[The Crawling Hand]] '' (1963), ''[[The Hand (1981 film)|The Hand]]'' (1981) directed by [[Oliver Stone]], and ''Les Mains de Roxana'' (2012), directed by Philippe Setbon and starring Sylvie Testud as Roxana Orlac, a violinist who receives the hands of a criminal who committed suicide.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/hands-of-a-stranger-v21392|title=Hands of a Stranger (1962) - Newt Arnold, Robert Wiene &#124; Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related|website=AllMovie}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-beast-with-five-fingers-v4468|title=The Beast With Five Fingers (1946) - Robert Florey &#124; Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related|website=AllMovie}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-hand-v21360|title=The Hand (1981) - Oliver Stone &#124; Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related|website=AllMovie}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=211798.html|title=Les Mains de Roxana|via=www.allocine.fr}}</ref> It also inspired a segment of the 1965 horror film anthology ''[[Dr. Terror's House of Horrors]]'' and an episode of Rod Serling's early 1970's TV series ''[[Night Gallery]]''.
Renard's novel was also adapted as
"[[Body Bags (1993)]]" features a segment entitled 'Eye' in which a baseball players receives the eye of a recently executed serial killer and begins to be taken over by the killers personality. The premise is once again parodied in the Simpson's 'Treehouse of Horror IX' in the vignette [[Hell Toupée]] in which Homer receives the hair of the recently executed Snake to similar results. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/film/hptpz/dr-terrors-house-of-horrors/|title=Dr Terror's House of Horrors – review &#124; cast and crew, movie star rating and where to watch film on TV and online|website=Radio Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/night-gallery/episode-3-season-2/the-hand-of-borgus-weems/203447|title=Night Gallery &#124; TV Guide|website=TVGuide.com}}</ref>
* ''[[Mad Love (1935 film)|Mad Love]]'' (USA 1935, dir. [[Karl Freund]])
* ''[[The Hands of Orlac (1960 film)|The Hands of Orlac]]'' (GB/FR 1960, dir. [[Edmond T. Gréville]])


== Notes ==
==Notes==
{{Notelist}}


==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


== Bibliography ==
===Sources===
* Jung, Uli & Schatzberg, Walter. ''Beyond Caligari: The Films of Robert Wiene''. Berghahn Books, 1999.
* {{cite book|title=Beyond Caligari: The Film of Robert Wiene|publisher=Berghahn Books|last1=Jung|first1=Uli|last2=Schatzberg|first2=Walter|year=1999|ISBN=9781571811967}}
* {{cite magazine|magazine=[[Sight & Sound]]|title=The Hands of Orlac|last=Rayns|first=Tony|page=135|year=2021|volume=31|issue=6|authorlink=Tony Rayns}}
* Roland M. Hahn und Rolf Giesen: ''Das neue Lexikon des Horrorfilms''. Berlin: Lexikon Interprint Verlag, 2002. {{ISBN|3-89602-507-4}}
* Roland M. Hahn und Rolf Giesen: ''Das neue Lexikon des Horrorfilms''. Berlin: Lexikon Interprint Verlag, 2002. {{ISBN|3-89602-507-4}}
* Matthias Bickenbach, Annina Klappert, Hedwig Pompe: ''Manus Loquens. Medium der Geste - Geste der Medien.'' Dumont Literatur und Kunst Verlag, Cologne 2003, pp. 243–305: ''Monströse Moderne. Zur Funktionsstelle der manus loquens in Robert Wienes ORLACS HÄNDE (Österreich 1924)'' {{ISBN|3-8321-7830-9}}
* Matthias Bickenbach, Annina Klappert, Hedwig Pompe: ''Manus Loquens. Medium der Geste - Geste der Medien.'' Dumont Literatur und Kunst Verlag, Cologne 2003, pp.&nbsp;243–305: ''Monströse Moderne. Zur Funktionsstelle der manus loquens in Robert Wienes ORLACS HÄNDE (Österreich 1924)'' {{ISBN|3-8321-7830-9}}


== External links ==
==External links==
* {{imdb title|0015202|Orlacs Hände}}
* {{IMDb title|0015202|Orlacs Hände}}
* {{Internet Archive film|the-hands-of-orlac_1928|title = The Hands of Orlac}}
* {{Amg movie|21390|Orlacs Hände}}
* {{tcmdb title|554250}}
* {{TCMDb title|554250}}
* {{Rotten tomatoes|1054061-hands_of_orlac|Hands of Orlac (1924)}}
* {{Rotten tomatoes|1054061-hands_of_orlac|Hands of Orlac (1924)}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928074157/http://www.stummfilm.at/content/view/251/111/ Stummfilm.at] {{in lang|de}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928074157/http://www.stummfilm.at/content/view/251/111/ Stummfilm.at] {{in lang|de}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060505032321/http://home.arcor.de/pierre.oser/orlac.htm Arcor.de] {{in lang|de}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060505032321/http://home.arcor.de/pierre.oser/orlac.htm Arcor.de] {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.zelluloid.de/filme/index.php3?id=13724 Zelluloid.de] {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.zelluloid.de/filme/index.php3?id=13724 Zelluloid.de] {{in lang|de}}
* [https://archive.is/20130221155644/http://cineantiguo.net/load/cine_aleman/las_manos_de_orlac/2-1-0-157 Película en línea en inglés y en español]
* [https://archive.today/20130221155644/http://cineantiguo.net/load/cine_aleman/las_manos_de_orlac/2-1-0-157 Película en línea en inglés y en español]
* [https://a.co/d/jj1ksbt English Translation of the original novel] by D. H. Bernhardt


{{Robert Wiene}}
{{Robert Wiene}}
{{Organ transplantation in fiction}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Hands of Orlac, The}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hands of Orlac, The}}
[[Category:1924 films]]
[[Category:1924 films]]
[[Category:1924 horror films]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:1920s fantasy films]]
[[Category:Austrian films]]
[[Category:Austrian fantasy films]]
[[Category:Austrian silent feature films]]
[[Category:Austrian silent feature films]]
[[Category:German Expressionist films]]
[[Category:Austrian black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Austrian black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Films based on French novels]]
[[Category:Films based on French novels]]
[[Category:Films based on horror novels]]
[[Category:Films about pianos and pianists]]
[[Category:Films about pianos and pianists]]
[[Category:Films directed by Robert Wiene]]
[[Category:Films directed by Robert Wiene]]
[[Category:Organ transplantation in fiction]]
[[Category:Films about organ transplantation]]
[[Category:1920s science fiction horror films]]
[[Category:Films shot in Vienna]]
[[Category:Austrian science fiction horror films]]

Latest revision as of 01:17, 24 December 2024

The Hands of Orlac
Directed byRobert Wiene
Screenplay byLouis Nerz[1]
Based onLes Mains d'Orlac by Maurice Renard
Starring
Cinematography
Production
company
Pan-Film[1]
Release dates
  • 24 September 1924 (1924-09-24) (Berlin)
  • 6 March 1925 (1925-03-06) (Viena)
CountryAustria

The Hands of Orlac (German: Orlac's Hände) is a 1924 Austrian silent film directed by Robert Wiene and starring Conrad Veidt, Alexandra Sorina and Fritz Kortner. It is based on the novel Les Mains d'Orlac by Maurice Renard.[1][2]

Plot

[edit]
The Hands of Orlac (1924)

Concert pianist Paul Orlac loses his hands in a horrible railway accident. His wife Yvonne pleads with a surgeon to try and save Orlac's hands. The surgeon transplants the hands of a recently executed murderer named Vasseur. When Orlac learns this, horror obsesses him. He is tortured by the presence of a knife he finds at his house, just like that used by Vasseur, and the desire to kill. He believes that along with the hands he has acquired the murderer's predisposition to violence. He confronts the surgeon, telling him to remove the hands, but the surgeon tries to convince him that a person's acts are not governed by hands but by the head and heart.

Orlac's new hands are unable to play the piano, and in time he and his wife run out of money. Creditors give them one more day to pay their bills. Yvonne goes to Paul's father for money, but she is refused. Orlac himself then goes to see his father, but finds he has been stabbed to death with the same knife like Vasseur's. He starts to think he himself committed the murder and goes to a café for a drink. There he meets a man who claims he is Vasseur. The man tells Orlac that the assistant of the surgeon who did the hand transplant reattached his – Vasseur's – head to his body. As proof, he shows Orlac what looks to be a scar on his neck from the surgery. The man then tells Orlac he wants money to keep quiet about the murder.

In the meantime, police find Vasseur's fingerprints at the scene of the crime, causing confusion. Paul and Yvonne Orlac go to the police and try to explain that while Vasseur's hands are on Paul's arms and may have caused the death of his father, Paul has no recollection of killing him. He also tells the police about the man claiming to be the executed murderer and the blackmail money. It turns out that the man is actually a con man named Nera who is well known to police. Orlac's maid tells the police that Nera was a friend of Vasseur and that he made a set of rubber gloves with Vasseur's fingerprints. The gloves were used during the murders. They all conclude that Vasseur was innocent of the murder he was convicted of, which means that Orlac's new hands are the hands of an innocent rather than a murderer.

Cast

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Style

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Film historian Lotte Eisner said the film was part of the German expressionist cinema movement, while critic Tony Rayns argued it did not belong in that category. Rayns wrote in Sight & Sound that the film belonged closer to the wave of pulp-thrillers such as those by Louis Feuillade or Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse films.[3]

Production

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The Hands of Orlac was based on Maurice Renard's novel Les Mains d'Orlac which had been translated into German by Norbert Jacques in 1922.[4]

The Hands of Orlac was produced by the Austrian Pan-Film company in association with the German distribution company Berolina Film[a] and shot at the studios of Listo Film in Vienna.[5] The sets were constructed by the film architects and set builders Stefan Wessely, Hans Rouc, and Karl Exner.[1][5]

Release

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The film premiered in Berlin, Germany, on 24 September 1924. The regular cinema release followed in early 1925, on 31 January in Berlin and on 6 March in Vienna. Distribution was carried out by Berolina Film.[1] The French version had the title Les Mains d'Orlac, the English version The Hands of Orlac. The film was first shown in the United States in 1928, where its promotion and distribution were undertaken by the Aywon Film Corporation.[5]

Reception

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Contemporary film critics in Germany praised the film, specifically noting Wiene's mise-en-scène, Nerz's script, and the acting of Conrad Veidt, Fritz Kortner, and Alexandra Sorina.[4] A review in Film-Kurier specifically spoke about Wiene's direction, stating that "that one has found the right director for the rendering of the mysterious psychology and the suspense-ladne story of this film. The enigma of man's fate is a subject that Robert Wiene knows how to deal with."[4] A review in Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung stated that Wiene was on par with other directors of the era such as Ernst Lubitsch, Fritz Lang, F. W. Murnau and Karl Grune and that he had the actors work well together that was last best seen in Husbands or Lovers (1924).[4]

Variety wrote "[W]ere it not for Veidt's masterly characterization, The Hands of Orlac would be an absurd fantasy in the old-time mystery-thriller class";[6] and The New York Times opined "Although it is raw, hardly the sort of thing some people want to look at after the evening demi-tasse or just before retiring. The Hands of Orlacc [sic], an old German production now at the Greenwich Village Theatre, is not without merit."[7]

Following World War II, retrospective reception of the film has varied. Reviews of the film by Siegfried Kracauer and Lotte Eisner only gave the film brief mentions in their overview of cinema of the era.[8]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating 91% based on reviews from 11 critics, with an average rating of 7.8/10.[9]

Censor's decisions

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The film was approved for German release on 25 September 1924, but for adults only. An application was made by the Ministry of the Interior of Saxony dated 10 January 1925, urging that the film should be censored, because it "is likely to endanger public safety and order […] Based on an assessment by the Provincial Criminal Office at Dresden the Government of Saxony does not think it appropriate to make publicly known the internal arrangements and tools of the criminal police, particularly in connection with the taking of finger prints, as this would make the fighting of crime more difficult. Further, the representation of means which enable the criminal to obliterate his prints and deceive the police, is highly unsuitable."

The application for censorship was refused by the Higher Inspectorate, as an expert from the police headquarters in Berlin, when questioned by them about it, described the specialist content as unrealistic. There were so far no experiences across the whole of Europe of the falsification of finger prints by the use of wax impressions or similar techniques, leaving aside any other methods of falsifying prints. The Inspectorate did concede that if the film had shown a realistic method of forging fingerprints, if any existed, then it would have raised issues of public security, but concluded that what was shown in the film was pure fantasy.[10][dead link‍]

See also

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Renard's novel was also adapted as

Notes

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  1. ^ Not identical with the German post-war era company of the same name.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Orlacs Hände". Filmportal.de. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  2. ^ "Orlacs Hände". Filmdienst (in German). Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  3. ^ Rayns 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d Jung & Schatzberg 1999, p. 115.
  5. ^ a b c Giesen, Rolf (2019). The Nosferatu Story. The Seminal Horror Film, Its Predecessors and Its Enduring Legacy. McFarland. p. 204. ISBN 9781476672984.
  6. ^ "The Hands of Orlac (1925) - Articles - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies.
  7. ^ "A Gruesomo Tale". 5 June 1928 – via NYTimes.com.
  8. ^ Jung & Schatzberg 1999, p. 116.
  9. ^ "The Hands of Orlac". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  10. ^ "Deutsches-Filminstitut.de: digitised version of the censor's decision of 5 February 1925" (PDF).

Sources

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  • Jung, Uli; Schatzberg, Walter (1999). Beyond Caligari: The Film of Robert Wiene. Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781571811967.
  • Rayns, Tony (2021). "The Hands of Orlac". Sight & Sound. Vol. 31, no. 6. p. 135.
  • Roland M. Hahn und Rolf Giesen: Das neue Lexikon des Horrorfilms. Berlin: Lexikon Interprint Verlag, 2002. ISBN 3-89602-507-4
  • Matthias Bickenbach, Annina Klappert, Hedwig Pompe: Manus Loquens. Medium der Geste - Geste der Medien. Dumont Literatur und Kunst Verlag, Cologne 2003, pp. 243–305: Monströse Moderne. Zur Funktionsstelle der manus loquens in Robert Wienes ORLACS HÄNDE (Österreich 1924) ISBN 3-8321-7830-9
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