The Beast with Five Fingers

A villa in Italy. A famous pianist has had a stroke; nothing works except his left hand and he goes on playing with it. When he dies he leaves everything to his nurse and the family objects. After the funeral a severed hand starts moving around the house: it plays the piano, opens doors and strangles people. Hilary, the librarian, believes it is real. Robert Florey directs. Peter Lorre plays Hilary. The source is a story by W. F. Harvey; Curt Siodmak wrote the screenplay. What it is known for are the hand scenes. The passage in which the severed hand plays the piano was made with optical tricks and a real hand brought into frame; it was technically demanding at the time and was widely imitated in the genre. The idea is uncertainty. Whether the hand really moves is left open to the end and the film builds the horror as a state of mind. Peter Lorre's performance is at the centre; the character comes apart steadily and the actor gives it through his body. Warner Bros. had an explanatory scene added at the end and it is the weakest passage; the censorship and studio practice of the period required supernatural events to be tied to a rational cause. The music is by Max Steiner and the Bach arrangements function inside the narrative. Who it is for: viewers who like forties Hollywood horror and Peter Lorre. Who it is not for: the explanation at the end breaks the effect, the first half is slow, and the supporting characters are thin.