The Hands of Orlac

So, I guess I like silent films when they’re German. Who knew. The Hands Of Orlac is a simple story — a pianist loses his hands in a train accident, and an experimental surgery puts new hands on him from a convicted and recently executed murderer. Orlac starts seeing visions of the killer, becomes convinced his hands can’t play piano, and that they are driving him to murderous tendencies. Dozens of movies have done the haunted body part transplant thing. Even The Simpsons did it. But there’s something about the way Hands Of Orlac does it. The use of light and shadow. The incredibly ornate set pieces (the train accident that claims his hands is amazingly staged) and sets. The acting that is just the right touch of necessary overacting for a silent movie, and subtle twists and character touches. The way it shows Orlac’s descent into mania and fear, and keeps you, the viewer, unsure of whether his hands really are corrupted by an evil force or if he’s convinced himself of it and is losing his mind over nothing. This is a finely crafted movie, and the fact that it’s 100 years old makes no difference; this is the kind of quality that is timeless. The only minor quibbles are it tends to lag in some places, and there could be some editing up of overlong sequences. And there’s also some moments where the movie leaps from plot point to plot point without connecting the dots until later, and it feels like there’s a reel missing. It’s not enough to ruin the movie, but it is noticeable. Regardless, I was pleasantly surprised by how sophisticated and dark and entertaining this was. I didn’t even know until after the fact it’s from the same director as The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, which I saw in last year’s Hooptober event and really liked it. I expected for this to be okay and came out with an upper tier discovery. Apparently, Germans know how to do a silent movie really well. Didn’t see that coming. Hooptober 2022 movie #30/31