Mad Love (1935)

An insane surgeon's obsession with an actress leads him to replace her wounded pianist's hands with the hands of a knife murderer which still have the urge to throw knives.

Director:

Karl Freund

Writers:

Maurice Renard (from the novel: "Les Mains D'Orlac"), Florence Crewe-Jones (translation and adaptation: novel "The Hands of Orlac"),

Stars:

Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Peter Lorre	...	Doctor Gogol
Frances Drake	...	Yvonne Orlac
Colin Clive	...	Stephen Orlac
Ted Healy	...	Reagan
Sara Haden	...	Marie (as Sarah Haden)
Edward Brophy	...	Rollo
Henry Kolker	...	Prefect Rosset
Keye Luke	...	Dr. Wong
May Beatty	...	Françoise
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
George Davis	...	Chauffeur (scenes deleted)
Billy Dooley	...	Undetermined Role (scenes deleted)
Harold Huber	...	Thief (scenes deleted)
Isabel Jewell	...	Marianne (scenes deleted)
Leo White	...	Undetermined Role (scenes deleted)

Storyline

In Paris, the great surgeon Dr. Gogol falls madly in love with stage actress Yvonne Orlac, and his ardor disturbs her quite a bit when he discovers to his horror that she is married to concert pianist Stephen Orlac. Shortly thereafter, Stephen's hands are badly crushed in a train accident- beyond the power of standard medicine. Knowing that his hands are his life, Yvonne overcomes her fear and goes to Dr. Gogol, to beg him to help. Gogol decides to surgically graft the hands of executed murderer Rollo onto Stephen Orlac, the surgery is successful but has terrible side-effects...

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Plot Keywords:

hand | actress | pianist | obsession | surgeon | 

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Taglines:

His love was pitiful...hopeless...madness...yet "The Thing" tired of pity - and demanded love!

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Genres:

Horror | Romance | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 July 1935 (USA)

Also Known As:

Las manos de Orlac

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$257,502 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

68 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Charles Chaplin called Lorre the screen's best actor after seeing his performance in "Mad Love."

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Goofs

The wax statue of "Yvonne" is shown with arms straight down through the film, but toward the end, when there is a shot of the real Yvonne facing the wax statue, the statue has it's left arm bent, with hand on hip.

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Quotes

Doctor Gogol: [Referring to wax statue of Yvonne, being loaded into a truck] Where are you taking that figure?
Lavin - Waxworks Proprietor: To the melting pot.
Doctor Gogol: Melting pot?
Lavin - Waxworks Proprietor: There's fifty francs of wax in that thing.
Doctor Gogol: Then no doubt you'd take seventy-five for it, would you?
Lavin - Waxworks Proprietor: What's the idea?
Doctor Gogol: Did you ever hear of Galatea?
Lavin - Waxworks Proprietor: Gala - who? Not wanting a statue of him, are you?
Doctor Gogol: I don't want a statue of Galatea. You see, she was a statue herself. Pygmalion formed her. Out of marble, not wax. And then she came to life in his arms.
Lavin - Waxworks Proprietor: [...]

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the opening credits, the titles are painted on a glass window pane, which is broken when a fist punches through it.

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Connections

Version of The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)

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Soundtracks

"Etude Opus 10, no.4"
(1830) (uncredited)
Music by Frédéric Chopin

User Reviews

A Creepy Character

Peter Lorre's bald, creepy looks as "Dr. Gogol" are memorable in this film. The story is fairly interesting with a few twists, although a bit far-fetched and a little corny in spots. Then again, it is 70 years old.

The black-and-white cinematography is very good in parts. I really liked the closeups on Lorre and the shadows in the hallway. Frances Drake is a pretty woman except for those weird eyebrows, the style of the day, unfortunately.

I saw this on a fair-to-poor quality tape. I imagine this looks pretty good on DVD and I'd like to see it again now that it's out on that format.