The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Robert Florey

Writers:

William Fryer Harvey (story)
Curt Siodmak (writer)

Release Date:

8 February 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

You've never seen the like of it!

Plot:

Locals in an Italian village believe evil has taken over the estate of a recently deceased pianist where several murders have taken place...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Severed Hand | Astrology | Book | Visual Hallucination

Cast

Robert Alda	...	Bruce Conrad
Andrea King	...	Julie Holden
Peter Lorre	...	Hilary Cummins
Victor Francen	...	Francis Ingram
J. Carrol Naish	...	Police Commissario Ovidio Castanio
Charles Dingle	...	Mr. Arlington - Ingram's elder heir
John Alvin	...	Donald Arlington - younger heir
David Hoffman	...	Duprex - Ingram's atty.
Barbara Brown	...	Mrs. Miller - Gullible tourist
Patricia Barry	...	Clara (as Patricia White)
William Edmunds	...	Antonio - Ingram's servant
Belle Mitchell	...	Giovanna
Ray Walker	...	Edward Miller - gullible tourist
Pedro de Cordoba	...	Horatio - sidewalk cafe waiter

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

UK:15 | Australia:PG | Finland:(Banned) (1947) | USA:Approved (PCA #11334, General Audience)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Luis Buñuel wrote in his autobiography ("My Last Sigh"), he was employed by Warner Bros. and submitted a story idea for a horror movie about a disembodied hand.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Ren & Stimpy Show: Black Hole/Stimpy's Invention (#1.6)" (1992)

Vintege horror at its very best

The Beast with Five Fngers has to be one of the best classic horrors ever made, along with The Haunting (1963).

A pianist is killed, possibly murdered after he falls down the stairs in his creepy mansion. After his death, strange things start happening including the piano playing on its own accord and the strange behaviour of the secretary. Then murders start to take place and these turn out to be the work of the pianist's severed hand, which haunts the mansion.

With creepy music by Max Steinor, a howling wind and windows slamming open and shut, all these things make this movie very scary.

The excellent cast includes a creepy performance by Peter Lorre (Mad Love, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), Robert Alda, Andrea King and J Carrol Naish (The Monster Maker).

This is a must for all horror fans. Excellent and scary.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5.