The Hands of Orlac (1924)
by Robert Wiene
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Conrad VeidtDirector: Robert Wiene
Brand: Kino International
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC, Silent
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 110 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-02-19
Audience Rating: Unrated
Model: 5702
Studio: KINO INTERNATIONAL
Product features:
- HANDS OF ORLAC, THE (DVD MOVIE)
Movie Reviews of The Hands of Orlac (1924)
Movie Review: "Seduce his hands!!!"
Summary: 5 Stars
A fascinating silent by Robert Wiene, who I guess will always be linked with CABINET OF DR CALIGARI, but in many ways this is a superior effort to his more famous endeavour. Let's be brutally honest: for all of CALIGARI'S virtuoso expressionist design flourishes, it lacked a lot when it came to plot and pacing. By the same token THE HANDS OF ORLAC is plot-lite and slow moving, but Conrad Veidt brings so many fascinating movements and facial mannerisms to the title role as he emotes his repulsion towards his new self. The brilliant sleepwalking sequence where Veidt moves with such graceful menace is alone worth the price of purchase! Interestingly, film theorist Thomas Elseasser in his book WEIMAR CINEMA AND AFTER (highly recommended for Weimar film buffs) suggested that THE HANDS OF ORLAC depicts castration panic (Yikes!) - which, considering this film was made in Vienna (psychoanalysis-central), gives a highly intriguing angle!!! Although I found the ending of ORLAC disappointing and more than a little trite, this film deserves to be in the collection of any Weimar devotee.
There is also an extremely interesting featurette on the DVD in which the restorer of ORLAC, Brett Wood, freely discusses the relative merits of the Murnau Stiftung 35mm print (MS) versus the Rohauer Collection 16mm (RC). It's informative and opened my eyes to a few things with silent movies, especially learning about how two cameras were used when filming. Wood makes for an excellent narrator.
Wood explains that the restoration uses the MS print largely because it's a sharper print, whereas the RC print is high in contrast but poor in definition. However watching the scenes on the featurette made me realise that in some ways the RC camera angles, speed and editing is often superior to the MS, despite the clarity. On balance I think the MS was a good choice - except for one decision that Wood took and that is not including the double exposure effect during Regine's confession in the final restoration. Wood correctly describes this alternative take as illustrating an hypnotic influence over Regine and I think it was a real mistake not to use it. Considering that we had already had a similar visual effect earlier on "haunting" Orlac's thoughts, it would seem appropriate to give continuity of effect and expression throughout the entire film, rather than just at the start. In fact, the odd request for Regine to "seduce" Orlac's hands (Elseasser makes even more sense now!) seems thoroughly bizarre without including this effect - why would someone in their right mind obey such a peculiar instruction if they were not in fact hypnotised?! But, then again we are talking Weimar Germany...
All debate aside, I thoroughly enjoyed ORLAC, and silent films fan will too!
Summary of The Hands of Orlac (1924)
Reuniting the star and director of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, THE HANDS OF ORLAC (Orlacs Hände) is a deliciously twisted thriller that blends grand guignol thrills with the visual and performance styles of German Expressionism. Based on a novel by medical-horror novelist Maurice Renard, it charts the mental disintegration of a concert pianist (Conrad Veidt, The Man Who Laughs) whose hands are amputated after a train crash, and replaced with the hands of an executed murderer. When Orlac s father is murdered by the dead man s hands, Orlac begins a steady descent toward madness. Produced in Vienna, the hotbed of psychoanalysis, THE HANDS OF ORLAC is writhing with sexual innuendo and Freudian imagery. This Kino edition was mastered in HD from a 35mm print restored by the F.W. Murnau Foundation, supplemented with additional footage from the Raymond Rohauer Collection.Similar DVD Movies
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