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This silent movie horror from 1924 inspired several remakes and stars the great Conrad Veidt in the title role of Paul Orlac, a revered concert pianist who – after losing both hands in a train crash – find himself with a newly transplanted pair of hands, namely those of a recently executed murderer…
THE HANDS OF ORLAC (ORLAC’S HÄNDE) once again features the combined talents of director Robert Wiene and its star Conny Veidt four years after their collaboration on the ground-breaking German expressionist horror THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. Based on the novel Les Mains d’Orlac by French writer Maurice Renard the plot concerns concert pianist Paul Orlac (C. Veidt) looking forward to being united with his beloved wife Yvonne (Alexandra Sorina) after an exhausting tour. Alas, fate has something altogether different in store! On the journey home the train is derailed and although Orlac’s life can be saved, his hands – his most important ‘tool’ – cannot. After desperate pleas by his devastated wife, the rather dubious Dr. Serra (Hans Homma) agrees to a transplant although he deliberately conceals the horrific truth, namely that Paul Orlac’s ‘new’ hands belonged to a recently executed murderer named Vasseur…