The Hands of Suggestion

We’re here…

The idea of reconstructing the human body has intrigued the scientific community for over a century now, and we all know that it can be done with varying degrees of success. Even face transplants. No one ever thinks those body parts will cause people to do things the previous owners might have, though. 1924’s The Hands of Orlac goes there, and is considered a great though underrated example of German psychological horror.

It all opens with shots of Paul Orlac (Conrad Veidt), an immensely renowned concert pianist, who’s been on tour. He sends his wife, Yvonne (Alexandra Sorvina) steamy letters of how he longs to put his hands on her and Yvonne is in raptures because she’s missed her husband as well.

Sadly, Paul is injured in a major train wreck. Yvonne rushes to the site of the wreck and plunges in there herself looking for her husband, not caring about the obvious danger. Paul’s alive, but he has a head injury. Worse, his hands have to be amputated.

Instead of letting a premier concert pianist go handless, the surgeon, Dr. Serral (Hans Homma) grafts on the hands of a serial killer, Vasseur. Paul is understandably horrified, not only because he’s now sporting the hands of a murderer, but his first question is, “Will I still be able to play the piano?”

“Of course,” the doctor says. Paul’s skill is in his head and in his heart, not in his hands.

Heh. My piano player self saw that and thought, “You LIE.”

Playing the piano is not like riding a bike, guys. Skills degrade even if knowledge doesn’t because muscle memory and stamina degrade. It’s like a sport. I spent an hour playing Bach’s “Minuet In G” one time after having not played in a while, and my fingers were burning. It was still fun, though.

Anyway, Paul quickly realizes his career as a concert pianist is essentially over. Heck, he even has to learn how to write all over again. He and Yvonne get so desperate for money that Yvonne goes to Paul’s very rich and very reclusive father to ask for money. Dad doesn’t go for it, though.

Things get even worse when Paul’s dad is found stabbed to death with what appears to be Vasseur’s daggar, and since Paul’s new fingerprints are all over the murder weapon he’s the prime suspect.

Oh, and did I mention that someone who claims to have had Vasseur’s head grafted onto his body is trying to blackmail Paul into giving him money? If Paul doesn’t do it, Vasseur Head Dude is going straight to the authorities and accusing Paul of murdering his dad. Events get weirder before they get better, but Paul and Yvonne might have an out somewhere.

Everyone gushes over this movie, and I can see why. Directed by the prolific Robert Wiene, it looks fantastic, and I don’t know about anyone else, but I like German silents for their robust confidence. Unfortunately, Orlac wasn’t widely available until 2008 when it was released on DVD for the first time, and Wiene’s other tour-de-force. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari seems to steal its thunder.

It’s too bad, because the film is very impressive. The train wreck alone must have been complicated to shoot, and no time is wasted ever. It carries the viewer along and doesn’t let go. Yes, it does fall victim to some of the contrivances of the era; namely, when characters lose body parts it’s symbolized by a dark glove or sock, and it kinda shatters the illusion when the actor continues to use the body part their character isn’t supposed to have (Looking at you, Rotwang in Metropolis). It’s easily laughed off, though, so in Orlac‘s case it doesn’t really detract from the film as a whole.

Plus, Conrad Veidt is the man. When Paul is terrified at the prospect of being a murderer, which is the case for about half of the movie, there’s no question about it, from Veidt’s wide eyes to the occasional bulging veins in his forehead. He even passes out a few times. This guy is legit.

The story has an interesting premise as well. It’s emphasized over and over how important Paul’s hands are to him, and when a character’s raison d’être is eliminated or altered, the rest writes itself. We can’t get away from how out of his depth this character feels and his inability to regain control of his own life. There’s also a twist at the end that’s quite the blindside.

That said, the premise is a little far-fetched and stretches cred to the breaking point. A vicious serial killer just happens to meet his end at the guillotine just as a famous concert pianist needs a pair of hands? Huh. Funny timing. And how did the doctor who performed the graft gain access to that newly available pair of hands? Let’s not even talk about the fact that the murderer’s DNA just happens to be compatible with the pianist’s so that the pianist’s body doesn’t reject the new body parts. These are minor details, of course.

I also don’t know where these people get the idea that random body parts can inspire someone to act that far out of character. Sure, the hands might have been Vasseur’s but hands aren’t sentient. Well, most of them, anyway (Sorry, Thing). That Paul would even think about committing murder seems more rooted in the power of suggestion than in the hands having actual power over him.

Which is kind of the point of a psychological thriller. A character’s fears aren’t necessarily based on anything concrete, but in telling them something often enough that they start to believe it and maybe act on it. Done right, it’s an immensely effective slow-burn take on horror. The Hands of Orlac does it right.

For more early shadows and pre-Code horror, please see the Classic Movie Blog Association website. Thanks for hosting this, y’all–it was a great idea. Thanks for reading, all, and I’ll see you on Monday for another post…

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The Hands of Orlac is available on DVD from Amazon. It is also free to stream on Tubi.

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