The Hands of Orlac

A celebrated concert pianist, Paul Orlac, is badly hurt in a railway accident and loses both hands. The surgeon who treats him replaces them with hands taken from a dead man, and Orlac comes to believe that the donor was a killer. Haunted by the idea, he is drawn toward violence while struggling to keep playing, and his already strained finances and nerves worsen as he grows convinced the new hands are pushing him toward crime.

The film was made in Austria and directed by Robert Wiene, whose earlier work includes The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It followed that film and preceded Die Geliebte in his filmography. Louis Nerz wrote the screenplay, and Conrad Veidt plays the title role, with Alexandra Sorina as Yvonne Orlac, Fritz Strassny as Paul's father, Paul Askonas, Carmen Cartellieri and Hans Homma in supporting parts. It runs 98 minutes and is classed as horror, mystery and thriller.

On IMDb it holds a critics' rating of 7.8 out of 10 from 11 reviews, while on TMDB its audience rating is 6.9 out of 10 from 118 votes, a level of approval that suggests a solid rather than unanimous following.