MGM, 1935
starring: Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive
directed by: Karl Freund

the plot: When pianist Stephen Orlac (Clive) has his hands cut off in a train accident, his actress wife (Drake), a star of the “Theatre des Horreurs,” brings him to Dr. Gogol (Lorre), a brilliant surgeon with a penchant for attending guillotine decapitations. Unfortunately, Gogol is madly in love with Yvonne (even obsessively buying a wax figure of her for his home), and will go to any lengths to have her. He grafts the hands of a knife-throwing murderer onto Stephen’s arms, and the former pianist discovers abilities he never before possessed.

why it’s good: Based on the book, “The Hands of Orlac” by Maurice Renard, this movie marked the last directorial job for Karl Freund (“The Mummy,” 1932) and the first American film appearance by Peter Lorre. Lorre is, without doubt, one of the most under-appreciated and misused talents to ever land in Hollywood. The Hungarian-born, German-speaking actor caused a sensation in 1931 when he turned in a brilliant and disquieting performance as the serial child murderer in Fritz Lang’s “M.” After that came two magnificent turns for Alfred Hitchcock in English films, but then the American machine beckoned. Once in L.A., Lorre quickly found himself typecast as a pop-eyed and sinister character actor. Although he was cast in top-notch thrillers such as “The Maltese Falcon” (1941) and “Casablanca” (1942)—and gave first-rate comic performances in “I’ll Give a Million” (1938) and “Arsenic and Old Lace” (1944), he was largely relegated to B-picture potboilers and the execrable “Mr. Moto” series, in which he played a coke-bottle-bespectacled, buck-toothed Japanese detective. Add severe morphine, marital and weight problems to the mix, and this gifted, ingenious actor never achieved the prominence he deserved. Like the films of Marlon Brando and Peter Sellers, even poor fare with Peter Lorre is worth watching.

why you should own it: “Mad Love” (the alternate title, “The Hands of Orlac,” plays a thematic role in Malcolm Lowry’s landmark 1947 novel, “Under the Volcano”) didn’t generate much box-office interest upon its initial release, but became the center of controversy more than 30 years later, when The New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael published her notorious essay, “Raising Kane.” In it she makes the intriguing argument that much of Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” (1941) owes its lighting and visual style (as well as other elements) to “Mad Love” (Gregg Toland was cinematographer for both films). Freund was the top-shelf cinematographer for “Metropolis” (1927) and the gorgeous if insipid “Dracula” (1931). (Freund was later dragooned by fan Desi Arnaz to work on “I Love Lucy” for its entire run.) The Warner Home Video DVD is a three-disc compilation, grouping this romantic and quietly perverse film with five largely mediocre titles. Bonus material includes commentary by historian Steve Haberman and the movie’s theatrical trailer.