Being Film #25 for Hooptober 2024

I can imagine The Hands Of Orlac must have been a potboiler at its time of release in 1920s Germany. Director Robert Wiene adapts Maurice Renard’s novel wonderfully, showing a real sense of narrative and the dramatic in his depiction of a by now well-trod story. And for me that’s the main problem with The Hands Of Orlac – I’m familiar with the beats and main narrative thrust owing to my unwavering love for Karl Freund’s Mad Love, which twists the story to a more horrific and almost Lynchian tone, while Wiene’s more direct version of the tale highlights the drama rather that the horror. Still, it’s a solid, even remarkable silent film worth your time just for the film education on display.