The Beast with Five Fingers
Encyclopedia
The Beast with Five Fingers (1946
) is a horror film
directed by Robert Florey
and with a screenplay by Curt Siodmak
, based on a short story by W. F. Harvey
first published in the New Decameron. The original music score was composed by Max Steiner
. The film was marketed with the tagline "A sensation of screaming suspense!"
Peter Lorre
stars in the film, his last with Warner Brothers. Siodmak had originally written the film for Paul Henreid who turned it down.
The piece much played throughout the film is Brahms' transcription for left hand of the chaconne
from Johann Sebastian Bach
's Violin Partita in D minor
, performed by Warner Bros. pianist Victor Aller
.
The hands of pianist Ervin Nyíregyházi
are shown playing the piano.
The film was remade
in 1981
by director Oliver Stone
as The Hand
.
village. Ingram suffered a stroke which left his right side immobile and he has to use a wheelchair to get around. He has retreated to the manor house for the past few years—seen by only a few close friends. These include his nurse, Julie Holden; a musicologist, Hilary Cummins; a friend, Bruce Conrad; and his sister's son, Donald Arlington. Ingram has fallen in love with Julie Holden, and has changed his will so that she receives the vast bulk of his enormous estate when he dies. But Julie is secretly in love with Conrad. The change in the will disinherits Arlington and Cummins, and Cummins tries to expose Holden's affair. Ingram, outraged at the slander on his beloved's good name, tries to choke Cummins to death. Only Julie's arrival (after meeting Conrad in the garden) saves him.
Later that night, Ingram begins to suffer hallucinations from poison put in his food and drink. He climbs into his wheelchair, makes it to the top of the stairs, and calls out for Julie (who never comes to his aid). Ingram falls down the stairs, breaking his neck. (The audience does not see if Ingram was pushed or he fell.) Commissario Ovidio Castanio of the local police investigates the death, but finds little sign of murder.
A few days later, Raymond Arlington (Raymond's maternal uncle) arrives, determined to ensure that his nephew gets the inheritance. Duprex, Ingram's attorney, tells Raymond that there are suspicions regarding Ingram's death that may lead to overturning the new will in favor of the old one. That night, Duprex is murdered by an unseen assailant. Commissario Castanio begins to investigate. The Arlingtons try to search for the old will, while suspicion falls on Cummins after he tries to remove several expensive old books from the manor house. That night, everyone hears Ingram playing the piano in the main hall, but when they go to check no one is there. Donald, too, is attacked and almost choked to death. Commissario Castanio discovers that someone has broken into the Ingram mausoleum and cut off Ingram's left hand. But it seems impossible for anyone to have gotten in or out.
The audience now begins to see a disembodied hand moving around the manor house. The hand attacks Cummins, but he is able to assuage the hand's quest for vengeance by giving the hand Ingram's signet ring. He locks the hand in a closet, but when Conrad and Holden appear to see what has happened — the hand has disappeared. Meanwhile, Donald Arlington remembers the combination and location of an old safe in the house, and Commissario Castanio and his father accompany him to the room where it is located. They discover the old will. Again, Ingram's distinctive piano playing is heard. In a fit of madness, Donald Arlington flees the house with Conrad in pursuit. He comes to his senses, and is not harmed. Cummins discovers the hand again, nails it to a board, and puts it in the safe. When Holden discovers the hand, Cummins (becoming more and more mentally unhinged) tries to burn it in the fire. But the hand crawls out and chokes him to death.
Commissario Castanio discovers that a hidden record player and concludes that Cummins was playing it to scare people. He theorizes that Cummins cut off the hand, killed Duprex, and tried to kill Arlington.
1946 in film
The year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...
) is a horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed by Robert Florey
Robert Florey
Robert Florey was a French screenwriter, director of short films, and actor who moved to Hollywood in 1921. In 1950, Florey was made a knight in the French Légion d'honneur....
and with a screenplay by Curt Siodmak
Curt Siodmak
Curt Siodmak was a novelist and screenwriter. He made a name for himself in Hollywood with horror and science fiction films, most notably The Wolf Man and Donovan's Brain...
, based on a short story by W. F. Harvey
W. F. Harvey
William Fryer Harvey was an English writer of short stories, most notably in the mystery and horror genres. Among his better-known stories are "August Heat" and "The Beast with Five Fingers"....
first published in the New Decameron. The original music score was composed by Max Steiner
Max Steiner
Max Steiner was an Austrian composer of music for theatre productions and films. He later became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Trained by the great classical music composers Brahms and Mahler, he was one of the first composers who primarily wrote music for motion pictures, and as...
. The film was marketed with the tagline "A sensation of screaming suspense!"
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre was an Austrian-American actor frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner.He caused an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial killer who preys on little girls in the German film M...
stars in the film, his last with Warner Brothers. Siodmak had originally written the film for Paul Henreid who turned it down.
The piece much played throughout the film is Brahms' transcription for left hand of the chaconne
Chaconne
A chaconne ; is a type of musical composition popular in the baroque era when it was much used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line which offered a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and...
from Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's Violin Partita in D minor
Solo Violin Partita No. 2 (Bach)
The Partita in D minor for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach was written during the period 1717–1723 and one scholar, Professor Helga Thoene, suggests this partita, and especially its last movement, was a tombeau, written in memory of Bach's first wife, Maria Barbara Bach , though this...
, performed by Warner Bros. pianist Victor Aller
Victor Aller
Victor Aller was an American pianist.He had a successful career behind the scenes in the film industry, and he taught piano in Hollywood, where his students sometimes included actors preparing to depict musicians on screen, such as Dirk Bogarde and Cornel Wilde...
.
The hands of pianist Ervin Nyíregyházi
Ervin Nyíregyházi
Ervin Nyíregyházi was a Hungarian-born American pianist.-Childhood and early career:...
are shown playing the piano.
The film was remade
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
in 1981
1981 in film
-Events:*January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. UA was humiliated by the astronomical losses on the $40,000,000 movie Heaven's Gate, a major factor in the decision of owner Transamerica to sell it....
by director Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
as The Hand
The Hand (film)
The Hand is a 1981 psychological horror film written and directed by Oliver Stone, based on the novel The Lizard's Tail by Marc Brandell and a remake of the 1946 film The Beast with Five Fingers. The film stars Michael Caine and Andrea Marcovicci. Caine plays Jon Lansdale, a comic book artist who...
.
Plot summary
Francis Ingram is a noted pianist who lives in a large manor house near a small, isolated ItalianItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
village. Ingram suffered a stroke which left his right side immobile and he has to use a wheelchair to get around. He has retreated to the manor house for the past few years—seen by only a few close friends. These include his nurse, Julie Holden; a musicologist, Hilary Cummins; a friend, Bruce Conrad; and his sister's son, Donald Arlington. Ingram has fallen in love with Julie Holden, and has changed his will so that she receives the vast bulk of his enormous estate when he dies. But Julie is secretly in love with Conrad. The change in the will disinherits Arlington and Cummins, and Cummins tries to expose Holden's affair. Ingram, outraged at the slander on his beloved's good name, tries to choke Cummins to death. Only Julie's arrival (after meeting Conrad in the garden) saves him.
Later that night, Ingram begins to suffer hallucinations from poison put in his food and drink. He climbs into his wheelchair, makes it to the top of the stairs, and calls out for Julie (who never comes to his aid). Ingram falls down the stairs, breaking his neck. (The audience does not see if Ingram was pushed or he fell.) Commissario Ovidio Castanio of the local police investigates the death, but finds little sign of murder.
A few days later, Raymond Arlington (Raymond's maternal uncle) arrives, determined to ensure that his nephew gets the inheritance. Duprex, Ingram's attorney, tells Raymond that there are suspicions regarding Ingram's death that may lead to overturning the new will in favor of the old one. That night, Duprex is murdered by an unseen assailant. Commissario Castanio begins to investigate. The Arlingtons try to search for the old will, while suspicion falls on Cummins after he tries to remove several expensive old books from the manor house. That night, everyone hears Ingram playing the piano in the main hall, but when they go to check no one is there. Donald, too, is attacked and almost choked to death. Commissario Castanio discovers that someone has broken into the Ingram mausoleum and cut off Ingram's left hand. But it seems impossible for anyone to have gotten in or out.
The audience now begins to see a disembodied hand moving around the manor house. The hand attacks Cummins, but he is able to assuage the hand's quest for vengeance by giving the hand Ingram's signet ring. He locks the hand in a closet, but when Conrad and Holden appear to see what has happened — the hand has disappeared. Meanwhile, Donald Arlington remembers the combination and location of an old safe in the house, and Commissario Castanio and his father accompany him to the room where it is located. They discover the old will. Again, Ingram's distinctive piano playing is heard. In a fit of madness, Donald Arlington flees the house with Conrad in pursuit. He comes to his senses, and is not harmed. Cummins discovers the hand again, nails it to a board, and puts it in the safe. When Holden discovers the hand, Cummins (becoming more and more mentally unhinged) tries to burn it in the fire. But the hand crawls out and chokes him to death.
Commissario Castanio discovers that a hidden record player and concludes that Cummins was playing it to scare people. He theorizes that Cummins cut off the hand, killed Duprex, and tried to kill Arlington.
Cast
- Robert AldaRobert AldaRobert Alda was an American actor. He was the father of actors Alan Alda and Antony Alda.-Life and career:...
- Bruce Conrad - Andrea KingAndrea KingAndrea King was an American film and stage actress. She was sometimes billed as Georgette McKee.-Early life:Andrea King was born Georgette André Barry in Paris, France...
- Julie Holden - Peter LorrePeter LorrePeter Lorre was an Austrian-American actor frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner.He caused an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial killer who preys on little girls in the German film M...
- Hilary Cummins - Victor FrancenVictor FrancenVictor Francen , born Victor Franssens, was a Belgian-born actor with a long career in French cinema and in Hollywood....
- Francis Ingram - J. Carrol NaishJ. Carrol NaishJoseph Patrick Carrol Naish was an American character actor born in New York City. Naish was twice nominated for an Academy Award for film roles, and he later found fame in the title role of CBS Radio's Life With Luigi , which was also on CBS Television .Naish appeared on stage for several years...
- Commissario Ovidio Castanio - Charles DingleCharles DingleCharles Dingle was an American stage and film actor.He was best-known for his role as Ben Hubbard in The Little Foxes and for his role as a senator in the film version of Call Me Madam...
- Raymond Arlington - John AlvinJohn Alvin (actor)----John Alvin was an American film, stage and television actor. He appeared in over 25 films for Warner Brothers and numerous television and theater roles throughout his career, which spanned from the 1940s to the 1990s....
- Donald Arlington - David HoffmanDavid HoffmanDavid Hoffman is one of America’s veteran documentary filmmakers. During his 40-year career, Hoffman has made five feature-length documentaries including King, Murray, an experimental feature film about a Long Island salesman who goes to Las Vegas on a junket to gamble with other high rollers....
- Duprex
See also
- The Hands of Orlac (1924) - an Austrian silent film adaptation of the novel by Maurice Renard
- Mad LoveMad Love (1935 film)Mad Love is a 1935 American horror film adaptation of Maurice Renard's story The Hands of Orlac. Directed by German-émigré film maker Karl Freund, the film stars Peter Lorre as Dr. Gogol, Frances Drake as Yvonne Orlac and Colin Clive as Stephen Orlac. The plot revolves around Doctor Gogol's...
(1935) – American sound remake of The Hands of Orlac - The HandThe Hand (film)The Hand is a 1981 psychological horror film written and directed by Oliver Stone, based on the novel The Lizard's Tail by Marc Brandell and a remake of the 1946 film The Beast with Five Fingers. The film stars Michael Caine and Andrea Marcovicci. Caine plays Jon Lansdale, a comic book artist who...
(1981) - remake of The Beast with Five Fingers directed by Oliver Stone
External links
- Read the story at http://thenostalgialeague.com/olmag/beast.html