Mad Love

Mad Love (1935)

Runtime: 68 minutes

Directed by: Karl Freund

Starring: Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive, Ted Healy, Sara Halden

From: MGM

This is something I watched on TCM late last night. I chose it on a whim and it turned out to be a fine decision indeed. Read all about it below via my Letterboxd review: 

This was a movie that played late last night on Turner Classic Movies and I only decided to watch it shortly before it started once I noticed it was on the schedule. The movie was only 68 minutes long, starred a bald Peter Lorre, was a version of The Hands of Orlac, I saw some positive reviews, and it just seemed like the right film to see. Turns out, it was. If you know the Orlac story, this will be familiar: a pianist has his hands badly injured in an accident and a surgeon who has the hots for the pianist's wife Yvonne grafts the hands of a serial killer onto him, and he changes.

Ted Healy (yes, the leader of the act that would later become The Three Stooges after they dumped him) provides some comic relief, not all of it funny. The setting is France but this is not always convincing with all the Americans and American accents around... yet this wacky film which has everything from knife throwing and a serial killer who has an interest in Hoover Dam to a cleaning lady with a pet cockatoo, and Lorre's Dr. Gogol getting his jollies from looking at a wax figure of Yvonne-you see, she performs in a Grand Guignol-style production-is pretty entertaining nonetheless.

There are some truly ghoulish moments and the real highlight was Lorre in his American film debut. His character goes through a wide range of emotions and was gleefully over the top by the time the movie wraps up. The cast as a whole is fine but Lorre is the most memorable for sure. This is definitely silly and I understand how in the past there have been people as well-known as Peter Bogdanovich who hated it; I say that it is Old Peter who helped elevate the material. In addition, it is nicely filmed by German director Karl Freund and out of all movies, some parallels have been made between this and Citizen Kane, and beyond sharing Gregg Toland as a cinematographer; imagine Welles watching this and loving it.

This may not be as famous as the most famous 30's horror films out there, but if you love such things then this should definitely be tracked down for your viewing.