Mad Love (1935 film)
Mad Love | |
---|---|
Directed by | Karl Freund |
Written by | John L. Balderston Guy Endore P.J. Wolfson Florence Crewe-Jones (translation) |
Based on | Les Mains d'Orlac 1920 novel by Maurice Renard |
Produced by | John W. Considine Jr. |
Starring |
|
Cinematography | |
Edited by | Hugh Wynn |
Music by | Dimitri Z. Tiomkin |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 68 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $403,000[1] |
Mad Love (also released as The Hands of Orlac) is a 1935 American
Mad Love was Freund's final directorial assignment and Lorre's American film debut. Critics praised Lorre's acting, but the film was unsuccessful at the box office. Film critic Pauline Kael found the film unsatisfactory, but argued that it had influenced Citizen Kane. Cinematographer Gregg Toland was involved in the production of both films. Mad Love's reputation has grown over the years, and it is viewed in a more positive light by modern film critics, gaining the status of cult classic.[2]
Plot
Actress Yvonne Orlac rests after her final performance at the "Théâtre des Horreurs" (styled after the Grand Guignol) in Paris, France. As she listens to her husband Stephen Orlac play the piano on the radio, she is greeted by Dr. Gogol, who has seen every show featuring Yvonne, and unaware of her marriage, is aghast to learn that she is moving to England with her husband. Gogol leaves the theater heartbroken, buys the wax figure of Yvonne's character, refers to it as Galatea (from the Greek myth), and arranges that it be delivered to his home the following day.
Stephen Orlac is on a train journey from Fontainebleau to Paris, where he sees murderer Rollo the Knife Thrower, who is on the way to his execution by guillotine. Gogol later witnesses the execution, along with the American reporter Reagan. Orlac's train crashes later that night, and Yvonne finds her husband with mutilated hands. She takes Stephen to Gogol in an attempt to reconstruct his hands, and Gogol agrees to do so. Gogol uses Rollo's hands for the transplant, and the operation is a success.
The Orlacs are forced to sell many of their possessions to pay for the surgery, while Stephen finds he is unable to play the piano with his new hands. When a creditor comes to claim the Orlacs' piano, Stephen throws a fountain pen that barely misses his head. Stephen seeks help from his stepfather, Henry Orlac. Henry denies the request, upset that Stephen did not follow in his line of business as a jeweler. A knife thrown in anger by Stephen misses Henry, but breaks the shop front's window. Gogol meanwhile asks Yvonne for her love, but she refuses. Stephen goes to Gogol's home and demands to know about his hands, and why they throw knives. Gogol suggests that Stephen's problem comes from childhood trauma, but later confirms to his assistant Dr. Wong that Stephen's hands had been Rollo's.
Gogol then suggests to Yvonne that she get away from Stephen, as the shock has affected his mind and she may be in danger. She angrily rejects Gogol, whose obsession grows. Henry Orlac is murdered, and Stephen receives a note that promises that he will learn the truth about his hands if he goes to a specific address that night. There, a man with metallic hands and dark glasses claims to be Rollo, brought back to life by Gogol. Rollo explains that Stephen's hands were his, and that Stephen used them to murder Henry. He also claims that Gogol transplanted his (Rollo's) head back onto his body flashing a leather-and-metal neck brace as "proof!"
Stephen returns to Yvonne and explains that his hands are those of Rollo, and that he must turn himself in to the police. A panic-stricken Yvonne goes to Gogol's home, and when he comes home and sheds his disguise, finds him completely mad. Gogol assumes that his statue has come to life, embraces her, and begins to strangle her. Reagan, Stephen and the police arrive, but are only able to open the observation window. Stephen produces a knife and throws it at Gogol, then finds his way in. Gogol dies as Stephen and Yvonne embrace.
Cast
- Peter Lorre as Dr. Gogol
- Frances Drake as Yvonne Orlac
- Colin Clive as Stephen Orlac
- Ted Healy as Reagan, an American reporter
- Sara Haden as Marie, Yvonne's maid
- Edward Brophy as Rollo the Knife Thrower
- Henry Kolker as Prefect Rosset
- Keye Luke as Dr. Wong
- May Beatty as Françoise, Gogol's drunken housekeeper
- Billy Gilbert as autograph seeker on the train
- Frank Darien as Lavin (uncredited)
- Charles Trowbridge as Dr. Marbeau[3]
- Ian Wolfe as Henry Orlac (step-father) [3]
- Murray Kinnell as Charles (Theater official)[3]
- Rollo Lloyd as Endore[3]
Production
Florence Crewe-Jones provided MGM with an original translation/adaptation of Renard's story "Les Mains D'Orlac".[4] Writer Guy Endore worked with director Karl Freund on early drafts.[4] Producer John W. Considine Jr. assigned the continuity and dialogue to P.J. Wolfson,[4] and John L. Balderston began to write a "polish-up" of the draft on April 24, 1935.[5] Balderstone went over the dialogue with Lorre in mind, and at points called for the actor to deploy his "M look".[5] Balderston continued his re-write three weeks past the start of filming.[6]
Filming started on May 6, 1935
Release and reception
Mad Love was released in the United States on July 12, 1935
Critic Pauline Kael's essay "Raising Kane", originally published in The New Yorker, accused director Orson Welles of copying the visual style of Mad Love for Citizen Kane.[16][17] Kael noted that both Gogol and Kane are bald, Gogol's house and Kane's "Xanadu" are similar, and that Gogol and Kane both have a pet cockatoo.[17] She also wrote that Toland had "passed Freund's technique onto Welles".[17] Peter Bogdanovich wrote a rebuttal to Kael's statements in Esquire in 1972. Both writers had a negative opinion of Mad Love. Kael called it a "dismal static horror movie", and Bogdanovich described it as "one of the worst movies I've ever seen."[17]
Recent reviews of Mad Love have been much more positive. At the online film review database Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 100% approval rating, and a 7.5 critical average.[18]
Home media
Mad Love was released on
Mad Love was released on Blu Ray by Warner Archive Collection on October 19, 2021.[20]
Remakes
Mad Love was preceded by the 1924 Austrian
Related films include
See also
- The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) – a variant on the theme, also starring Peter Lorre.
- The Hand (1981) – remake of the 1946 film.
- Blink (1994) – a variant on Hitchcock's The Blind Man theme
- Under the Volcano, the novel published by Malcolm Lowry in 1947, includes many references to the 1935 film, under its Spanish title, "Las Manos de Orlac. Con Peter Lorre". Mad Love, is supposed to be shown at the local theatre in Quaunahuac (Cuernavaca, Mexico) when the characters, the ex-Consul Geoffrey Firmin, his former wife Yvonne and Geoffrey's brother come to be reunited. The film and the novel have many themes in common: a strong feeling of alienation, impossible and desperate love, jealousy, the guilty conscience of the creator compromised with evil.
- "Here with Me" music video, directed by Tim Burton and inspired by Mad Love
Notes
- ^ a b c d Mank, 2001. p.149
- ^ "Mad Love, 1935 – Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers".
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c Mank, 2001. p.125
- ^ a b Mank, 2001. p.129
- ^ a b c Mank, 2001. p.130
- ^ a b Mank, 2001. p.140
- ^ a b c Mank, 2001. p.147
- ^ a b c d e f Mank, 2001. p.148
- ^ Youngkin et al, 1982. p.88
- ^ Johnson, 2006. p.194
- ^ Johnson, 2006. p.119
- ^ ISBN 0192812866.)
- ^ Mank, 2001. p.135
- ^ Sennwald, 1935.
- ^ a b Mank, 2001. p.154
- ^ a b c d Mank, 2001. p.155
- ^ Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ a b Erickson, 2006.
- ^ Hays, 2021.
- ^ Stafford, TCM.com
- ^ Johnson & Miller, 2004. p.103
- ^ Barna, 1986. pp.281-82
References
- Barna, John (1986). "Mad Love (1935)". In Jack Sullivan (ed.). The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural. Viking.
- Erickson, Glenn (2006-10-06). "DVD Savant Review: Hollywood Legends of Horror Collection". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2015-10-10.
- Hays, Loron. "Mad Love: Warner Archive Collection (1935) - Blu-ray Review". Reel Reviews. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- Johnson, Tom (2006). Censored Screams: The British Ban on Hollywood Horror in the Thirties. ISBN 0-7864-2731-0.
- Johnson, Tom & Mark A. Miller (2004). The Christopher Lee Filmography: All Theatrical Releases, 1948–2003. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-4691-9.
- Mank, Gregory William (2001). Hollywood Cauldron: Thirteen Horror Films from the Genre's Golden Age. ISBN 0-7864-1112-0.
- "Mad Love". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
- Sennwald, Andre (1935-08-05). "Peter Lorre in His First American Photoplay, "Mad Love", on View at the Roxy Theatre". The Screen. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
- Stafford, Jeff. "Mad Love (1935)". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2015-10-10.
- Youngkin, Stephen D.; James Bigwood & Raymond Cabana (1982). The Films of Peter Lorre. ISBN 0-8065-0789-6.
External links
- Mad Love at AllMovie
- Mad Love at IMDb
- Mad Love at the TCM Movie Database
- Mad Love at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Mad Love at Rotten Tomatoes