He’s A Perfectly Normal Boy! Hooptober XI
25/32
Country: Austria
A Robert Wiene Film 1/1

Orlac’s Hande is a great silent work, that is haunting thanks to the lead performance and dynamic in the lighting and direction. It’s a slow burn, for sure, but you get the existential dread mounting as Orlac wrestles with his fear and his wife tries to stave off the creditors. Seriously bad dad in this story, but he got his. 

It’s pretty fascinating that the censor board moved to stop the film fearing that people would use the killer’s trick in real life. Also, this story would launch Peter Lorre’s American career just a few years later. The movie is a real piece of history, even if it’s not as popular as Wein’s other film.