SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Spikeopath The Beast with Five Fingers is directed by Robert Florey and jointly written by Curt Siodmak and William Fryer Harvey. It stars Robert Alda, Andrea King, Peter Lorre, Victor Francen, J. Carrol Naish, Charles Dingle, John Alvin and David Haffman. Music is by Max Steiner and cinematography by Wesley Anderson. Francis Ingram (Francen) is a well regarded pianist who after suffering a stroke leaves him paralysed on one side, chooses to live at an isolated manor in rural Italy. After he calls family and carers together for the reading of his will, tragedy strikes and something sinister begins to stalk the manor house... Wonderfully weird, a blend of guignol, noir, expressionism and cheese, The Beast with Five Fingers delivers rich rewards for those not expecting a horror masterpiece. Following the classic "old dark house" formula, plot basically sees the characters introduced, their means and motives deliberately grey, tragedy strikes and then the titular beast of the title comes into play. Cue characters getting bumped off, some shouting, some eerie scenes and then the mystery solved. All of which is set to the backdrop of a typical mansion of many rooms and doors, an imposing staircase and of course a grand piano. Florey stitches it together neatly, Anderson provides some striking photography that embraces shadows and deals in odd angles, while Lorre does yet another film stealing performance involving twitchy weasel like mania. A stupid tacked on coda soils things a touch, and you really have to have a bent for this type of creaky chiller, but it is great fun and it "pointed" the way for other "beastly hand" tales that followed down the line. 7/10

JohnHowardReid Apart from its title, its setting in the library and two or three incidents (the servants quitting, the hand being locked in the safe), the movie, "The Beast With Five Fingers" bears very little relationship to the Harvey story. If anything, the screenplay tells a more spine-chilling tale, and tells it more effectively. In fact, Peter Lorre contributes one of his most dramatically macabre portraits. He receives great support from Victor Francen's chilling study of an eccentric pianist. Some memorable bits from Pedro De Cordoba's surly innkeeper and David Hoffman's slimy lawyer also add to the atmosphere. On the other hand, after his promising opening scene, Robert Alda slips into the hackneyed emotions of a conventional hero. As for Andrea King, whilst she certainly makes an attractive heroine, her acting is not altogether convincing. And then there's J. Carroll Naish who seemingly can't make up his mind whether to play his role for chills or misplaced humor!Fortunately, while he has obviously concentrated less on his players, director Florey has brought the film in with a fair amount of visual style. In fact, in at least two or three instances, Florey's direction is so compellingly inventive, it's impossible to take your eyes from the screen. McGann's masterly special effects are also compellingly realistic, while ever-reliable Max Steiner has contributed a music score as moodily atmospheric as his "Most Dangerous Game" or "King Kong".

dougdoepke The real stars of the film are the art director (Fleischer) and the set director (Tilford). That cavernous house is one spooky nightmare with its swooping staircase and elaborate décor. Gloom hangs over the mansion like a big suffocating blanket. I'm thinking the lighting bill couldn't have been more then a dollar-fifty. No wonder Hilary (Lorre) goes mad, imagining all sorts of strange things as he caresses his sinister old books.To my mind, the movie's biggest horror is when Hilary threatens to knife the beauteous Julie (King). Was there ever a Hollywood actress with more aristocratic cheekbones than Andrea King. I suspect she was a little too icy-looking for real stardom. Nonetheless, catch her strong presence in Ride the Pink Horse (1947).It's a florid production, heavy on atmosphere along with Hilary's growing madness, but especially on the thunderous Max Steiner score that was apparently recorded at the bottom of a deep well. The creeping hand effect is well done, along with the striking long shot of it pounding the ivories like a concert from heck.But why give the whole gimmick a real world solution when the supernatural alternative is so much more fun. And what genius was responsible for the wink-and-nod last frame, with the Commisario (Naish) showing us it's really only a movie. Did some studio producer think we really needed convincing. Too bad since breaking character harms the carefully crafted atmosphere. My advice is to enjoy the good part before switching off the last ten minutes.

sol **SPOILERS** After having a stoke which had him lose the use of his right hand world famous pianist Francis Ingram, Victor Frances, became the left handed wounder of the music world. Ingram was now able to master and even improve the very difficult Bach Chaconne in D minor with one hand tackling the ivories. Ingram after months and months of tireless practice was single handedly able to accomplish this amazing feat better the most concert pianists could do with both their hands.It's when Ingram got on the outs with his creepy secretary Hillary Commins, Peter Lorre, that strange things began to happen at the Ingram Mansion. One of those things was Ingrm falling or being pushed down a flight of stairs and ending up dead with a broken neck! It's when Ingram's last will and testament was read that friction developed between Hilary and Ingram's only living relatives Mr. Arlington, Charles Dingle, and his son Donald, John Alvin. Not that Hilary and the Arlington's were disputing what the late Ingram left to them but the fact that he left all his worldly possessions to his nurse Julie Holden, Andrea King!It wasn't much later that the lawyer in the Ingram estate proceedings Durex, David Hoffman, was found strangled with the murderer's fingerprints belonging to the dead Francis Igram's left hand!Was it Ingram's hand that somehow detached itself from his body that did Durex in or was somebody using Inram's had to do his dirty work in murdering the now deceased lawyer! That job, finding Durex's killer, was left up to both Julie's boyfriend American con artist Bruce Conrad, Robert Alda, and local village police commissioner Ovidio Castiio,J Carrol Naish.***SPOILERS*** It soon becomes apparent to everyone watching that "The Hand" is the real McCoy in seeing it crawl all over the mansion and even play the piano, playing Bach's concerto, in its spear time. The secret to "The Hand's" strange powers is known only to the creepy Hilary who in his study of the black arts has found, or thinks he has, the secrets of both life death and the workings of the vast and mysterious universe in the books left to him in Ingram's secret occult library! As"The Hand" gets more and more daring in coming out into the open Young Donlad Arlington sufferers a complete emotional breakdown. The last we see of a terrified Donald, when he's confronted by "The Hand", is him running out of the Ingram Mansion stark raving mad and screaming hysterically at the top of his lungs! In the end it's Bruce Conrad as well as Police Commissioner Castanio who cracks the secret of "The Hand" and what exactly it had to do with the case of Duprex's murder and Donald's insanity. Something that the by now completely out of his skull Hilary, who was manipulating "The Hand" since his boss Imngram's death, was soon to find out the hard way. By him trying to put "The Hand" out of commission before, with "The Hand" now turning on Hilary, it did a job on him!