The Beast with Five Fingers (1946), dir. Robert Florey, Warner Bros. Pictures
So we end our lookback with Peter Lorre's last film for Warner Bros. and arguably the last A picture of the 1940s.
San Stefano is a quiet village nestled deep within the Italian countryside. In the village proper lives Bruce Conrad (Robert Alda), who makes his living mostly bumming off his friends and scamming unsuspecting tourists with phony antiques. The local police commissioner Casanio (J. Carol Naish) occasionally lectures on this but frankly can't be bothered to do much more than that. Why raise a fuss?
On the hill overlooking the village is the villa of Francis Ingram (Victor Francen), who until recently was a concert pianist until a stroke paralyzed his right side. Ingram lives only with his nurse Julie (Andrea King) and his personal secretary Hillary Cummins (Lorre). There's also his lawyer Duprex (David Hoffman), who has recently drawn up a will for Ingram.
The infirmed man makes it clear he is of sound mind before he signs the document. Conrad is a fixture at the house, as he was able to build a piano that lets Ingram play a little bit. Julia may have been fond of the older man at one point but that was a while ago. His jealously and obsessiveness has convinced her to put in for an exit visa. As for Hillary, the little man doesn't really care about his employer. No, what has his loyalty is Ingram's library which is rather impressive. Hillary is rather upset about Julie's leaving, but this is mostly because with her around the old man ignores him and this allows him to focus on his occult study.
When the old man dies, Hillary is indifferent, at least until the old man's American relatives arrive. Raymond Arlington (Charles Dingle) and his son Donald (John Alvin) are the very personification of Ugly Americans, who don't even wait until Ingram is buried before they start planning on selling off the estate. Their attitude is so annoying Julie does a 180 on her exit visa, especially when Ingram's will is read and she stands to inherit the whole shebang.
That's when the murders start. It appears that the killer is left-handed. When Ingram's tomb is opened, it seems his left hand was severed but the only way out of the tomb is a small window, much too small for a human to use, but what if the hand came to life and crawled out on its own?
More a mystery than horror, the film is neat and tight until the last ten minutes then it just gets stupid. Lorre does his film perfectly and his scenes with the hand are probably the best acting he did in the 1940s. He really sells the idea that he's being attacked by a severed appendage.
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