Hands of a Stranger
Directed by Newt Arnold
Written by Newt Arnold
USA/1962
Glenwood-Neve Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] “Behold the hands, how they promise, conjure, appeal, menace, pray, supplicate, refuse, beckon, interrogate, admire, confess, cringe, instruct, command, mock and what not besides, with a variation and multiplication of variation which makes the tongue envious.” ― Michel de Montaigne[/box]
If you are in the mood for a hand transplant movie, do yourself a favor and watch Mad Love (1935).
Vernon Paris is a genius concert pianist. He is about to see all his dreams come true. Then the cab he is riding in crashes and he finds himself with completely mangled hands. His manager begs a surgeon to save his hands and the only answer is a hand transplant from a recently dead corpse.
Vernon is appalled rather than grateful to wake up with new mitts. Instead of giving his new hands a chance to rehabilitate and practice, he goes about murdering everybody connected with his tragedy or his surgery.
Contrary to anything you may read on the poster, we never do find out whom the hands belonged to. Thus we are never sure whether the hands or the pianist’s bitterness is responsible for his murderous tendencies. This is moderately OK for a B-movie but nothing special.
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