Mad Love
Directed by Karl Freund
1935/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing
[box] Doctor Gogol: [despairingly] I, a poor peasant, have conquered science! Why can’t I conquer love?[/box]
Brilliant surgeon Dr. Gogol (Peter Lorre) has become obsessed with love for grand guignol actress Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drake). Her husband is great concert pianist Stephen Orlac (Colin Clive). When Steven’s hands are mangled in a train wreck, Gogol attaches the hands of an executed knife-throwing murderer. Maddened by Yvonne’s continuing rejection of him, Gogol then conceives an insane plan to get Stephen out of the way.
When this movie works, it works very well. Peter Lorre is always interesting in this and sometimes simply brilliant. The climactic scenes are unforgettable. There is also some excellent expressionist camera work by Gregg Tolland. The problem is, once again, that the film is bogged down by unnecessary comic relief by Ted Healy (ex of Ted Healy and his Stooges) as a reporter and May Beatty as the doctor’s drunken housekeeper. Despite its flaws, this is well worth seeing just for Lorre’s performance in his U.S. screen debut.
Trailer
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