Director: Karl Freund
Writers: Maurice Renard, Florence Crewe-Jones
Stars: Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive
Run Time: 1 Hour, 8 Minutes
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Synopsis
The shot opens on a body hanging outside, but we see it’s just a prop for the “Theater of Horrors.” Dr. Gogol is a famous doctor, and he’s attended 47 straight showings of the play Yvonne Orlac is in. Yvonne, backstage, listens to her husband, a famous pianist, on the radio, then rushes out to do her show at the horror theater. She’s the “torturee” a victim of the villains torture devices in the play.
Everyone in the theater knows Gogol; he’s almost single-handedly kept the play open by buying the box. Yvonne explains to him that she’s moving to England with her husband. Gogol didn’t even know she was married after all this time. Gogol explains that “I’ve come to depend on seeing you every night.” The theater group is throwing her a farewell party; this has been her final performance. Gogol offers to buy the wax statue of Yvonne before it is destroyed.
Yvonne’s husband Stephen is coming to town by train, and also on the train is Rollo, a convicted knife murderer, brought aboard in chains.
Mr. Reagan, an American reporter is in town to cover Rollo’s guillotine execution. Dr. Gogol is also invited to the execution. The reported and Yvonne are waiting for the train, but they hear that the train has derailed. We see Rollo being led away from the train, but Stephen needs both his hands amputated. Yvonne insists that Stephen be taken to Dr. Gogol, whom she believes can save Stephen’s hands.
The next morning, they lead Rollo to the guillotine, and that goes off easily. Gogol enjoys the show while Reagan is nearly sick. When Gogol gets back to his office, Yvonne and Stephen are waiting for his help. His assistant says that the surgery is impossible, which gets Gogol excited; now he’s motivated. He wants to transplant Rollo’s hands onto Stephen. It’s the first successful hand transplant.
Afterwards, Gogol discusses Pygmalion and Galatea with the wax figure of Yvonne. He wants to the figure to come to life, but of course, that’s not possible.
Some time later, Stephen and Yvonne are enjoying their spring in Paris. His hands are still bandaged, but not for much longer. Gogol cuts off the bandages, and the hands are going to be fine with some time and effort. They go deeply into debt for rehab and physical therapy. Stephen starts to give up on his recovery. We see that he is very good at throwing sharp objects.
Stephen goes to see his father for financial help. His father is an ass about it. Once again, his first response is to throw a knife. Meanwhile, Yvonne begs Gogol to help, and he admits his undying lust for her, but she can’t reciprocate in any way. “Even if it weren’t for Stephen, there’s something about you that frightens me,” she explains.
The maid tells Reagan about the dummy, but Reagan thinks she’s talking about Rollo’s corpse. Stephen complains about his hands to Gogol– his hands want to throw knives. He realizes later that if Stephen found out about his hands that he might consider committing murder himself. He then forcefully comes on to Yvonne, who does not respond well. He then goes into surgery and walks out on an operation on a little girl due to being so upset; his assistant has to finish the procedure.
Gogol kills Stephen’s father, and Stephen is blamed because everyone saw him throw the knife earlier in the day. Stephen gets a call from a man with metal hands; Stephen was given this man’s hands. It’s really Dr. Gogol in disguise. Later that night, Stephen is arrested for the murder. The police are confused: Stephen’s fingerprints are identical to the dead man Rollo.
Yvonne goes to see Gogol, and the drunken maid thinks it’s the waxwork come to life and ushers her upstairs to see the original. She accidentally breaks the statue as Gogol arrives home, still dressed as Rollo. Yvonne is trapped in the room with him and ends up standing very still, taking the place of the dummy. Gogol explains everything to the “wax dummy.”
Stephen, Reagan, and the Chief of Police get together, and they work out a lot of the details. Meanwhile, Gogol figures out that Yvonne is alive, and he thinks it’s magic. “You came to life for me,” he says. Gogol starts to choke Yvonne with her own hair. The police can’t get into the room, but Stephen is able to throw a knife at Gogol’s back, killing him.
Commentary
Peter Lorre playing someone obsessed and weird? Having Frances Drake play her own wax dummy was a brilliant way to get a reasonable wax dummy appearance with zero budget. She’s obviously real, even though she’s supposed to be a wax dummy. The plot is really nothing we haven’t seen many times since, but the performances are all excellent, and the cinematography is really good as well. It’s definitely worth a watch.
This first successful transplant of anything was a kidney in 1954, but they were able to do livers, hearts, and pancreases by the 1960s.