Orlof (f)

 

THE AWFUL DR. ORLOF-1962-Jess Franco's famous horror opus about Dr. Orlof (Howard Vernon), a mad doctor in 1912 Paris trying to cure his daughter Melissa's (Diana Lorys) disfigurement. He is assisted by abused blind servant Morpho (Ricardo Valle)) who goes out at night and kidnaps females to fuel his boss's skin transplants. He likes to bite victims on the neck before taking them. Only Orlof's female servant Arne (Perla Christal) shows the guy any sympathy. After some experiments fail, Orlof notices a woman Wanda (also Lorys) who looks very much like his comatose daughter. She's the fiancé of Tanner (Conrado San Martin), the inspector who's investigating the disappearances! 

After Orlof kills Arne accidentally, he kidnaps Wanda (she'd been posing as a hooker) and takes her to his castle. But things go awry for the doc when Morpho discovers Arne's dead body. He kills Orlof and takes the unconscious Wanda for a stroll on top of the castle. Tanner and a drunk (and former suspect) save her. Morpho is killed and somehow Wanda who was up on the castle is suddenly on the ground embracing her husband to be. 

When WPIX in NYC showed this on TV in the early '70's, it was a kind of incoherent mess but since it's been restored, it's a nice mix of dark horror, medical experiments and Morpho! Orlof would return (usually played by Vernon) in several “sequels” by Franco.

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Conrad Veidt

HANDS OF ORLAC-1924-Giving his farewell performance renown pianist Paul Orlac (Conrad Veidt) is in a railroad crash that crushes his hands. A doctor seems to heel him and says Orlac will need a "strong will" to play again. Instead of playing Orlac sees a grinning face and dreams a giant fist is attacking him! He then learns the truth: the doctor couldn't save his hands and instead gave Orlac the hands of an executed murderer! He can't get over this and decides never to touch anyone again. This kind of gets in the way of being with his loving wife. After his greedy father in law is killed Orlac meets the supposedly dead murderer who claims the doctor's assistant cut off his head and attached it to a new body with metal hands! It's all a plot by the assistant to get money out of Orlac.

HANDS OF ORLAC is another excursion into German expressionism by director Robert Weine and star Veidt who earlier had the same roles on THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. It's more psychological than horror and Veidt's performance is very off the top even for a silent film. Even though it might seem drawn out to some viewers it's still a classic! It was remade  in 1935 as MAD LOVE.

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