Mad Love (1935 film)

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Mad Love
1935 Film Poster
Directed by	Karl Freund
Produced by	John W. Considine Jr.
Starring	Peter Lorre Frances Drake Colin Clive
Music by	Dimitri Z. Tiomkin
Cinematography	Chester A. Lyons Gregg Toland
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	July 12, 1935 (U.S. release)
Running time	68 min
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Mad Love (1935) is a horror film starring Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, and Colin Clive. When the film was released, some countries banned the film while others cut out the violent scenes. The film is an adaptation of Maurice Renard’s novel Les Mains d'Orlac [The Hands of Orlac] (1920). This classic horror movie was Lorre's first American movie role, and set the tone for his playing insane murderers.

A concert pianist, Stephen Orlac (Colin Clive), loses his hands after a horrible train wreck. The hands of Rollo (Edward Brophy), an executed killer and expert knife-thrower, are sewn on. Unfortunately, now the man has murderous thoughts and the hand-skills of the man who owned them before him. Meanwhile, the brilliant surgeon, Dr. Gogol (Peter Lorre), is in love with the stage-actress Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drake), the man's wife, and will do anything to have her.

[edit] Box office and critical reaction

On its initial release Mad Love was one of the few horror films to bomb at the box-office in the 1930's, losing about $39,000. As with most movies of the genre, it received largely negative reviews, with the review in Time magazine stating, "This is the type of film that brought about censorship."

Over time the film has gained a cult following and is now regarded as a horror classic. Film critic Richard Scheib's 2000 review notes, "The role of Gogol is the one that solidified Lorre with American audiences and ensured a career in horror and noir that lasted until his death in 1964." [1]