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Showing posts from October 10, 2010

Mad Love (1935) - Karl Freund

This is a remake of the 1924 Austrian film The Hands of Orlac. This movie is the American film debut of acting great Peter Lorre, and unfortunately the last film directed by Karl Freund (The Golem, Metropolis, and The Mummy). Many film enthusiasts consider this movie to be Freund's Citizen Kane. This film is more fleshed out than the 1924 original, and features some spectacular performances by Peter Lorre and the beautiful Frances Drake. The film is full of suspense and mystery and delivers some really creepy parts via Lorre's character and his obsession with Ms. Drake's character Yvonne Orlac. He keeps a wax mannequin of her around so that he can comfortably confess his love or whatever. The film centers around Dr. Gogol (Lorre) who longs for the affections of Yvonne (Drake). Yvonne is married to a composer and pianist named Steven Orlac. At least he was a pianist before being injured in a train wreck where his hands were completely destroyed. Dr. Gogol, at