The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)

This is a pretty cool old movie that tells the story of a crippled pianist named Francis Ingram that falls in love with the nurse that takes care of him.  When he dies under mysterious circumstances (falls down the stairs in the middle of the night) everyone is shocked by his will.  Shortly before his death Ingram had decided to change his will and leave his entire estate toe the nurse, Julie.  His family immediately challenges the will and is informed by the man’s attorney that he will help them break the will for a third of the estate.  Later that lawyer shows up strangled and all the evidence points to Ingram’s hand, which seems to have cut itself free of his body.  Is it the dead man’s hand that is responsible for the murder, or is something else more mundane and explainable going on? 

One of the reasons that I love this hobby that we call watching and reviewing movies is finding a gem that I’ve not seen before and telling other people about it.  The Beast with Five Fingers is one of those classic movies that I’ve somehow never seen before, but really should have.  The story is well written and keeps the audience guessing.  The film is very mysterious and keeps the audience guessing as to the identity of the killer.  Is it really the hand or is it one of the people staying in the house?  When the movie does finally give up it’s secret it is followed up with five of the creepiest minutes that I’ve ever seen in any movie.  I can’t say more without spoiling it.  Just trust me when I say you need to see this movie.

A well-written movie is only made better by an excellent cast.  The cast contains a couple of genre veterans that everyone will recognize. J. Carrol Naish (Dr. Renault’s Secret, Al Adamson’s Dracula vs. Frankenstein) has a great part as the police inspector that is trying to unravel the mystery.  He is unexpectedly funny in the part, which is something that I’ve never seen from any of his other film appearances.  The movie also gives a juicy part to Peter Lorre, who plays Hilary Cummins Ingram’s personal secretary.  Lorre plays the character with just the right amount of friendliness and creepiness that is required from the sometimes kind, sometimes aggressive Cummins.  Again this is one of the better supporting roles that I’ve seen Lorre in.  Top this off with a great performance from Robert Alda, whom most of you probably don’t recognize.  Other than have a famous son Alda appeared in a guilty pleasure of mine The Devil’s Hand. 

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the special effects.  While they might seem a bit dated to a modern audience what they were able to do with the hand playing the piano was pretty nifty.  It is very reminiscent of how they managed the effects in the invisible man.  While a bit dated I still got a kick out of it.  Other than the piano scene I mentioned there isn’t much in the way of special effects.  In fact some might be turned off by what is clearly a rubber hand, but after watching so many old movies I don’t think twice about such things.  The film looks great and uses music to good effect to help build the tension as the story develops. This is doubly so for the ending of this movie, which again I really liked.

This is a well-written and entertaining movie that I think should appeal to everyone.  If you are a fan of the older films then this one is definitely going to be something you will want to watch.  I don’t know about it’s availability on DVD.  But I do know that it shows up on cable quite a bit.  Either way I really recommend The Beast with Five Fingers. 

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer