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The Beast with Five Fingers Overview:

The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) was a Horror - Film directed by Robert Florey and produced by Jack L. Warner and William Jacobs.

SYNOPSIS

A partially paralyzed concert pianist continues to play with his left hand. But his sudden violent death unleashes a profound terror - his disembodied hand returns to commit a series of murders and traumatize Lorre, his secretary. No matter what Lorre tries to do to the hand (crush it, burn it, bury it), it continues to haunt the villagers. Creative camera work, as well as the interaction between Lorre and the hand, make this necessary viewing for horror historians.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

The Beast with Five Fingers BlogHub Articles:

Classic Films in Focus: THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS (1946)

By Jennifer Garlen on Jun 21, 2015 From Virtual Virago

The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) is a surprisingly effective chiller from director Robert Florey and screenwriter Curt Siodmak, who also penned horror classics like The Wolf Man (1941) and I Walked with a Zombie (1943). For genre fans, the chief draw of the picture is Peter Lorre as an obsessed as... Read full article

Classic Films in Focus: THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS (1946)

By Jennifer Garlen on Jun 21, 2015 From Virtual Virago

The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) is a surprisingly effective chiller from director Robert Florey and screenwriter Curt Siodmak, who also penned horror classics like The Wolf Man (1941) and I Walked with a Zombie (1943). For genre fans, the chief draw of the picture is Peter Lorre as an obsessed as... Read full article

Classic Films in Focus: THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS (1946)

By Jennifer Garlen on Jun 21, 2015 From Virtual Virago

The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) is a surprisingly effective chiller from director Robert Florey and screenwriter Curt Siodmak, who also penned horror classics like The Wolf Man (1941) and I Walked with a Zombie (1943). For genre fans, the chief draw of the picture is Peter Lorre as an obsessed as... Read full article

The Beast With Five Fingers (1946) (2)

on Oct 24, 2013 From Journeys in Classic Film

The Beast With Five Fingers has a premise which refuses to die in popular culture.  If you’ve watched the Addams Family, or the television show, Goosebumps, than you are well-versed in the horrors of disembodied hands.  This 1940s B-movie fails to engage the readers with the plot, but when t... Read full article

The Beast With Five Fingers (1946) (1)

By Brandy Dean on Oct 11, 2013 From Pretty Clever Films

In The Beast with Five Fingers, locals in an Italian village become alarmed when a one-handed pianist (Victor Fancen) dies under mysterious circumstances. Suspicions flare when the reading of his recent last will and testament reveal he’s left his estate to his nurse Julie (Andrea King), and p... Read full article

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The Beast with Five Fingers Quotes:

No Quote for this film.
The Beast with Five Fingers Facts
According to Curt Siodmak in 'Screenwriter: Words Become Pictures' he originally wrote the story for Warner Brothers leading man 'Paul Henried'. The actor declined saying, "I'm not wild to play against a dead hand." The writer believed that it would have been more effective with a good-looking man like Henried instead of Lorre, whom the audience would automatically think was crazy.
This was Peter Lorre's last film for Warner Bros.
Though called "Bruce Conrad" in the script, Robert Alda is billed as "Conrad Ryler"; Charles Dingle is billed as "Raymond Arlington"; Ray Walker is billed as "Mr. Miller".
Luis Buñuel wrote in his autobiography ("My Last Sigh"), he was employed by Warner Bros. and submitted a story idea for a horror movie about a disembodied hand.
The piece of piano music played by Francis Ingram (Victor Francen) and later, his disembodied left hand, is the Bach Chaconne in D minor, as arranged to be played by the left hand alone by Johannes Brahms. It was selected by Max Steiner because the story required a piece of music that could be performed by a pianist with only his left hand, and Steiner, who was born in Vienna and whose family were friendly with Brahms, rather than composing his own original piece, immediately recognized its potential in underscoring such a grim tale. Legendary Hungarian-American pianist Ervin Nyíregyházi performed the music played by the severed hand.
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