The great Austrian talent Karl Freund was perhaps best known for his impeccable work as a cinematographer, but his work as a director cannot be discounted with films such as the original 1932 The Mummy to his name among others. His final feature film is one of his best, and is similarly suited to the Halloween season; Mad Love was released in 1935 as an adaptation of Maurice Renard’s novel The Hands of Orlac. The biggest draw for the film was Hungarian actor Peter Lorre, who had received international acclaim for his chilling role in the Fritz Lang classic M. Similar to what we covered recently with his director Lang, Lorre moved away from Germany in the early 1930s as Adolf Hitler was coming to power. Mad Love would be his first American film, and in it he would once again tap into his inherently unsettling nature as a mad scientist who becomes a bit too obsessive in his romantic affections and the dark paths to which that lead. The film was not a critical darling upon its initial release, but in modern times the film has gained an audience for that cracking horror gem that it is.
Lorre plays Dr. Gogol, a talented surgeon who spends his evenings at a peculiar horror-based theater in Paris obsessing over actress Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drake, The Invisible Ray). His dedication to her is known throughout the company as he keeps a box occupied most nights which helps keep the venue in more solid financial shape. Gogol gets a double dose of bad news when he visits Yvonne backstage one night; not only does find out that she is married, but she has just performed her final show and is moving to England with her husband, Stephen (Colin Clive, Frankenstein), a world class pianist. A heartbroken Gogol is not the best at hiding his displeasure, but he finds the slightest bit of comfort from buying the wax figure of Yvonne’s character so he can feel as if he is with her. When Stephen’s train crashes, his hands are mutilated and are seemingly beyond repair, but, desperate to impress Yvonne, Gogol works his magic to keep Stephen’s hands from being amputated altogether and leaving him without a purpose.
Yvonne is exceedingly grateful when Gogol seems to have done the impossible and rescued her husband’s hands, but what she is unaware of is that Gogol borrowed some hands from a recently-executed murderer, Rollo the Knife Thrower (Edward Brophy), and the hands have a bad case of muscle memory. The absurdity of the situation is one of the great joys of the narrative. While Gogol does not initially intend for Stephen’s hands to continue to take deadly aim with blades, it does not take long for him to connect certain dots when Stephen complains of irresistible impulses. Ever the creep, Gogol finds a way to work this situation to his advantage in an attempt to make Yvonne see him as her only option. Nevermind that she readily rejects him on multiple occasions – he wants her! Drake does a fine job of presenting Yvonne as a formidable presence even during a time where women were routinely dismissed. The remainder of the ensemble serve their roles fairly well, but there are some broad moments of comedy with Gogol’s servant that do not jive completely with the tone.
The most apparent reason to watch this feature is to see the impeccable performance from Peter Lorre. From the very first moment we see this character, there is an undercurrent of lunacy bubbling just beneath the surface, and this does not go away even when he is doing obvious good such as helping children with life-changing procedures. The more he falls in love with the idea of being with Yvonne, the more detached he becomes from reality. You do not know whether or not to be more afraid of this mad doctor or the knife throwing hands. Freund keeps things very tight with the picture running just a bit over an hour in length, and very few moments wasted along the way. The film is not as outwardly thrilling as many of the best classic horror films, but it oozes a sense of unease that sends a shiver down your spine. The film begins with an announcement basically suggesting that more squeamish audience members look elsewhere if they do not want to be scared. While this feature may not warrant such a disclaimer for modern audiences, it is a creepy addition to any self-respecting Halloween viewing schedule.
Video Quality
This shining new 1080p Blu-Ray from Warner Archive is derived from a recent 4K scan of the best preservation elements. It is truly amazing to view a film that is nearly 90 years old and have it look so immaculate. This black and white feature has nice, natural film grain throughout that provides a great amount of detail to the image. The presentation has a good amount of depth to it including in the shadows where there is no evidence of any crush. The black levels look great and hold up well throughout, and there is no evidence of any compression artifacts. The level of shadow detail present here is a wonder to behold. Considering the aged elements, this effort is something truly magical for fans of classic horror.
Audio Quality
Mad Love is presented here with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix, and it thankfully honors the original single channel presentation. Dimitri Z. Tiomkin provides a very pleasing original score that is well balanced with the dialogue and background noises throughout. Dialogue is rendered crisp and clear in a way that is greatly appreciated. There is a minimal amount of age related hiss, but for the most part the audio presentation is pretty spectacular and free of issues. There are no signs of sync issues or anything else of the sort. Warner Archive does provide optional English (SDH) subtitles.
Special Features
- Audio Commentary: Film Historian Dr. Steve Haberman delivers an incredibly detailed and engaging commentary track in which he dives deep into the history surrounding this production as well as the talent involved with it. Haberman reveals some tragic ends to some of the performers, clashes that Lorre had with director Fritz Lang on M, the changes from the original script and much more that is worth your time.
- Trailer: The two-minute trailer is provided here which features Peter Lorre talking on the phone with Frances Drake about his “new picture” after the success of M.
Final Thoughts
Mad Love is a very unsettling old Hollywood horror film that excels due to the magnificent performance from Peter Lorre. There are some comedic moments that do not completely work, but for the most part this film showcases precious little in the way of unwanted fat. Director Karl Freund made his final feature really count with this nicely crafted tale. Warner Archive has released a new Blu-Ray featuring a 5-star A/V presentation and an entertaining commentary track. Classic horror films will definitely want to check this out. Recommended
Mad Love can be purchased directly through the Warner Archive Amazon Store or various other online retailers.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Warner Archive has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
