Such a frustrating disappointment

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

It's not true what Rainey-Dawn (United States), writes in his review: Orlac knows he has the hands of a "killer", he wakes up on the hospital bed after surgery and sees the two articles on the front page of a newspaper, about him and about the "killer". Mel Ferrer is unconvincing in the role, and the same is Lucile Saint-Simon. The only ones trying to save the film, through his acting value, is Christopher Lee, and through her personal charm, is Dany Carrel. But the movie can't be saved because the whole story is absurd and stupid. The final is a great demonstration.

This is a fairly rare film starring Christopher Lee, Mel Ferrer and Dany Carrel. Three fine actors in the movie that actually make the film worth watching. Christopher Lee is good as usual in this film... he plays a really wicked blackmailer - watch this film just for his performance if nothing else.The story is an interesting one: a pianist looses his hands in a accident and surgically gets new hands but he did no know that the hands originally belonged to a murderer.So we have good actors and a good story. What's wrong with the film is the cinematography.... it's really flat, one-dimensional - amateurish yet watchable. As others have mentioned, there is the lack of some creepy or suspenseful music - if the film had that it would have added a new layer of underlying horror if it was present in the movie.Over all, I enjoyed this film.... it's just a lack of better cinematography and eerie music that is all that is missing - otherwise a decent story and good acting.7/10

A good story and a good cast are wasted in this amateurishly written and directed misfire. It's nearly as bad as Ed Wood films like PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE.How these no-talents managed to engage so many name actors is a mystery. It was a French production, I guess, and they tried to film it in French and English, but the results are amazingly tacky and clumsy.Virtually every scene falls flat or is unintentionally funny. But it's not quite bad enough to be good, like PLAN NINE. It's just bad.What's worse? Christopher Lee's unintentionally comic "maniacal laughter"? Or the jaunty, jazzy musical score. Apparently no one told the composer he was writing music for a horror film. The grimmest scenes are accompanied by toodling flutes and cheery jazz riffs that would be more appropriate to a 1960s documentary on "Swingin' London".The best version BY FAR of this much-filmed story is 1935's MAD LOVE, directed by the great Karl Freund, with Peter Lorre.

Christopher Lee told online entertainment site 'Entertainment Asylum' that there were some movies of his that he'd never watch again. This one was undoubtedly one of them. The dialogue and plot are banal, and the background music is virtually nonexistent, meaning that the movie is full of long, pregnant pauses as actors stride into rooms to read their lines.Nevertheless, Christopher Lee plays an excellent villain. In fact, when put up against Mel Ferrer's weak portrayal of concert pianist Stephen Orlac, it's impossible to avoid rooting for the bad guy.This is a picture of British horror entertainment before Hammer came along. All I can say is, thank goodness for Hammer! Watch it for Lee's acting, Other than that, be prepared to laugh your head off.