Mad Love (1935)

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Movie
Original title Mad Love
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1935
length 68 minutes
Rod
Director Karl friend
script Florence Crewe-Jones
production John W. Considine Jr.
music Dimitri Tiomkin
camera Chester A. Lyons ,
Gregg Toland
occupation

Mad Love (alternative title: Wahnsinnige Liebe ) is an American horror film from 1935 with Peter Lorre in the lead role. The film is based on the novel Les Mains d'Orlac (1920) by Maurice Renard , which served as a template for the Austrian silent film Orlac’s hands as early as 1924 .

action

The concert pianist Stephen Orlac loses his hands in a terrible train accident . Then the hands of a murderer and knife throwing expert are sewn on to him. From then on he has the murderous thoughts and abilities of the man who previously had his hands. In the meantime, however, the brilliant surgeon Dr. Gogol in Orlac's wife Yvonne and leaves no stone unturned to get her.

background

Mad Love was Peter Lorre's Hollywood debut. The film premiered in the United States on July 12, 1935.

In 2006, Warner Bros. brought Mad Love along with The Mark of the Vampire (1935), The Mask of Fu-Manchu (1932), Doctor X (1932), The Second Life of Dr. X (1939) and The Devil Doll (1936) on DVD under the title Hollywood Legends of Horror Collection .

Perception and meaning

In the 1930s, Mad Love was one of the few films that grossed $ 39,000 when it was first shown . The film received mostly poor reviews from the critics. One newspaper said that such films were the reason why there was censorship ("This is the type of film that brought about censorship.") The film was banned in some countries and published in others cut around the violent scenes.

Over time, the film became a cult and horror classic . Film critic Richard Scheib wrote in his retrospective 2000 that the role of Gogol made Lorre a permanent fixture for the American audience and helped him to a career in horror and film noir that lasted until his death in 1964 (“The role of Gogol is the one that solidified Lorre with American audiences and ensured a career in horror and noir that lasted until his death in 1964. ").

Reviews

The industry journal Variety called the camera work of the film by director Karl Freund, himself a former, celebrated cameraman, well above average and the equipment extremely effective. Lorre's successful performance does its part ("Settings are strikingly effective and the camerawork far above average, director Karl Freund being a former cameraman and one of the best. Lorre's fine performance does the rest"). The film offers ideal material to bring out Peter Lorre's first appearance in a Hollywood production, but the result is still disappointing ("ideal starring material for Peter Lorre, making his first appearance in a Hollywood-milled product. [...], however, the results are disappointing ”), was the verdict at the time.

Andre Sennwald of the New York Times in 1935 was full of praise for Peter Lorre's expressive play: With any of the usual actors in the role of the mentally deranged surgeon, the film drama would often be on the verge of parody, but Lorre would leave with the gift of an extraordinary physical one To enrich appearance with his precise perception of the mechanisms of madness, to look deep into the abyss of a sick mind. ("With any of our conventional maniacs in the role of the deranged surgeon, the photoplay would frequently be dancing on the edge of burlesque. But Mr. Lorre, with his gift for supplementing a remarkable physical appearance with his acute perception of the mechanics of insanity, cuts deeply into the darkness of the morbid brain "). Andre Sennwald writes that he always leaves the audience in the firm belief of his madness as proof of his talent ("It is an affirmation of his talent that he always holds his audience to a strict and terrible belief in his madness"). Mad Love is an entertaining exploration of the macabre ("an entertaining essay in the macabre"), and especially outstanding when Peter Lorre reads the dark, confused shallows of Dr. Gogol's state of mind may sound out ("frequently excellent when Mr. Lorre is being: permitted to illuminate the dark and twisted recesses of Dr. Gogol's brain").

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See film review of Mad Love on moriareviews.com
  2. ↑ See Mad Love . In: Variety , 1935.
  3. ^ A b Andre Sennwald : Peter Lorre in His First American Photoplay, “Mad Love,” on View at the Roxy Theater . In: The New York Times , August 5, 1935.