
The Beast with Five Fingers
1947·Mystery·1h 28m
7.1
★







Locals in an Italian village believe evil has taken over the estate of a recently deceased pianist where murder has taken place. The alleged killer: the pianist's severed hand.
Directed by Robert Florey
murder
pianist
old house
hand
playing piano
severed hand
crawling hand

Trailer

IMDB
N/A
Where to Watch



Cast

Robert Alda
Bruce Conrad [Conrad Ryler in on-screen end credits]

Andrea King
Julie Holden

Peter Lorre
Hilary Cummins

Victor Francen
Francis Ingram

J. Carrol Naish
Police Commissario Ovidio Castanio

Charles Dingle
Raymond Arlington

John Alvin
Donald Arlington

David Hoffman
Ingram's Attorney Duprex

Barbara Brown
Mrs. Miller

Patricia Barry
Clara the Maid

William Edmunds
Ingram's Servant Antonio

Belle Mitchell
Giovanna the Cook
Crew

Robert Florey
Director

Curt Siodmak
Screenplay

Max Steiner
Original Music Composer

Travilla
Wardrobe Designer
Popular Reviews
4 reviews
christy
6.0★ · 04/04/25

Peter Lorre is absolutely incredible in this and I almost feel like I should rate this higher because of that but I did not like the other characters at all.
The police commissioner was fine, but everyone else either felt boring (Conrad, Julie) or just infuriating (Donald, Donald’s dad). Like genuinely while watching idk why Donald just made me so mad and when his character (spoilers) didn’t get killed I was annoyed because he was just an ass with no real repercussion and I was sick of hearing him speak.
Conrad and Julie were just too bland to connect with. Nothing really special from either of them just very typical b movie. I liked the little bit with Conrad at the start with the tourists but his character just kind of had nothing to him. Like they added the part with him being a composer and how the piece he wrote for Ingrid was the last he could write and etc, it makes you feel like it’ll add to the plot but that information just adds nothing and could of been cut.
Peter Lorre and the hand though? Fantastic! His descent into madness is so fun to watch and he’s just so enjoyable. I also loved seeing the old special effects with the hand. Really cool to see and I wish it used more of that. I thought the ending was fine and made for some great scenes with him but it would've been cool to see it literally just be an evil hand. Lorre’s character definitely could of had some more substance (like all the other characters imo) specifically with him being an astrologist, but he’s just such a brilliant actor or makes up for it and I’m not really left caring about that. I would watch a cut of this with just him and everyone else cut out and rate it 5 stars even though it would have no coherent plot.
The police commissioner was fine, but everyone else either felt boring (Conrad, Julie) or just infuriating (Donald, Donald’s dad). Like genuinely while watching idk why Donald just made me so mad and when his character (spoilers) didn’t get killed I was annoyed because he was just an ass with no real repercussion and I was sick of hearing him speak.
Conrad and Julie were just too bland to connect with. Nothing really special from either of them just very typical b movie. I liked the little bit with Conrad at the start with the tourists but his character just kind of had nothing to him. Like they added the part with him being a composer and how the piece he wrote for Ingrid was the last he could write and etc, it makes you feel like it’ll add to the plot but that information just adds nothing and could of been cut.
Peter Lorre and the hand though? Fantastic! His descent into madness is so fun to watch and he’s just so enjoyable. I also loved seeing the old special effects with the hand. Really cool to see and I wish it used more of that. I thought the ending was fine and made for some great scenes with him but it would've been cool to see it literally just be an evil hand. Lorre’s character definitely could of had some more substance (like all the other characters imo) specifically with him being an astrologist, but he’s just such a brilliant actor or makes up for it and I’m not really left caring about that. I would watch a cut of this with just him and everyone else cut out and rate it 5 stars even though it would have no coherent plot.
Peter Lorre is absolutely incredible in this and I almost feel like I should rate this higher because of that but I did not like the other characters at all.
The police commissioner was fine, but everyone else either felt boring (Conrad, Julie) or just infuriating (Donald, Donald’s dad). Like genuinely while watching idk why Donald just made me so mad and when his character (spoilers) didn’t get killed I was annoyed because he was just an ass with no real repercussion and I was sick of hearing him speak.
Conrad and Julie were just too bland to connect with. Nothing really special from either of them just very typical b movie. I liked the little bit with Conrad at the start with the tourists but his character just kind of had nothing to him. Like they added the part with him being a composer and how the piece he wrote for Ingrid was the last he could write and etc, it makes you feel like it’ll add to the plot but that information just adds nothing and could of been cut.
Peter Lorre and the hand though? Fantastic! His descent into madness is so fun to watch and he’s just so enjoyable. I also loved seeing the old special effects with the hand. Really cool to see and I wish it used more of that. I thought the ending was fine and made for some great scenes with him but it would've been cool to see it literally just be an evil hand. Lorre’s character definitely could of had some more substance (like all the other characters imo) specifically with him being an astrologist, but he’s just such a brilliant actor or makes up for it and I’m not really left caring about that. I would watch a cut of this with just him and everyone else cut out and rate it 5 stars even though it would have no coherent plot.
The police commissioner was fine, but everyone else either felt boring (Conrad, Julie) or just infuriating (Donald, Donald’s dad). Like genuinely while watching idk why Donald just made me so mad and when his character (spoilers) didn’t get killed I was annoyed because he was just an ass with no real repercussion and I was sick of hearing him speak.
Conrad and Julie were just too bland to connect with. Nothing really special from either of them just very typical b movie. I liked the little bit with Conrad at the start with the tourists but his character just kind of had nothing to him. Like they added the part with him being a composer and how the piece he wrote for Ingrid was the last he could write and etc, it makes you feel like it’ll add to the plot but that information just adds nothing and could of been cut.
Peter Lorre and the hand though? Fantastic! His descent into madness is so fun to watch and he’s just so enjoyable. I also loved seeing the old special effects with the hand. Really cool to see and I wish it used more of that. I thought the ending was fine and made for some great scenes with him but it would've been cool to see it literally just be an evil hand. Lorre’s character definitely could of had some more substance (like all the other characters imo) specifically with him being an astrologist, but he’s just such a brilliant actor or makes up for it and I’m not really left caring about that. I would watch a cut of this with just him and everyone else cut out and rate it 5 stars even though it would have no coherent plot.
JudeMav
5.0★ · 03/17/25

EmmaPRO
8.0★ · 02/02/25

maggie
5.0★ · 09/17/24
