I saw this as a teenager years ago - watched the end of the show with my daughter this week. Peter Lorre was excellent - "The hand, it was the hand" - echoes of the murderer in "They drive by night" and "the doors made me do it".
Odd scene at the end - with the italian detectice talking to the camera and doing some lame jokes.
I saw this film when I was about eight years old, and I thought it was very creepy. It was screened a few years back on tv and I taped it, and I recently watched it again while copying to DVD. I love the movie, especially the brilliant score by Max Steiner, who very cleverly uses the Bach Chaconne in D minor (the piece played by Ingram with his left hand), as a base for lots of orchestral tricks and variations on the theme. Like many films of the forties, it's a masterpiece of black-and-white photography.
shareThe ending was filmed during post-production. The original concept and director's vision got butchered by Warner executives and it spoiled the artistic balance of the production. Most of the action was supposed to be "seen" through Hilary's(Lorre's)twisted, Caligari-like mind. By the time the film went through re-visions and final editing...most of this was gone. They tacked on the "lame" ending at the last minute...hoping to save an otherwise, somewhat-of-a-jumbled mess! I still love it, though!
sharePeter Lorre was fantastic in this - the way his facial expressions could change so drastically back & forth during a scene, was fascinating to watch. It was also interesting that he could play a madman so brilliantly and yet, at times, sympathetically too. Creepy and atmospheric, this movie was a great way to spend a dark evening w/ a bowl of popcorn! I liked this way more than "Mad Love" also, w/ Peter Lorre. He did a great job in that too, but I didn't like anything else about it.
"Are you going to your grave with unlived lives in your veins?" ~ The Good Girl
Stephen King originally wanted Michael Moriarty or John Voight to play the part of Jack Torrance in The Shining, an "ordinary man" who goes slowly mad as the Hotel takes possession of him. King has gone on record saying that by casting Jack Nicholson it was clear he was nuts from the first reel.
Similarly, according to The Lost One, Lorre's biography, another actor was originally due to play the part of Hilary Cummins in The Beast With Five Fingers and in doing so the fact that it was all 'in his mind' was more of a shock revelation. Having Lorre play Cummin pretty much told the audience he was a psycho from the outset.