Live Score by Günter Buchwald & Frank Bockius
Germany 1924, 92 mins + short, Dir.: Robert Weine, Cast: Conrad Veidt, Alexandra Sorina, Fritz Strassny
A gruesome psychological horror about a talented concert pianist (Conrad Veidt, ‘Casablanca’), whose precious hands are amputated after a calamitous accident. Replacements are grafted on but soon after his operation Orlac learns the horrible truth – his new hands were from the cadaver of a recently executed killer. Plagued by nightmarish visions, Orlac fears his hands are possessed by evil and that he has become a murderer himself.
Made five years after his landmark ‘Cabinet of Dr Caligari’ director Robert Weine strikes a more sombre and restrained look for this creepy drama but wrings every terrible shudder out of the theme of an alien body with a mind of its own.
We are delighted to welcome acclaimed musicians Günter Buchwald (piano & violin) & Frank Bockius (percussion) to conjure a suitably chilling live accompaniment.
Screening material courtesy of
Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung.
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