This infamous Austrian horror production stars Conrad Veidt as a concert pianist who loses his hands in a train accident, only to have them replaced by the transplanted hands of a criminal.

This edition, which is the first quality DVD produced of The Hands of Orlac (1924), has been transferred in high-definition and mastered in standard definition from the 35mm restoration print of Transit Films / F.W. Murnau Stiftung, with additional footage from the Raymond Rohauer collection supplied by Douris UK Ltd. The presentation is accompanied by a music score by Paul Mercer. The supplemental material includes comparisons of the domestic German and international versions of the film, exerpts from Maurice Renard’s source novel, a stills gallery, an essay by Veidt author John Soister, and a trailer for Mad Love (1935) the remake starring Peter Lorre.

USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com.
Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca.

This edition from public-domain home video company Grapevine Video has been transferred from a contrasty 16mm reduction print of good to very-good quality, but has been mastered from a videotape dub of the original edition, which features German language intertitles and permanent Spanish subtitles. As is to be expected, some highlight details are blasted out and shadows are closed up, but we’ve seen worse.

The source video accompanies the film with a custom music score performed on piano, wind and reed instruments, and eerie (read: annoying) female vocals.

This Region 0 NTSC disc was discontinued in July 2006.

Other Robert Wiene films available on DVD home video:
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Genuine (1920)

Other silent era Conrad Veidt films available on DVD home video:
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Different from the Others (1919)
The Indian Tomb (1921)
Waxworks (1924)
The Beloved Rogue (1927)
The Man Who Laughs (1928)

Other German silent era films available on DVD home video:
Anna Boleyn (1920)
Asphalt (1929)
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
The Deerslayer and Chingachgook (1920)
Destiny (1921)
Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)
Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)
The Doll (1919)
Eyes of the Mummy (1918)
Faust (1926)
Das fidele Gefängnis (1917) with Trouble in Paradise (1932)
The Golem (1920)
The Holy Mountain (1926)
I Don’t Want to Be a Man (1920)
The Joyless Street (1925)
The Last Laugh (1924)
The Love of Jeanne Ney (1927)
Madame Du Barry (1919)
Metropolis (1927)
Michael (1924)
Die Nibelungen (1924)
Nosferatu (1922)
Opus I (1921)
Othello (1922)
The Oyster Princess (1919)
Pandora’s Box (1929)
People on Sunday (1929)
Phantom (1922)
Secrets of a Soul (1926)
Sex in Chains (1928)
The Spiders (1919-1920)
Spies (1928)
The Student of Prague (1913)
The Student of Prague (1926)
Sumurun [One Arabian Night] (1920)
Tartuffe (1926)
The Treasure (1923)
Warning Shadows (1923)
The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929)
The Wildcat (1921)
The Woman in the Moon (1929)

About German filmmakers:
Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin (2006)
Fritz Lang: Circle of Destiny (1998)
The Way to Murnau (2003)

Collections and boxsets that include German silent era films:
Fritz Lang Epic Collection (1924-1929)
The F.W. Murnau Collection (1922-1931)
German Expressionism Collection (1920-1926)
German Horror Classics (1920-1924)
Lubitsch in Berlin (1919-1921)
The Masterworks of the German Horror Cinema (1920-1922)

Other silent era horror films available on DVD home video:
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
The Cat and the Canary (1927)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)
Eyes of the Mummy (1918)
The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) [Epstein]
Faust (1926)
The Golem (1920)
Häxan (1922)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
L’Inferno (1911)
Leaves from Satan’s Book (1921)
Maciste in Hell (1926)
The Man Who Laughs (1928)
Nosferatu (1922)
The Penalty (1920)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
The Student of Prague (1913)
The Student of Prague (1926)
The Unknown (1927)
Warning Shadows (1923)
Waxworks (1924)