Mad Love Blu-ray - Peter Lorre

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "The Hands of Orlac" or "The Mad Doctor of Paris")

Directed by Karl Freund
USA 1935

In his American feature-film debut, Peter Lorre turns in one of his creepiest performances as a renowned plastic surgeon whose sadistic obsession with an actress drove him over the edge of sanity. Dr. Gogol (Lorre) is in love with his Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drake), an actress whose appearance in a Grand Guignol-like horror theater has mesmerized him. She quits the theater to travel with her concert-pianist husband. Stephen (Colin Clive), enraging Gogol. But when Stephen's hands are crushed in a train accident, Yvonne turns to Gogol as a last resort. Motivated by sadistic intentions, Gogol secretly replaces Stephen's hands with those of a guillotined murderer, hoping that the operation will send Yvonne rushing into his arms as the murderer's hands take on a life of their own. Mad Love is one of the most chilling horror stories every put on screen, lending a macabre twist on themes of requited love and jealously.

***

In Paris, the great surgeon Dr. Gogol falls madly in love with stage actress Yvonne Orlac, and his ardor disturbs her quite a bit when he discovers to his horror that she is married to concert pianist Stephen Orlac. Shortly thereafter, Stephen's hands are badly crushed in a train accident- beyond the power of standard medicine. Knowing that his hands are his life, Yvonne overcomes her fear and goes to Dr. Gogol, to beg him to help. Gogol decides to surgically graft the hands of executed murderer Rollo onto Stephen Orlac, the surgery is successful but has terrible side-effects...

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Theatrical Release: July 12th, 1935

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Review: Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:08:15.132
Video	1.37:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 21,488,199,826 bytes Feature: 20,809,506,816 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1815 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1815 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentary: DTS-HD Master Audio English 1581 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1581 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Archive 1.37:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 21,488,199,826 bytes Feature: 20,809,506,816 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Commentary by Steve Haberman • Theatrical Trailer (2:05) Blu-ray Release Date: October 19th, 2021 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 22

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Warner Archive Blu-ray (March 2023): Warner Archive have transferred Karl Freund's Mad Love to Blu-ray. In 2006, Warner released Mad Love on DVD as part of their Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection, reviewed HERE. It includes Doctor X, The Devil-Doll, Mark of the Vampire, The Mask of Fu Manchu and The Return of Doctor X. The 1080P image has a max'ed out bitrate for the hour+ film. It looks very impressive - certainly much strong than the older SD transfer that has a 1/5th of the bitrate. We have compared two captures below. It has some consistent texture and layered contrast. It looked great on my system.

NOTE: We have added 64 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Warner Archive use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. Mad Love has aggressive moments that come authentically flat with modest depth. The score was by iconic Dimitri Tiomkin (Angel Face, Strangers on a Train, The Men, Only Angels Have Wings, Dial M For Murder, The Thing From Another World etc. etc.), sounding clean and heightening suspense in the lossless transfer. Warner Archive offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Warner Archive Blu-ray offers the older commentary, also found on their Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection, by Steve Haberman author of Chronicles of Terror. He repeats the pre-credit warning scene - almost identical to the one in Frankenstein - after we had just heard it but goes on to share many fascinating anecdotes of the cast and crew, cut scenes, with imitations of Lorre, reading reviews - how it bombed at the box office and that Karl Freund didn't direct another feature after Mad Love - instead expanding his credits as a cinematographer - plus plenty of spicy tidbits. It's filled with interesting details - a great commentary. There is also a theatrical trailer that starts with text that states Charlie Chaplin's statement that Peter Lorre is the greatest living actor!

Karl Freund's Mad Love had Gregg Toland as one of the cinematographers and is strikingly shot - filled with telling close-ups, mirror shots and unique, inventive positioning. It has substantially gained critical appreciation after being panned in its day - and its certainly consider a 'cult classic' today. German-émigré film maker Karl Freund is best known for directing the 1932, Boris Karloff horror, The Mummy. He was cinematographer on Metropolis (1927), Dracula (1931) and many other films as well as 152 episodes of television's I Love Lucy. Mad Love is an adaptation of Maurice Renard's story "Les Mains D'Orlac" - also made in 1924 by Robert Wiene as "The Hands of Orlac" and in 1960 starring Mel Ferrer and Christopher Lee also known as Hands of the Strangler. Mad Love has creepy wax figures, execution by guillotine, evil transplanted hands and Lorre at his most maniacal - and what a brisk pace! I loved it. The Warner Archive Blu-ray is a keeper. I thoroughly enjoyed my repeat viewing via this HD presentation. Very strongly recommended!