I'm Working On: Hands of a Stranger (Patreon)

Creepiest title ever.
So, this is another version of Hands of Orlac. It was made the year as the Mel Ferrer/Christopher Lee version and I would guess was held back 2 years so as not to compete with a much higher budgeted take on the same story. The 1924 and 35 versions are considered classics so I was a little concerned that this wouldn't be bad enough for us, but it definitely was. The main issue I will leave for the review, but I rewatched Mad Love to make sure it was as good as I remembered. It is. 

[SPOILERS] This version made a bunch of changes which really undermine the drama, not least that it never reveals who the hands belonged to. In Mad Love a lot of what happens to Colin Clive's Orlac is in his mind - the hands are not actively turning him into a killer, he is being tricked into thinking that by Peter Lorre's Dr Gogol (which is similar to the plot in the 24 silent with Conrad Veidt). In Hands of a Stranger, the hands could be anyone's, they just happen to be strong and he keeps having accidents. The other thing worth noting is that while Colin Clive is obviously gutted to lose his hands and not be able to play the piano any more, he's still grateful to the surgeon that he has hands at all. In Hands of a Stranger, the pianist is angry from moment one.
Basically, this shows that Hands of Orlac is a really dumb story if you make it about the plot rather than the people - it's a psychological horror, and Hands of a Stranger has stripped away the psychology.