When he wakes up, no one mention both of his legs are gone!
Hands of a Stranger (1962) suffers from a central problem: the theme is a muddled mess. Gifted pianist Vernon, just coming into his own, is involved in a taxi accident, and his hands are mangled beyond repair. His surgeon, however, urged on by Vernon’s agent, performs hand transplants using those of a murder victim.
When Vernon learns, he tries to pick up where he left off, but when his new hands fail him, he flies into violent rages which result in the deaths of various people he knows or associates with the accident, including the young son of the taxi driver, who was blinded in the accident as well. Meanwhile, a police lieutenant is adding up the clues and beginning to wonder about the amazing surgeon and his patient.
Driven to madness, Vernon traps the surgeon and his own sister, threatening to kill them, but the lieutenant arrives just in time to save them from the insane pianist.
There were a lot of good elements to this movie. The acting was generally excellent, and I found the police lieutenant particularly intriguing. Vernon, played by James Stapleton, bore a passing, if distracting, resemblance to current actor Rufus Sewell, although on comparison it didn’t seem that great.
But in the end I was left wondering why had they made this movie. An entry in the horror genre? It didn’t feel like it. A cautionary tale concerning technology? Not really. The pitfalls of becoming famous? But Vernon is quite the humble chap. And what about that last frame of the movie, the message What’s Past Is Prologue? What should I make of that?
In the end, I could only shrug, because the story let the movie down.
And here it is, in case you’re wondering about it.
