Watch Mad Love For Free

So much average

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

MAD LOVE (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1935), directed by Karl Freund, became the studio's attempt in the horror cycle made famous by Universal Pictures. Having earlier acquired the services of Universal's top horror stars as Boris Karloff for THE MASK OF FU- MANCHU (1932) and Bela Lugosi in MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935), MGM has outdone itself using Colin Clive, best known for his title character in both FRANKENSTEIN (1931) and BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935), and the European actor, Peter Lorre, in one of his first Hollywood movie roles. Taken from the novel "The Hands of Orlac" by Maurice Resaba, that was earlier filmed in as a silent film (1927) starring Conrad Veidt, and remade years later with Mel Ferrar in 1960, many regard this version the best, especially when having Peter Lorre being the unbalanced doctor who performs miracles on disabled patients but is unable to conquer his mad love.The plot revolves around Yvonne (Frances Drake), an actress starring in a frightful play, "Torturee" for The Theater of Horrors. Attending every night to watch her performance is Doctor Gogul (Peter Lorre), one of her biggest admirers. Unknown to him, Yvonne has been married a year to Stephen Orlac (Colin Clive), a famous concert pianist currently on tour. For this being her final show, Yvonne is visited in her dressing room by Gogul, who is both stunned to learn she's both married and will no longer be performing again on stage. Before she's to head over to the train station to meet her husband, she is given a farewell party by her fellow staff members. At the event comes Gogul who gives Yvonne a passionate kiss that disturbs her greatly. While on a rest stop, Stephen witnesses a handcuffed American prisoner, Rollo (Edward Brophy), being escorted by two detectives on the train bound for Paris where he is to be executed by guillotine. Rollo happens to be a professional knife thrower found guilty for stabbing his father over a woman. Twenty miles from the station, a serious train wreck occurs. Rollo and the detectives escape unharmed, but Stephen is seriously injured with both his hands crushed. A medical doctor suggests Stephen's hands be amputated, but Yvonne, wanting them spared, arranges for Stephen to be sent immediately by ambulance to Doctor Gogul's clinic in Paris. After Gogul and Reagan (Ted Healy), an American reporter, witness Rollo's beheaded execution, Gogul returns to find both Yvonne and her unconscious husband awaiting him for treatment. Learning the circumstance, Gogul arranges to spare Orlac's hands by obtaining the body of Rollo, placing his hands in place of Stephen's. The operation is successful. While Stephen has lost his ability to play the piano, he discovers his new hands have a will of their own, especially for knife throwing while in a fit of anger. When his stepfather (Ian Wolfe), the richest jeweler in town, refuses to loan Stephen money for his financial problems, he's later reportedly stabbed and killed, with Stephen accused and arrested. In the meantime, with Stephen out the way, Gogul, who obtains a wax figure image of Yvonne in his study, does whatever possible to win Yvonne's mad love.Had MAD LOVE been produced at Universal, no doubt the role of the mad doctor would have gone to Bela Lugosi. Yet, Lugosi had played a similar role by love possessed in THE RAVEN (1935), so no need for Lugosi to repeat himself here. As in THE RAVEN, Lugosi might have hammed it up to perfection. Peter Lorre, on the other hand, featured with shaved head and bulgy eyes, handles his role in a low-key fashion. Still his character of Gogul is as creepy and sinister as it gets. As much as Colin Clive has left a legacy for playing Henry Frankenstein, the scientist who creates a monster (Boris Karloff), in two classic films, this time he plays the victim, or better still, a patient under treatment of a psycho doctor out for the love for his wife. Karl Freund, a cinematographer who directed Boris Karloff in THE MUMMY (Universal, 1932), does a better job here in both visual and European-style atmosphere. Although Ted Healy is around for comedy relief, his type of character is common ground in films such as this, especially when he solves the mystery the police are unable to comprehend. Frances Drake, who worked opposite Karloff and Lugosi in science fiction drama, THE INVISIBLE RAY (Universal, 1935), proved effective as the heroine in fear of her life. Other members of the cast include Billy Gilbert (The Train Passenger with a Dog); Sara Haden (Marie, Yvonne's Maid who acts and nearly speaks like character actress, ZaSu Pitts); Henry Kolker (Prefect of Police); Keye Luke (Doctor Wong, Gogul's assistant); Murray Kinnell (Charles); Clarence Wilson (The Piano Remover); and Cora Sue Collins (The Crippled Girl Patient), among others. Stand-out performance goes to May Beatty as Gogul's drunken housekeeper. She may not be a household name, but can be noticed in several films produced at Universal. At 70 minutes, MAD LOVE moves at a swift pace. For its unusual plot development, it holds interest throughout. While Peter Lorre dominates, Colin Clive should not go unnoticed either, especially playing something other than Henry Frankenstein. Take notice that Ian Wolfe's character is described at different times as both Stephen Orlac's father and stepfather. Possibly an oversight in the writing. Formerly available on video cassette and later DVD format, MAD LOVE occasionally broadcasts on Turner Classic Movies, either under tributes to Peter Lorre or around Halloween time during the month of October. (*** hands)

The classic story of The Hands of Orlac is 'grafted' (sorry) on to this tale of doomed love and romance. Essentially a showcase for Peter Lorre's creepy talents, it's clear that without Lorre's presence this would be a much less interesting film. Every moment he's on screen, Lorre dominates the proceedings, and his physical image - bug eyes, bald head - has never been better than in this. He's creepy, disturbing and also strangely tragic, like a lost puppy.This is very much a product of the '30s, and has the same highlights and low points as many other films of the time. On the plus side, the film is visually arresting, with crisp black and white photography adding plenty of atmosphere to the sets and scenery, highlighting the light and dark areas. The acting is pretty intense all round too; it comes dangerously close to being laughably over the top, yet it works for me. Lorre is excellent as the brilliant yet doomed doctor; Frances Drake is the beautiful object of his affection, and her physical presence was more than enough for me (I didn't really notice her acting abilities). Colin Clive is on hand to lend yet another harrowed performance in the FRANKENSTEIN vein, and it's only Ted Healy who disappoints as a reporter. This leads me on to the film's main flaw; the use of silly comic relief, and there's far too much of it.This unwelcome comedy marred many films of the same period (check out THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN). Oh well, we can only watch and shake our heads and think how much things have moved on since then, I suppose. MAD LOVE does have a number of classy, exciting moments. The most memorable would be when Lorre dresses up in a neck brace and pretends to be the dead killer, returned from the grave (his image here was very influential - check out BODY PARTS). Clive's knife-throwing scenes are tremendously fun, while the fast-paced ending doesn't disappoint either. I really liked Edward Brophy's performance as the murderer Rollo, too - he was hilarious. A minor classic of the genre, this isn't scary but instead acts as a showcase for Lorre's huge talents, while being an entertaining, and quick-moving tale of madness, revenge, murder and...amputation!

Mad Love is an absolute superb horror film from 1935 starring Peter Lorre as Dr Gogol. In this movie Dr Gogol has an object of affection called Yvonne. However there is a difficulty for him as she is married and does not care much for Gogol at all of his affections for her. As Dr Gogol says during the movie he can conquer science but he cannot conquer love. The frustration for the latter certainly is one that shared by many people around the world. Dr Gogol's frustration in not able to conquer love served as pivotal plot piece and which drives his madness in wanting Yvonne. This all served the movie superbly right up to its denouement and this all thanks in excellent form by Peter Lorre.

In this reasonably good 1935 film, Peter Lorre is Dr. Gogol, a genius at surgery who is driven irretrievably mad by his love for Frances Drake. Drake is an actress at the Grand Guignol Theater in Paris. The shows at the theater consist of nothing more than scenes of staged torture featuring different characters, much like today's unending stream of slasher movies, appealing to the most noble parts of human nature.Drake, however, is married to a renowned pianist, Colin Clive as Stephen Orlac. You'll remember Colin Clive when you see him. You'll probably recall his most famous lines: "Get BECK! Oh, get BECK! -- It's ALIVE!" Gogol attends every show that features Frances Drake, hopeless as his love is. It's a kind of self torture. She, on the other hand, has no idea that his passion for her extends beyond her role as an actress.Then Clive has his marvelous hands crushed in a train accident. (Good scene.) Drake importunes Lorre to help, so Lorre takes the hands of a recently guillotines murderer who was a circus knife thrower, and attaches them to the stumps of Clive's wrists. The hands seem to take on a life of their own, with Clive still unable to play the piano well but now a skilled thrower of knives.This is a familiar theme, probably started by Maurice Renard's novel, "The Hands of Orlac" (1920). It was not only made into a silent film in 1924 but remade again in 1962. And on top of that there have been myriad variations on the theme. Michael Caine had trouble with his hand in the innovatively titled "The Hand." I don't think we need to go on to list all the other transplant horror movies. There are enough to make me think twice about having a hair transplant. Brain transplants alone would run to thousands of pages. And then there's Frankenstein's monster with his enormous Schwanz in Mel Brooks' movie, "Young Dr. Frankenstein." As Dr. Gogol -- where do they get these names? -- as Dr. Gogol, Peter Lorre is really rather creepy. He keeps popping up with queerly apt quotes. "Each man kills the things he loves," from Oscar Wilde, and later some shtick from "Othello". His face is chubby and pasty, his head is shaved, his eyeballs pop, he plays mournful music on the organ, and as he descends into madness he begins to look and act drunk instead of just insane. His lower lip droops and he seems to drool. There are a couple of horrific scenes that will scare the kids, the most likely being the one in which Lorre poses as the guillotined man and rips open his collar to show the neck brace and metal struts that keep his head attached to his body. His wild and manic cackle is spooky.I thought it was well done, as these things go. It was part of a series of shocking monster and horror flicks that came out of Hollywood and elsewhere in the 1930s. After 1935, they declined rapidly in quality and lost their surprise value. There was a brief revival of horror flicks, half spoofs of themselves, in the early 60s, and then about 20 years ago a new cycle began that has yet to exhaust itself. For the most part they're pretty revolting gore fests, not nearly as scary as some of the better done, practically antiseptic movies like "The Exorcist" and "Rosemary's Baby."