Blu-ray Review The Beast with Five Fingers – Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[t1g3r5fan]

Today, The Beast with Five Fingers. Starting his career in France as a film journalist and assistant to Louis Feuillade, Paris born Robert Florey emigrated to the U.S. in 1921 and cut his teeth in the film industry as an assistant director before making his directorial debut with One Night of Love (1927). Some of his best known films as a director include The Cocoanuts (1929), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), Daughter of Shanghai (1937) and Dangerous to Know (1938), while making a significant yet uncredited contribution to the script of Frankenstein (1931). One of his better late career efforts came with Warner Bros.’ lone entry in the horror genre during the 1940’s, The Beast with Five Fingers. Previously released on DVD by the Warner Archive, the film makes its Blu-ray debut here.



The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)



Released: 08 Feb 1947...

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[aPhil]

Watched his disc Saturday night. Far better movie than generally given credit, and the hand effects are the best of anything until CGI and more recent techniques. Thanks for mentioning that the commentary is new. I thought it would be a recycled one (like many) from the old DVD.

 

[Robin9]

Watched his disc Saturday night. Far better movie than generally given credit, and the hand effects are the best of anything until CGI and more recent techniques. Thanks for mentioning that the commentary is new. I thought it would be a recycled one (like many) from the old DVD.

Thanks in advance for your review which I won't read until I've watched this disc, and that hasn't arrived yet.
I haven't seen this film for about 40 years but I remember enjoying it, and I'm a bit of a fan of Andrea King.

 

[Brendan G Carroll]

This was one of my best Christmas presents to myself of 2024 and after years of enduring lousy TV prints here in the UK, it was like watching the film for the first time. Bravo George Feltenstein and his terrific team. My own particular interest in the film derives from Max Steiner's remarkable score which is quite unlike anything else he ever did and his only excirsion into the horror genre as far as I know. The audio restoration here is outstanding. Thank you for the great review - I agree with everything you say about the film and I am particularly gratified by your factual accuracy.

 

[benbess]

Thanks to the positive and insightful review above I recently purchased the new blu-ray of "The Beast with Five Fingers." Watching this movie last night I was actually creeped out by it in a few places. Surprisingly good special effects, and the picture quality from the original camera negative is excellent. I think maybe a couple of frames are missing here and there, but otherwise it's pretty much perfect. This is one of Peter Lorre's best roles. Oh, another thing about this film is I wonder if Oliver Stone saw this on TV sometime? I saw Stone's The Hand in 1981 starring Michael Caine in a nearly empty theater and was blown away by it. The Beast With Five Fingers also has a NEW audio commentary by Steve Haberman and Constantine Nasr that's insightful, and goes into the psychoanalytic meanings in the film that were apparently intended by the screenplay's author Curt Siodmak. Below is the nicely over-the-top original trailer. The film was a hit, and is well worth picking up for fans of suspense/horror from this era. Unusual and effective score by Max Steiner. The blu-ray also includes a couple of cartoons to make it more like a night at the theater in 1946.

My rating for The Beast With Five Fingers: A-
Picture quality for the new blu-ray: A

 

[Malcolm R]

I just picked this up in the MovieZyng/Warner sale. Glad to hear it's a worthwhile purchase.