Hands of a Stranger

Inspired by Maurice Renard's 1920 novel Les Mains d'Orlac, Hands of a Stranger is tension-filled horror with a classic noir feel. After a car accident mangles acclaimed concert pianist Vernon Paris's (James Stapleton) hands, an ambitious doctor (Paul Lukather) replaces them with those of a cadaver. But rather than be grateful that he may again play the piano some day, Paris is enraged - as is his obsessively attentive sister (Joan Harvey). Worse still, his new hands compel Paris to go on a seemingly unstoppable killing spree, in this terrifying story that also features Laurence Haddon. The first successful long-term hand transplant surgery took place in 1999, 39 years after this film was made, and nearly 80 years after the novel that inspired it!