| HANDS OF A STRANGER (1962) |
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| The very last film
that Irish McCalla appeared in was yet another (disappointing) remake
of a famous German silent film called Orlacs Hände (The
Hands of Orlac) (1924). The original film, which was based
on a book by the French science-fiction pioneer, Maurice
Renard, was a classic of German Expressionist filmmaking. The
film reunited the creative team of director Robert
Wiene and actor Conrad
Veidt who were responsible for the brilliant The
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, one of the first art films to achieve
international acclaim. The star, Conrad Veidt, eventually emigrated
to America and is well known to Western audiences for his classic
portrayals of the wicked Grand Vizier, Jaffar, in The
Thief of Baghdad (1940) and the scheming Nazi, Major Strasser,
in Casablanca
(1942). The first, and best, remake of this classic tale was Mad Love (1935), Peter Lorre's first American film. Lorre had played the charming villain in Hitchcock's first, and English, version of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), which paved the way for Lorre's move to Hollywood. Mad Love catapulted Lorre to success as an American horror and thriller icon, a position he held until his death in 1964. The weak 1961 version of The Hands of Orlac (see poster right), which was made only one year before the version Irish appeared in, was a joint British-French production. The film, which starred Mel Ferrer and Christopher Lee, was released in both French and English language versions. |
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This property obviously generated a lot of interest amongst people of many nationalities, probably because of the universality of the theme of fear of one's own body. The 1962 version with Irish has some chilling noir moments, especially the scene where Vernon Parish, the deranged killer, crushes the hands of the son of the taxi driver responsible for his accident (left). Much of the dialogue is clichéd and stilted but some of it is also very effective. The police lieutenant, Syms, has the best dialogue, and acts as a kind of Greek chorus commenting on the moral dilemmas faced by the other characters. Good cinematic use is also made of the hand metaphor. Hands feature prominently throughout the film - the hands of the wounded killer climbing the pole; the talented hands of the concert pianist; the clapping hands of the adoring crowd; the skilled hands of the surgeon; and the captivating hands of the juggler at the fairground. The best use of this device is the scenes in which Paris is tragically reminded of what he has lost (Wikipedia & IMDb). |
•
Paul Lukather plays Dr Gil Harding, the surgeon who has developed
a revolutionary method of transplanting human limbs. He received a
bachelor of arts from Drake University and a master's degree from Yale,
and at the time this film was made he was the head of an established Drama
school. As Paul London he made his film debut playing a deputy in
Make
Haste To Live (1954), a low-budget noir film about a gangster tracking
down the wife he was sentenced to prison for killing. Through the
1950s and 60s his principle work was in making guest appearances on television
shows like Have
Gun Will Travel, Rawhide,
77 Sunset Strip
and The Man From
Uncle. He also provided voices for numerous animation projects.
•
The concert pianist Driven to madness by the trauma of having his hands
mangled and substituted by the hands of a ruthless killers was played by
James Stapleton. This films was his movie debut. After
attending the University of Denver, Stapleton obtained a bachelor of arts
in theatre at the University of Minnesota, where he also minored in psychology.
He claimed this helped him understand the homicidal and paranoic tendencies,
as well as some of the inner motivations, of Vernon Paris. He did
not have an extensive acting career and besides this film only made half-a-dozen
guest appearances on minor television series like Two
Faces West and The
Blue Angels.
•
Vernon Paris' sister, Dina, who falls for Dr Harding, was played
by the attractive Joan Harvey. Ms Harvey, who retired from acting
after this film, was reportedly injured slightly when James Stapleton
slapped her very hard during the filming of one scene. Director Newt Arnold
had instructed Stapleton to make it look realistic and the inexperienced
actor struck Harvey a blow that caused swelling to her left cheek. She
was attended by the studio nurse, given medication and rest before filming
could recommence. Prior to this film she had made only one other film,
Pretty
Boy Floyd (1960), the tale of the infamous 1930s outlaw. In
the Eighties Ms Harvey directed and edited a couple of antinuclear
documentaries - We
Are the Guinea Pigs (1980) and America:
From Hitler to MX (1983).
played
the role of "Skeet" Wilder, the piano-playing son of the
cab driver responsible for the accident that resulted in the loss of Vernon Paris'
hands. Interestingly, several years earlier both Barry Gordon
and Irish McCalla had appeared on the same episode of The Milton Berle Show,
although not in the same skits. Elvis
Presley and Debra Paget
also appeared (see Irish
McCalla - Personal Appearances page). His acting career spanned
fifty years and began with appearances on early television series like Leave
It To Beaver (1957-63) and Dennis
the Menace
(1959-63). Gordon went on to appear in LA
Law (1986-94), NYPD
Blue (1993-2005), Star
Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-99) and Star
Trek: Voyager (1995-2001). On top of that he was also the
President of the Screen
Actors Guild from 1988 to 1995 and unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat
for the US Congress in 1996 and 1998. He currently hosts an LA radio
show, Barry Gordon - Left of Field, and is a proud sponsor of Camp Will-A-Way,
a camp for the mentally and/or physically disabled. An incredible
person.
• The young actor who played Dr Ken Fry, one of Gil Harding's surgical team, was also the CO-producer of the film. He was a member of the wealthy Delaware family famous for duPont chemicals and his own company, Glenwood-Neve, produced the film. Du Pont was an avid flyer and flew a converted P-51, a World War II fighter, to Hollywood to work on the film. However, Glenwood-Neve's insurance company refused to allow Du Pont to fly while the film was in production. He only appeared in one other film as an actor - From Hell to Borneo (1966) - but was involved in the production and direction of several low-budget horror films.
• The small part of Sue, Ken Fry's girlfriend, was played by 25-year-old
Sally Kellerman.
Kellerman's lengthy career in film and television was given a major
boost when she was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Sgt.
"Hot Lips" Hoolahan in Robert Altman's cynical antiwar film, M.A.S.H.
(1970). In a 1996 interview with Scarlet Street magazine Irish McCalla
said that she enjoyed working with Sally Kellerman on this film. Irish
also said that at the time of filming she was dating Gardner McKay,
a friend of Kellerman's, and the three of them would spend time relaxing
in coffee houses. McKay, a tall Hollywood heartthrob, was very well-known
at the time because of his regular television appearances as Adam Troy,
captain of the Tiki III on Adventures
In Paradise (1959-62). (Wikipedia &
IMDb)  |
Like many of the parts in Irish's films, the role of Holly, Gil Harding's
lovelorn nurse, was a very minor one. She does appear in a
handful of scenes but has less than a dozen lines of dialogue overall.
In the Scarlet Street interview Irish said that she
worked on the film only two or three days. The press book
for the film described Irish as a "green-eyed glamazon"
and added she was probably better known in any hamlet in the world
than in her adopted town of Hollywood. It said that she received
fan mail from distant places because of her regular appearances
as Sheena on television screens from Japan to Puerto Rico and because
of her far-flung personal appearance tours. The promotional
material claimed that she is very keen to be recognised as an actress
and to break free from being stereotyped as a tree-swinging jungle
queen. The truth, however, was that Irish was beginning to
distance herself from the Hollywood studio scene and was desperately
struggling to establish herself as a professional artist. This
was her last role in a feature film and her sparse acting career
would include only two more roles. In 1963 she would make
a guest appearance on Have Gun Will Travel and later
the same year she would make her very last screen appearance on
an episode of 77 Sunset Strip (see Personal
Appearances page). |
| The hands of a talented concert pianist, Vernon Paris, are badly mutilated in a taxicab accident. A gifted and adventurous surgeon, Dr Gil Harding, transplants the powerful hands of a murdered man onto the wrists of the unconscious Paris. The operation is a success but Paris is psychologically unable to accept the new hands, which previously belonged to a killer. Harding and Paris' sister, Dina, are attracted to each other and grow closer together and Police Lieutenant Syms begins to investigate the killer's missing hands. Paris kills his shallow girlfriend, Eileen, during an argument. He then visits the home of Tony, the cab driver, and kill's Skeet, Tony's son, when he learns he is a a talented pianist. Paris then wreaks his vengeance on Dr Fry, one of Harding's assistants and kills him and his girlfriend. Syms begins to suspect Paris. Paris' next victim of vengeance is Harding's other assistant, Dr Compton. Harding confronts Paris alone in an empty concert hall and is unsuccessful in his attempts to make him see reason. Paris attacks Harding and tries to strangle him but Syms and Dina arrive and Syms shoots Paris. Harding and Dina can now find happiness together. |  |
• Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia
• The Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
• Hands of a Stranger pressbook - private collection
• Scarlet Street No. 23 magazine 1996
PHOTOS
• The main Hands of a Stranger poster image and the French 1961 Hands of Orlac poster were pilfered from eBay auction items
• The photo of James Stapleton and Barry Gordon, and all of the cast close-ups were taken from video captures from the Hands of a Stranger DVD, Alpha Video 2003
• The cast photo is from my private collection - (standing left to right) Joan Harvey; Michael Rye; Michael du Pont; Irish McCalla; and Ted Otis; (seated) James Stapleton (left) and Paul Lukather (right)
• The coloured photo of Irish as Holly is from the Hands of a Stranger DVD case, Alpha Video 2003
LYNX
• Read Paul Lukather's lengthy filmography at IMDb
SHEENA
© is the property of Sony Pictures Corporation
This independent, non-profit, fan-based analysis of the Sheena material
is copyright © 2005 Paul Wickham