Ciné-Concert: 'The Hands of Orlac'
Free
- Andrew Earle Simpson, piano
Four years after his famous The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Cabinett des Dr. Caligari), German director Robert Wiene completed The Hands of Orlac (Orlacs Hände), a potent psychological drama based on a literary work by Maurice Renard. The film stars Conrad Veidt as a virtuoso pianist who, following an accident, receives the hands of a condemned murderer—or so he believes. Though its sets are more traditional than those of the expressionistic Caligari, Orlac employs other design strategies to convey the characters' seething emotions. Andrew Simpson is a composer, pianist, and organist, and professor of music at The Catholic University of America. This event is programmed in conjunction with the exhibition "The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy." (Robert Wiene, 1924, English language subtitles, 113 minutes)