The Beast with Five Fingers Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Beast with Five Fingers Blu-ray Movie Review

One thumb up.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III November 8, 2024

Warner Archive has released a trio of catalog horror titles this month; the first two I covered were The Walking Dead starring Boris Karloff and the less impressive The Return of Doctor X with Humphrey Bogart. Somewhere in the middle lies Robert Florey's 1946 thriller The Beast with Five Fingers, an exercise in supernatural horror led by rather ingenious special effects and a terrific supporting role for the singular Peter Lorre. It delivers genuine scares and goofy twists in equal measure, never quite achieving greatness but at least entertaining us the whole way through.

One thing I appreciate about The Best with Five Fingers in comparison with those other two catalog titles is its more relaxed running time, clocking in at a still-brisk but more deliberate 88 minutes rather than, well, barely an hour. It naturally takes its time to establish key characters beginning with Bruce Conrad (Robert Alda), an American traveling abroad in early 20th century Italy who makes his living re-selling "authentic antiques" to foreigners at a huge markup. Introduced as a clever con artist, his brief exchange with local police commissario Ovidio Castanio (J. Carrol Naish) establishes Bruce as someone who's not necessarily dangerous but not exactly trustworthy. Bruce soon ventures to the palatial home of his friend Francis Ingram (Victor Francen), a wheelchair-bound pianist who has overcome a crippling injury by learning to play with only one hand. The two enjoy regular games of chess, but Bruce's real interests lie with Ingram's lovely live-in nurse, Julie Holden (Andrea King), who secretly returns Bruce's affections and might be leaving Francis' side to return to America with him. Meanwhile, Francis' secretary and astrologer Hilary (Lorre) knows the truth about Julie and Bruce, but Francis will have none of it and lashes out at Hilary instead, injuring him.

Mild spoilers ahead. Their brief turbulence is short-lived and so is Francis, who awakens one night in a trance and dies after falling down a flight of steps. Ingram's attorney Duprex (David Hoffman) gathers all his friends and live-in help along with his only surviving relatives, brother Raymond (Charles Dingle) and adult nephew Donald (John Alvin), who are disgusted to learn that Francis has left everything to Julie. Determined to overturn his will in favor of an old one that names Donald as main inheritor, Raymond enlists the help of Duprex for a share of the estate.

This is more or less where things take a dreadful turn, beginning with the group's realization that strange things are happening in the nearby mausoleum where Francis is buried. A disembodied hand wearing Francis' ring has emerged and is now haunting them, often appearing out of nowhere and strangling its victims with near-superhuman strength. Everyone sees or hears it on separate or shared occasions, as the hand's sporadic appearances are often paired with a familiar piece of music played on Francis' grand piano. As the deaths pile up, it's up to the remaining group -- as well as the police commissario, who has naturally been brought in to investigate -- to discover who or what is behind this supernatural scheme. But even with so many suspects in play, you'll guess what's coming ahead of time.

The Beast with Five Fingers is aware of its own ridiculousness but still brings the chills anyway, with many of its murder scenarios and hand sightings crafted with maximum creepiness in mind. The film's tone veers wildly between camp and genuine horror... but as you might expect, the ultimate reveal is more akin to your average episode of Scooby-Doo than a genuinely unsettling and unpredictable twist. This luckily doesn't undercut the film's base-level entertainment value, which remains high after its initial setup and is certainly aided by the shadowy cinematography, a terrific original score by Max Steiner, those aforementioned special effects, and of course the manic outbursts of Peter Lorre, who gets an awful lot of mileage out of repeating several phrases while adding "...I tell you!" the second time.

Coincidentally, The Best with Five Fingers was the last film that Lorre made with Warner Bros., not to mention the studio's only horror film produced during that decade... but even with a few faults, it's admittedly a fun and frivolous little thrill ride that's well-crafted in almost all of the right areas. Warner Archive's welcome Blu-ray, which replaces their own late-arrival DVD in 2013 that marked the film's domestic home video debut, appropriately adds support via their outstanding new 4K-sourced restoration and a few worthwhile bonus features to boot.

The Beast with Five Fingers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Likewise sourced from a new 4K scan of the original nitrate camera negative, this new 1080p transfer features many of the same innate qualities as Warner Archive's recent treatment of both The Walking Dead and The Return of Doctor X. I'll again cite those reviews for a base-level overview of what makes this Blu-ray look so great, from its crisp fine detail to its inky black levels and natural film grain levels undisturbed by the boutique label's careful manual cleanup. Nicely encoded on a dual-layered disc with no alarming compression-related issues, The Beast with Five Fingers looks to be much improved from the 2013 DVD transfer, which was reportedly taken from lesser source elements.

The Beast with Five Fingers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Similarly, the DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix is a fine presentation of the original one-channel source elements and features crisp dialogue as well as a narrow but still foreboding soundstage that adds to the film's palpable sense of atmospheric dread. Composer Max Steiner's score is an inarguable highlight and likewise sounds fittingly rich and dynamic when it counts, while no pervasive levels of age-related damage could be detected along the way. It's an uncomplicated but effective effort overall, and one that gets the job done perfectly well.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature only, not the extras listed below.

The Beast with Five Fingers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with vintage poster-themed artwork and a few solid extras.

• Audio Commentary - Author/film historian Dr. Steve Haberman and filmmaker/film historian Constantine Nasr pair up for this excellent feature-length track, which for obvious reasons is tonally similar to the one Haberman and late director Vincent Sherman contributed for The Return of Doctor X. Though there obviously isn't any first-hand perspective this time around, it's a nicely-organized and entertaining track boasting a wealth of knowledge about the film's development, production, casting, cinematography, effects, legacy, and more.

• Classic Cartoons - Two nicely-restored Merrie Melodies shorts from the WB vault.

• The Foxy Duckling (7:35) - This 1947 cartoon, directed by Arthur Davis, is also available on Warner Archive's Looney Tunes Collector's Choice: Volume 1 Blu-ray collection if you need a synopsis.
• The Gay Anties (6:26) - Last available on Laserdisc, this 1947 short was directed by Friz Freleng and follows a colony of ants as they invade a cute young couple's picnic in the park.

• Original Theatrical Trailer (2:03) - This delightfully over-the-top trailer can also be viewed here.

The Beast with Five Fingers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Built from story elements present in earlier films like 1924's The Hands of Orlac and 1935's Mad Love and spiritually succeeded by 1981's The Hand directed by Oliver Stone, Robert Florey's 1946 thriller The Beast with Five Fingers is an entertaining blend of camp and horror that's worth seeking out, if only for the welcome presence of Peter Lorre and excellent special effects. Warner Archives' welcome Blu-ray replaces their 2013 DVD and does so in solid fashion with an outstanding 4K-sourced transfer, great lossless audio, and several decent bonus features. The Beast with Five Fingers certainly comes Recommended to die-hard fans, but newcomers should give it a shot too.