The combination of Director Alfred Vohrer, Writer Edgar Wallace, Composer Martin Böttcher, and Actor Klaus Kinski is a pretty swarthy mix worthy of mention time and time again! Any one of them could take a common film and turn it into something special, but you throw them all together, and you better get ready for some kind of wild ride, and
"Die Blaue Hand" is no exception, that's a fact!! Even the title card is exceptional!!
Klaus Kinski as David Donald Emerson is sent up the river to The Nuthouse, although he claims his innocence!
David Donald Emerson escapes from the institution! Would you look at those grimey walls, what kind of a joint is this??
An innocent bystander nurse gets murdered during the escape!!
There's this beautifully lit shot of the woods during the escape and the whole while, kickin' music by the master Martin Böttcher is urging David Donald Emerson to go! Martin Böttcher's music is right up there with Peter Thomas as far I'm concerned. It's never fails to amaze me how easy perfection is for some people!! We've written about Martin more than once, and we've got even more of his amazing work scheduled for the future, if there is one!
Meanwhile, let's check in at Emerson Estate. Seems that David Donald Emerson also has a twin brother, also played by Klaus Kinski, the honourable, and not quite so crazy, and better dressed, Richard Emerson!
David Donald completes his escape, and makes it all the way back home to the Emerson Estate, and after giving himself a good look, decides he's probably going to get away with a lot more stuff if he cleans himself up some!
Harald Leipnitz as Inspector Craig shows up at the Emerson Estate and doesn't feel real sure about which brother he is actually talking to!
This is about the point in the film where you remember, Oh, Yeah, this is an Edgar Wallace story, and none of what I've seen so far is believable, and
what the Hell is going on now? And the music just keeps on cookin'!
The legend of "The Blue Hand" is artistically rendered to give it more credence, and to make the waters clearer too!
Diana Körner as Myrna Emerson is mentally tortured through this whole film! This would be Diana's second acting credit, and she went on to do a few more films, but mostly continued in the television industry, and was still working as of last year!
And despite all the heavyweight talents working on this film, who steals the show? None other than Dungeon Champion Siegfried Schürenberg in one of his recurring roles as Scotland Yard's Sir John!
I'm sure Cinematographer Ernst W. Kalinke deserves more than his share of credit for a lot of the, shall we say, Interesting shots in this film! Don't know where I been, cause I been drinkin' Gordon's Gin! Make it a double!!
There's a point in time where Sir John has to go to the Psycho Ward to do some investigating himself, and he peeps in on this gal who has a mental disease that makes her strip uncontrollably over and over again, like a chain smoker!!
Here's a great example of how good of an actor Siegfried Schürenberg was. Look at the incredible amount of expression this cat can get out of one eye!! He was deeply concerned about this woman's condition, and it shows!!
I'm really worried about her, maybe I should take another look!!
Here's another one of the guests!!
Carl Lange as the übercreepy Dr. Albert Mangrove, the director of the institution, is even creepier when his monocle creates this almost cyclops effect!
Ain't no doubt that "The Blue Hand" is a killing machine! It's really cool that it's like electric blue sometimes, and it looks really good when it's lit correctly!
I love this scene where mastermind Sir John, and his secretary are just hanging out doing nothing, and there's a knock on the door, and they both snap to, and act like she's taking dictation about something very important he's telling her!
Still more peeping of various kinds going on!!
And don't forget about Diana's scene with all the snakes!
Sir John's got his game face on now, and despite his inadequacies, he will get the job done, and that's a guarantee!!
And Old Blue, holds the losing hand in The End!! Not even a lousy pair!! This movie takes so many twists and turns, you're not even quite sure what happened once it gets over, but it's not really the destination so much, as it is the fun ride getting there!!
