Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Megamind To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

davidcarniglia A very entertaining and spooky murder mystery. Peter Lorre is at his best as moony-eyed, nutjob astrologer secretary to the cadaverous Victor Francen's Ingram. The mansion, with all its medieval flourishes, exudes character. A fine supporting cast; although I found Andrea King's Julie a bit wooden. Playing opposite so many guys, she adds little, except perhaps in her last scene with Lorre. As many have pointed out, after a long lead-up, the pace picks up steam after Ingram's death. His severed hand becomes a character, as a sort of ghost/delusion.We are left with a fairly logical explanation of the apparent supernatural stuff: Lorre, not quite all there initially, goes over the verge of sanity. Cleverly, his delusion of the hand's 'revenge' is an outgrowth of his own plot to scare off and eliminate those who would toss him and his books aside. Robert Alda's Conrad is an interesting character too. He's sympathetic, yet hardly above-board. He has even less claim on Ingram's estate than Lorre/Hilary, but also much to lose. Of course marrying Julie represents his trump card. His outsider quality gives us a window, so to speak, to the goings-on at the mansion. Like the Commassario, he functions as both a witness and a participant.I'd like to have seen more exposition of Lorre's relationship to Francen. It might've been more interesting if Francen/Ingram shared Lorre's fascination with the New-Agey stuff. That could've enhanced the supernatural explanation of subsequent events. At a more basic level, it's hard to see why the hand goes after Lorre, whether it's appearing of its own volition or not. When he was alive Ingram tried to kill Hilary; if anything, it should then be Hilary who goes after him. Hilary does try to 'kill' the hand, but only after it has gone on a 'murder' rampage. Maybe there's too many supporting characters to allow for fleshing out the principals with more scenes.I usually don't like campy stuff tacked onto a dark atmosphere, but it works here. The Commassario seems to go out of his way to drop a hint, with his final enigmatic laugh at the audience, that there's yet more to the story. His dropped glove surely is just a tease, but how is it that Ingram's ring is on his finger now?Even with a few false steps, The Beast With Five Fingers is an engaging experience.

gridoon2018 "The Beast With Five Fingers" is set in one of those cinematic Italian villages where everybody speaks English (except for the occasional "Signorina"), and for the first hour or so not much happens. But although the story is very slow-moving, it does keep the viewer wondering if this is a supernatural thriller or a psycho thriller. Other assets include Max Steiner's rich music score, great special effects (not just of the disembodied hand, but in one hallucinogenic sequence much earlier), and Peter Lorre's full-tilt performance. There are also two funny gags at the very end. **1/2 out of 4.

jwyoder "The Beast With Five Fingers" is a 1946 Gothic horror film set in a large villa near an Italian village. Soon after pianist Francis Ingram's death, a series of mysterious events haunt his friends and relatives as they fight for control over the estate. Ingram's piano suddenly plays music in the middle of the night. A mysterious light glows in Ingram's mausoleum. Ingram's attorney is choked to death. Evidence points to Ingram's disembodied hand as the culprit.The standout performance in the film is by Peter Lorre, who plays a man driven to insanity. Lorre's character Hilary Cummins is the center of a big reveal roughly halfway through the movie that's wonderfully creepy and bizarre. "The Beast With Five Fingers" has the most energy and life whenever Lorre is at the center. The film lags, however, whenever it turns to the subplots of the the other characters. Lorre shines amidst all that flat, wooden acting.My biggest issue with "The Beast With Five Fingers" occurs when the film abruptly ends and takes a jokey, humorous tone that undermines the suspense of the rest of the movie. One of the characters suddenly turns to the camera, addresses the audience and laughs at how unbelievable the events of the film are. I don't understand the point here – the quick explanation in the final reveal feels unearned and the unexpected break with the fourth wall feels bizarre. Despite these issues, "The Beast With Five Fingers is worth seeing for Lorre's performance and its creepy, Gothic atmosphere.

lemon_magic As one of my friends remarked while we were watching "Beast","I can't tell if I'm watching a good movie...or a bad one." That pretty much sums up this movie for me. Beautifully shot, nice moody sets and lighting, and strong performances from a cast playing mostly unlikeable characters following a drunkard's walk of a plot.Lorre, as usual, is simultaneously fascinating, pathetic, sinister and pitiful. Alda plays a "hero" who is something of a rogue and conman, comes off as "good" only when compared to the greedy heirs who show up after the rich guy dies...and yet the younger heir, though greedy and slimy, is somehow still likable and sympathetic. The nurse/heiress is a standard Barbie doll, cast against her will into the role of "gold-digger" who then decides to embrace it,and also hides important information from the police. And Naish plays a "commisario" with a light touch (almost comic relief,especially at the end) which doesn't quite mesh with the rest of the film. It's a polished, nuanced performance that makes me want to punch him in the face more than once.So the cast and characters make for an odd mix, and the plot starts out as a mystery, moves over into suspense for a bit, and then tries to jump the tracks into horror, only to pull back and tell the audience, "Nah, just kidding" in the last 10 minutes. Siodmak,a fine writer,just couldn't quite make his material cohere in this particular instance.But the film is worth seeing, if only for Lorre's performance and the special effects for the "hand",which work very well in the context of the film.