The Beast with Five Fingers

There's some underhanded business going at the gloomy mansion of former piano virtuoso Francis Ingram (Victor Francen) in this mystery set in rural Italy in the early 1900s. Confined to a wheelchair and only able to use one hand to play, the bitter Ingram lives with his devoted nurse (Andrea King); an antiques dealer (Robert Conrad), and a craven secretary (Peter Lorre). When Ingram is killed in a mysterious accident, some dislikable British relatives (Charles Dingle and John David) come to claim the mansion, but find more than they bargained for when Ingram's disembodied hand starts crawling from the grave at night to play piano, and strangle horrified victims.Robert Florey (MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE) directed this odd combination of "old dark house" mystery and rural Italian period piece. The highlights are Lorre's priceless scenes of confrontation with the disembodied hand, and the starkly beautiful photography that captures every creepy shadow from the fireplace's flickering flames. (official distributor synopsis)