Tonight on MeTV- we bring back a movie whose star is a real handful-in what was the Warner Bros. Studios only dip into the horror genre in the 1940s! The always creepy and sinister Peter Lorre faces situations you can count on one hand- mystery, the supernatural, murder, betrayal, and- the “Beast with Five Fingers”!
This 1946 chiller brings us to the Italian manor where the brilliant and eccentric pianist Francis Ingram dwells in isolation. Though he has suffered a stroke that has paralyzed half his body, he can still play the piano masterfully, with special musical arrangements designed to be played by only one hand. Young Bruce Conrad, who also makes money through the dubious selling of phony antiques to tourists, arranges these pieces, and is one of the few visitors Ingram allows.
The pianist, confined to a wheelchair, is cared for by his lovely nurse Julie, whom he has become emotionally attached to, and somewhat obsessed with- though, unbeknownst to him, Julie is in love with his arranger, Conrad. The other occupant of the manor is Ingram’s personal secretary Hilary, whose own obsession is astrology- which he feeds by using Ingram’s vast personal library to research what he feels he is on the track of discovering-ancient lost secrets of incredible power. When Hilary finds out that Ingram has changed his will, leaving everything to Julie, he worries that this will remove him from the library and his research. In an attempt to avoid such a situation, he reveals the truth about who Julie actually cares for to his boss, driving Ingram into a rage, and he grabs Hilary by the throat to strangle him- only to be stopped in the nick of time when Julie enters the room!
Soon, on a suitably dark and stormy night- Ingram meets his demise under strange circumstances. Regardless, the local police commissario dismisses it as-an accident. Ingram’s passing draws a visit from a relative who, along with his son, questions the legality of the new will that cuts them out of any inheritance. Secretly, Ingram’s sneaky attorney reveals to them that he can overturn the new will- in exchange for part of the inheritance, of course!
The lawyer ends up getting something quite different and far more unpleasant than an inheritance- and the search is on to find Ingram’s original will, which must be hidden somewhere in the house. That night, things get more unnerving, when the household hears the dead Ingram’s piano playing! Hilary is shocked to see a disembodied hand – and we learn where it seems to have come from- while the search goes on for the original will, as Hilary tries to convince everyone that he has indeed encountered this five-fingered horror! Will the deadly digits be discovered-or will they go on a strangling spree?
As always, we ask our comment posters to avoid any spoilers that might ruin the enjoyment of the film for those who have not seen it before. Peter Lorre, in his final film role for this studio, performs brilliantly as Hilary- joined by supporting cast members like Robert Alda (yes, Alan’s dad) and the versatile J. Carrol Naish. We’ll talk about them and other actors appearing in the film, put the finer on what may be the hand’s other show biz work, and bring you a song. Due to the length of the movie, we will again minimize the Sven content in order to bring you more of the film. As we have stated, our show remains at two hours in length.
“Beast with Five Fingers” will grab you tonight at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central. Not sure where to find it in your area? Just check your local listings or at www.metv.com . Live-tweeting during the show on Twitter has continued to have our program trending among the most posted about topics in the nation, and MeTV invites you to join in, using the hashtag #svengoolie. Tonight, watch right after our show, when Toonie the Tuna from “Tune in With Me” emulates yours truly as the hookable horror host “Sventoonie”! You might just see me appearing with him as well! Saturday morning means an encore of the restored print of “The Ghoul” on our main local station, CW26, at 11. We are very happy that it was a huge success in its airing last week on MeTV.
I have been getting a look at a new merchandise item coming to our store soon- and think you will like it as much as I do! Watch for it very soon!
Tonight- let your fingers do the walking on your TV remote for what is, hands down, one of the eeriest movies in Peter Lorre’s resume! It gets two thumbs up…oh-sorry- make that- one!
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At age 15, I was bound and determined to "master" this mountain of music by Bach, the last movement of his 2nd Partita for solo violin, the Chaconne. If it looks tough, I promise: it's somewhere beyond brutal on steroids. I swore no one alive had spent as many hours as had I working and reworking those eight glorious pages of music. Little did I realize it would be a lifelong journey where you can revisit the music, play it and say, "Goodness...I have an awful long way to go." (or something like that!) Small wonder I now refer to that time as the "delusional" period.
BWFF features the Chaconne, transcribed for piano, although we only get a small portion of the incredible journey that is that work. So it gets me both ways: I love it, I want more- AND- I hate it and haven't played it in years because I just can't do it the justice it calls for. No worries as most of the string players I know, professional and amateur, have the same story. I always love it when the line "and then I heard Heifetz play it and..." comes around.
Still, BEAST is a good movie, and I offer one thought as we close this week: Not many historians of Film Noir include any horror movies as "true noir." Yet, the same insanity that drives Peter Lorre's character can be found as an antagonist in several prominent noir films. I can understand that many don't like the comic relief ending- not gritty enough for noir, but this is from WB, a studio that gave us lots of noir classics. The visuals are certainly dark and shadowy enough.
Finally, not to take anything from Robert Florey, but I always wonder what the difference would have been if Val Lewton (CAT PEOPLE) had been at the helm.
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I'm going to stay up to hit the new blog!
Probably!
Maybe!
Oregon in the foreground, and Washington in the background.
10-Q abc123 , and good luck on the midnight run ‘
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Weekend in a verbo out on the Kitsap Peninsula.
No local TV.
No Svengoolie!😖😱😢😢😢
Will need to figure out a DVR for the antenna, either a tivo, or sign up for Sling, and get their dingus that sends your OTA signal to your Sling device, and it can be DVR'd there
I dump basic cable 2 years ago. I get like 50+ channels between Boston and providence, which includes 2 metv stations. Life is cheaper this way.
I bought my first subscriptionless DVR in 2006. It still is running fine today, and if it goes down, all we've lost is a tuner hooked up to a video grade hard drive- not much to have to replace. True, if you want more features, there are some good package on the market, but they do cost more.
They're still getting us for internet, and I don't expect that will change. At least we haven't gotten to that point (suggested by various sci-fi writers) of Oxygen and Virtual Reality taxes!
Too Much Too Soon
Timberline Lodge, a gorgeous arts & crafts inspired hotel/ ski resort, was built in 1937 at 6,000 ft. elevation on the west side of Mt. Hood, OR. Not far from Portland, it was and is a very popular destination year around. In the early days, the lodge suffered from poor road structure from Portland.
One "answer" to that dilemma came in January, 1951:
Using reconfigured Greyhound busses that self powered the tramway, the Skiway Flying Bus system took passengers from Government Camp, OR, to Timberline Lodge at a much faster speed than the (then) 50 mile road trip could be driven- especially in winter. A one way ticket was $1.50.
It was, however, no panacea. The busses were so noisy that passengers complained they could not carry on normal conversations. With federal money for road improvements, a new highway was constructed within a couple of years, meaning you could now drive the same trip in half the time it took to take the tram.
Skiways went out of business in 1956. The cable towers were removed and reused by several electric suppliers. The terminal where the tram "landed" at Timberline was converted into a hotel and restaurant, which is still in business today.
But it was probably a safer ride than the one NPC posted earlier...
I guess I have to sit up after Svengoolie to see how that can be done.
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