The Beast with Five Fingers

In the ancient times, when I was a child, we had a simple device called a “television”, a box with rabbit ear antennae, which could receive and broadcast the frequencies of 5 or 6 stations.  These were the only stations to choose from. And in the middle of the night they shut down; at midnight, nearly all of them played the National Anthem, briefly displayed a test pattern, and then from midnight until the dawn, a snow-screen of static was all you could access.

On Saturday nights, however, one renegade station defied the midnight rule. There was a show called Creature Features that broadcast old movies unfit for prime time… black and white horror movies and sci-fi.

It was on these Saturday nights that my brother and I would sneak downstairs to the “TV Room” to watch such classics as The Blob, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and The Devil Bat.

The movie that made the biggest impression on me was “The Beast with Five Fingers”. The image of a disembodied hand pouncing on the keys of a grand piano filled me with horror.

The film was set in an Italian villa belonging to celebrated pianist Francis Ingram (Victor Francen), who played obsessively on the grand piano which he kept in the front hall of his mansion.

Though featuring great actors - Peter Lorre, Victor Francen, and Rober Alda -  the most memorable character in the film was the severed hand of the celebrated pianist.

The set-up:

In life, Francis Ingram plays very dramatically on his grand piano - using only one hand - the other having been rendered inactive by a stroke. He plays the same dark, passionate piece over and over again, disturbing others in the mansion - his astrologer, his beautiful nurse whom he wishes to marry,  and his friend (who is having a love affair with the nurse).

The plot:

Francis Ingram dies early in the film, falling down the stairs and collapsing next to his piano.  Having been betrayed in life and in death, he finds a way to pursue justice beyond the grave.  His hand, severed before his burial, returns to the Italian villa. There, it strangles people and scampers about, wreaking vengeance upon those who had wronged him.

The disembodied hand scuttles up and down staircases, crouches on bookshelves, climbs velvet curtains, pounces upon the necks of its victims, and - most relevant to this essay - plays the piano with great skill.

The most vivid image in the film, for me, was of the disembodied hand nimbly darting up and down the keyboard, playing the piece Francis Ingram had played in life.

Yes, despite being severed from Ingram’s body, the hand retained the muscle memory gained by repeated practice, and was able to easily perform the piece that Ingram had learned when he was alive.

The Beast with Five Fingers is a paean to the power of practice.  Muscle memory, pattern memory, tempo and meter memory are all stored deep in the mind, in hearing, and in the nerves and muscles of the body -  and can be accessed when other forms of memory no longer function.

Practice does not make perfect, but it does allow the mind to retain abilities that would otherwise be lost without habitual study and perseverance.

Let the Beast with Five Fingers be an inspiration to us all! :)