ShangLuda Admirable film.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

MartinHafer "The Hand" begins with a prologue in which three British soldiers were captured by the Japanese during WWII. They are being interogated and when the first two refuse to talk, the Japanese officer cuts off their hands.The story then jumps to 1960. An old drunk is found in bad shape--his hand having just been amputated. The police are shocked when in the midst of the investigation, the man is killed! And, soon other folks bgin dying as they follow the trail.This sounds like a very exciting film with all the amputations, but somehow the film misses the mark. Much of it is the rather pedestrian direction as well as the cheap feel to the movie. All I know is that is should have been much more exciting...and the ending less trite and downright stupid.

jamesraeburn2003 An elderly alcoholic called Charlie Taplow (Harold Scott) who claimed to have had his right hand amputated in exchange for £500 is found murdered. Two more deaths follow and Inspector Munyard (Ronald Leigh- Hunt) links the crimes to three ex-servicemen; Corporal George Adams (Bryan Coleman), Private Mike Brodie (Reed de Rouen) and Captain Roberts (Derek Bond) who served together in Burma during the Second World War. They got captured and, whilst being interrogated by a sadistic prison officer at a Japanese POW, they had their right hands severed for refusing to talk. Yet, it appears that one of them may have cracked under pressure and, as a result, was spared the fate of his fellow men. Could the murders be a revenge plot?Grisly semi-horror story that marked a change of pace for b-pic specialists Butcher's Film Service who usually made run of the mill crime dramas. It has some effective moments such as a reasonably passable Burma-set prologue in which the interrogation and amputation scenes are reasonably unsettling and carry some tension. There is a good suspense sequence set on board a London-Norwich express train in which a little girl with a doll she calls Belinda innocently gives the killer away to his travelling companion by noticing that he has half a button missing from his raincoat. The other half was found at the scene of a murder by the latter who is the victim's brother: "Would you like Belinda to sew one on for you?" asks the child before her mother tells her not to pester the gentleman before leaving the compartment and unknowingly leaving his fellow passenger's life in danger.It is competently acted and the most notable performers are Ronald Leigh-Hunt as the Scotland Yard man, Reed de Rouen and former 1950's matinée idol Derek Bond as the villain. Director Henry Cass directs with brisk paced efficiency, but the whole thing is let down by a confused narrative - either due to a poor script or a botched editing job. This seriously hampers what is otherwise an above average film for its type. It was produced by Bill Luckwell, a former publicist, who made seventeen b-pics in ten years!

naseby I'm still giving it '7' for sheer weirdness more than anything else. As 'Malcolm' the reviewer of 26.5.2013 states, it mysteriously starts off with a caption of: 'Burma, 1946'. I wondered where that was going as strangely, it looks like WW2 - with British commandos being tortured by the Japanese. The latter threaten to cut off the hands of the soldiers unless they tittle-tattle their military secrets. Two don't and have their hands cut off. One, Derek Bond, alias 'Crawshaw', looks more nervy and it's left there, before going to the present day (well, 1960). It seems like a tramp has had his hand cut off in the present day by Crawshaw's bent, or lent on brother, who on police investigation by Ronald Leigh-hunt, is trying to get to the bottom of that. Brodie, one of the soldiers who had his hand cut off ends up dead after Crawshaw has visited him in the meanwhile. This can be a vague story, but as one other reviewer says perhaps some credit should go to 'Run for Your Wife' Ray Cooney who wrote and stars in it. It 'does' seem as if Crawshaw who retained his hand by not telling the Japanese soldiers the secrets, may have tried to ease his conscience by 'producing' a hand to Brodie and the other chum to show it wasn't him, or that his secret was out in the open as a sort of traitor. The cops eventually catch up with Crawshaw when he visits the other officer who wouldn't blab (and one-handless of course), Crawshaw runs off and you can guess what happens - let's say he may as well have held back in WW2. Strange, but loved the London locations. So much so (is this sad?) I looked them up and went to see them - quite interesting, most hadn't changed apart from one side of the road churned up for a council estate. Worth watching for the weird factor as well. (Okay, I admit, I've recorded it for my collection of British B-flicks!)

dbborroughs Lurid little thriller tells the story of the police search for the story behind a drunk having his hand cut off. Later as the police investigate the drunk is murdered and the hunt for the killer is on. The story begins in Burma during the Second World War when three commandos are captured by the Japanese and interrogated. The Japanese solution to get the answers is to cut off some hands. The repercussions of what happened so many years ago is what drives this little movie.This is a neat little film that never fully makes 100% sense. We follow as the police try to unravel what has happened and why but in the end I don't think that everything is perfectly clear. Not that it matters since the movie is so dark and lurid at times you can't help but get drawn into the action. The violence is brutal and the language is course (at least by 1960 standards). Its a movie that doesn't behave like your typical by the numbers crime drama and is better for it.I liked this movie a great deal. Its far from perfect, but it does hold your attention. Definitely worth seeing if you run across it.