La Main Du Diable aka The Devil’s Hand (1943)

 

“ A Classic Piece of French Horror Fantasy Cinema”

Eureka are bringing out on Blu-ray French director Maurice Tourneur’s horror fantasy classic, made during the height of the German occupation of France.

At an isolated mountain hotel (which has a ruined abbey next door to it) cut off by an avalanche, the increasingly frustrated guests are surprised by the arrival of one-handed Roland (Pierre Fresnay). His only luggage is a mysterious wooden box wrapped in cloth. He is, apparently, being pursued by a man dressed in black and carrying a coffin, and Roland has a fascinating explanation for all of this.

Roland is, or was, an artist, one whose paintings are so poor his gold-digging girlfriend Irene (Josseline Gaël) plans to leave him. Depressed, the restaurant he finds himself in just happens to be owned by a chef who owns a magic talisman: a severed hand in a box. He says he will sell the talisman to Roland for an absurdly low sum so that the chef's soul may be saved from damnation. Roland eventually agrees and talent, wealth and Irene are suddenly all his. But it’s not long before a little man in a black suit turns up to explain to Roland that while this life may be great for him now, the afterlife most certainly won’t be.

THE DEVIL’S HAND is European horror from a time when there wasn’t an awful lot of it around. In fact ask any horror fan to name something genre from 1943 and they’ll probably say FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN. Maurice Tourneur’s film is a far cry from a monster rally, however. Its adult themes and arresting imagery make it feel much more like a feature-length version of the kind of story that might have ben included in Ealing’s classic DEAD OF NIGHT (1945). The acting across the board is perfect for the material, with Fresnay haunted and Pierre Palau as the devil appropriately mischievous while at the same time suggesting an entity of pure malevolence.

Extras on Eureka’s Blu-ray, a 1080p restoration by Gaumont, include an incisive and educational commentary from James Oliver who deals with not just the genre of ‘hand horror’ but contextualises the film within the historical period in which it was made. This is further expanded upon by Samm Deighan’s illuminating 19 minute video essay on French fantasy cinema under the German occupation. Finally there’s a 46 minute documentary on the film that’s been ported over from the French Gaumont release of 2010. The disc also comes with a collector’s booklet featuring new writing on director Maurice Tourneur by Barry Nevin.

Maurice Tourneur’s THE DEVIL’S HAND is out on Blu-ray from Eureka on Monday 16th March 2026

Short Sharp Shocks Volume 4 (1948 - 1980)

        It's time yet again for the BFI to dig deep into the vaults and provide us with a two disc Blu-ray collection of short subjects of a disquieting nature. Some of these played in cinemas, while others were seen on TV (and, in the case of the public information films, repeatedly) while a few are 8mm amateur pieces. I've reviewed all the volumes in the series so far and if you want to refresh your memory of what has been featured previously you can click on the following links:

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

Right! Let's see what we get this time around:

Disc One

The Fatal Night (1948)

Puse (opera singer Lester Ferguson) accepts a bet from his friends Cyril (Leslie Armstrong) and Tony (an impossibly young Patrick Macnee) that he can't spend the night in the haunted room of Tony's aunt's house. Soon Puce is alone, but a copy of the London Mystery Magazine is on hand to provide entertainment, and before you can say 'film within a film' we are watching the story of 'The Phantom Footsteps' in which two Victorian sisters inherit a house in London, spend their first night alone there, and encounter horror. The story may be over but the night is not for Puse who encounters horrors of his own, although the ultimate horror awaits his two friends.

THE FATAL NIGHT isn't bad at all, even if the storytelling is a bit convoluted. Director Mario Zampi builds a fine sense of suspense in a few key scenes and the whole 50 minute endeavour feels like a superior forerunner of anthology TV shows like Night Gallery or Tales of the Unexpected. Oddly enough, it was remade (nowhere near as effectively), as The Gentleman From America, a 1956 Season One episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Death in the Hand (1948)

After a bit of a slow start this one's really good fun and will have fans of Amicus films wondering if it inspired Milton Subotsky's framework story for his 1965 DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS. Five people are in a train compartment on the way to London. One is a palm reader and slowly we discover the lifeline of everyone in the carriage stops at their current age. What can they do? Is the train going to crash? Is it all just nonsense? Some very nice model work plus a cast that includes John Le Mesurier keeps this one tense and it's capped off by a decent little ending, too. 

Strange Experiences (1955 & 1956)

        Where would the Short Sharp Shocks series be without a couple of entries sufficiently dated and just downright odd to make your jaw drop just a little bit? This time we get two 'strange tales' narrated by Peter Williams - Hallowe'en Party and The Laughing Clown, both lasting about three minutes each.

Night Ride (1967)

Denis Meikle is most well known for his excellent history of Hammer Films, recently republished in a new edition. Here he writes, produces, directs and co-stars in a 19 minute home made 8mm movie in which three ne'er do wells attempt to steal money from an eccentric occultist who lives in a remote mansion. Needless to say it all goes horribly wrong. Highly imaginative and well wrought on a minimal budget, and the BFI have thoughtfully provided subtitles for the bits that are a bit muffled.

Mirror Mirror (1969)

An amateur 16mm piece, this time from the Eastbourne Cine Group. A man buys a make of mirror that was presumably freely available in the 1960s as the exact same one hung in the Probert family house for years (perhaps I should have stared into it longer). Looking into this one reveals a case of murder in Victorian times, one that has a neat, witty resolution that I'm not going to reveal here.

Extras on disc one include Mario Zampi, Jr talking about his father (10 minutes), John Attfield discussing NIGHT RIDE in which he plays the occultist (17 minutes) and four minutes of behind the scenes and outtake footage from NIGHT RIDE, as well as still galleries from THE FATAL NIGHT and DEATH IN THE HAND.

Disc Two

Scarecrow (1972)

In the drought-stricken Ireland of 1931 one farmer tries to stop crows from eating his crops with disastrous results in this 17 minute dialogue-free short that's big on texture and period detail if rather slight on plot.

Red (1976)

Goodness me what's this? Naked Gabrielle Drake tied to a dining hall table with leather straps in the presence of Mark HAUNTED HOUSE OF HORROR Wynter and Mr Roy from The Basil Brush Show? In a film that channels both Hammer Horror Gothic and Norman J Warren-style exploitation? Written and directed by Astrid Frank from Val Guest's 1973 AU PAIR GIRLS and who also appears in this as a nearly-topless serving girl? I haven't even mentioned Ferdy Mayne yet but hopefully connoisseurs of mid-1970s British X-certificate cinema will already be terribly excited at the prospect of this. 

        Ferdy is a wandering artist who happens across a country house in which the only other guests are three travelling troubadours. After they sing a terrible song Ferdy falls asleep and dreams (or does he?) of some right old SATAN'S SLAVE-type ritual sex and murder. RED played as the support feature to DAMIEN: OMEN II amongst others. Audiences must have wondered if they'd wandered into the wrong screen. And possibly the wrong cinema. Definitely a highlight of the set.

Sanctum (1976)

The most experimental film of the set may likely be the most challenging film for many. Winner of the IAC (Institute of Amateur Cinematographers) top prize in 1976 this 8mm film without dialogue looks at one man's obsession with religious iconography while being haunted by his own guilt. I think. The film has a new score by 'The Begotten' which is described as outstanding by the press release, although some may consider its wall to wall soundscape of electronic wheezing, farting and grinding something of a challenge to get through. 

Play Safe (1978)

Two public information films, consisting of 'the one with the frisbee, the child, and the power station' and a longer ten minute one on electricity featuring an animated owl that will remind some of a certain Inside No.9 episode.

Black Angel (1980)

Roger Christian's highly atmospheric epic fantasy short

(it runs about 30 minutes) made an impression on a generation of youngsters when it was shown as the support picture to THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK in British cinemas. Many will have now caught up with it on YouTube but if you haven't, or if you fancy having this gorgeously shot, atmospheric piece of epic fantasy in a decent transfer then here it is, and thanks are due to the BFI for giving us an official version for our libraries. Familiar character actor Tony Vogel (who also starred in BBC1's 1979 Dick Barton series) plays a knight who returns home only to find his castle plundered and everyone dying of a strange disease. Eventually he meets the Black Angel of the title and has to face him / it in a duel. 

Disc two has two excellent extras. Astrid Frank discusses her life and career and the shooting of RED (18 minutes) while Roger Christian has a lot of interesting things to say about BLACK ANGEL and his relationship with George Lucas (22 minutes). There's also a stills gallery. The first pressing of the disc comes with a booklet featuring writing on each film as well as an essay by Sarah Appleton on NIGHT RIDE, and a short piece on The Begotten.  

Short Sharp Shocks Volume 4 is out in a two disc Blu-ray set from the BFI on Monday 13th October 2025

Wrack and Ruin: The Rubble Film at DEFA (1946 - 1948)

Let's start with a couple of definitions. The 'Rubble' or 'Debris' film (from the German Trümmerfilm) is used to describe those films made by Germany immediately after the end of World War II. As their name implies, many of these feature bombed-out cities as their primary locations. DEFA stands for Deutsche-Film-Aktiengesellschaft. It was East Germany's state-owned film studio, founded in post-war Germany and authorised to make movies inside the Soviet occupation zone and overseen by the Soviet Military Administration. One of its main aims was to aid in the denazification of Germany. Eureka are now releasing five of DEFA's films in a box set with extras, so let's take a look at what we get:

Disc One

The Murderers are Among Us (1946)

The first-ever rubble film tells the story of Susanne (Hildegard Knef) who returns from a concentration camp to her Berlin apartment only to find a stranger living there. This is Han Mertens (Wilhem Borchert), a surgeon, who is carrying with him a terrible secret from the war, one which comes back to haunt him when he realises the commanding officer of the concentration camp in which he served is still alive. 

From the opening shot it's obvious that, as well as being well-made, THE MURDERERS ARE AMONG US plans to pull no punches depicting the degree of devastation wrought by the bombing of Berlin. Director (and writer) Wolfgang Staudte manages some impressive camera setups (eg from on top of an overloaded train entering Berlin) and overall this is an excellent  film with a lot to say while also telling an engrossing story. 

Extras on disc one include a commentary track from Sergio Angelini which is very helpful if you've not encountered the rubble films before. From the Rubble is a 28 minute piece from Claire Knight about the founding of DEFA, Rebuilding Berlin is a 23 minute documentary from 1946 and to finish off there's newsreel footage from The Eyewitness from 1946 that includes material about the shooting of the film.

Disc Two

Somewhere in Berlin (1946)

The children (which basically means boys) who play on the rubble heaps are the main subject of this one, plus the adults they come into contact with. These include thief Waldemar (Fritz Rasp who would later appear in several Rialto Film Edgar Wallace krimis), a local artist, and a man who sells them stolen fireworks in exchange for food. When little Gustav's father returns from the war it signifies a change for all his family. 

The depiction of ordinary people taking advantage of the post-war situation must have been pretty unflinching for the period, and while that side of things is dealt with seriously, the film finishes with a note of tremendous optimism, suggesting Berlin will be rebuilt by its people, but it perhaps doesn't quite gel with what we've seen before.

Police Raid (1947)

A complete change of pace as we get a film that feels a lot more like the noir gangster pictures Hollywood was turning out at the time. Inspector Naumann (Paul Bildt) is determined to crack an organisation of black marketeers based at the Ali Baba club. A raid goes wrong and it turns out one of his men is an informant. The case is closed but Naumann carries on investigations on his own, with disastrous consequences.

Director Werner Klingler would go on to make 1962's THE TERROR OF DR MABUSE for Artur Brauner and here he demonstrates a keen ability for the police procedural, opening the film with scenes of crowds milling close to bombed out landmarks and contrasting these with the slick environs of the nightclub and those who profit from it.

Extras in disc two include commentary tracks on SOMEWHERE IN BERLIN from Elizabeth Ward and POLICE RAID by Sergio Angelini. Crimewave is a 20 minute visual essay by Sebastian Heiduschke which looks at plenty of imagery from the film. Rebuilding Potsdam is a 30 minute archival documentary from 1946 and we get another issue of The Eyewitness newsreel from 1946

Disc Three

Marriage in the Shadows (1947)

A change of pace again for this tale that begins in 1933. Elisabeth Maurer (Ilse Steppat) is a famous actress. Unfortunately she's Jewish and Nazism is on the rise. She marries fellow actor, the non-Jewish Hans (Paul Klinger) but their marriage is doomed to end in tragedy.

MARRIAGE IN THE SHADOWS is a remarkable film with a gut punch of an ending. Much of the dialogue in the earlier scenes will be terrifyingly prescient of events today as the proponents of Nazism face off against the more rational and tolerant. It's loosely based on the true story of the fate of the German actor Joachim Gottschalk and with its theatrical background the early scenes are reminiscent of some of the UK's output of the period.

The Blum Affair (1948)

Another film based on a true story, and another 'period piece' (it's set in 1926, during the Weimar republic). Dr Jakob Blum (Kurt Ehrhardt) is a Jewish industrialist who is accused of murdering his accountant, Wilhelm Platzer (Arno Paulsen). The actual murderer is a thief, Karlheinz Gabler (Hans Christian Blech) who is encouraged by the authorities to accuse Blum because Blum is a member of the current opposing political party. The courtroom drama that then ensues is riveting.

Again, like MARRIAGE IN THE SHADOWS, THE BLUM AFFAIR does a good job of contextualising the historical period in which its story takes place. Unemployment is high, people are desperate for work, and an advertisement for the position of a cashier in a remote bank is how Gabler goes about his crime. 

Extras on disc three include commentaries on MARRIAGE IN THE SHADOWS (by Sean Allan) and THE BLUM AFFAIR (by Rolland Man, written by David Melville Wingrove). Confronting the Past is 25 minutes from Sue Vice on DEFA and the Holocaust and there's a 37 minute archival documentary on 'Death Camp Sachsenhausen' with a warning at the beginning regarding its content that some may need to take heed of. There's also another issue of The Eyewitness, this time from 1947.

Finally, the set comes with a 60 page book featuring new writing on the films and a hardcase to keep everything in. This is a fascinating, educational and important set of films and full marks to Eureka for bringing them to a much wider audience in such an excellent package. 

Wrack and Ruin: The Rubble Film at DEFA is out from Eureka Entertainment in a three disc Blu-ray set on Monday 15th September 2025