Of course, good hands are not the only asset of a renowned pianist, and, some would argue, not even the most important. Good ear, and a good feel for music are important, too. Body parts being loyal to their original owner is a classic horror plot. Horror drama, body reanimation.

A story set in Austria during the 1800's where music is very important. A pianist makes his debut and will be very successful if not for the jealousy he creates. His friend/rival inherits his talent.

A musician has a chance to play another tune thus handing himself a future of somber tones.

This is a bizarre tale from Vienna in the early 1800's. Two concert pianists are rivals for the love of the same woman, and at the keys of the piano. An carriage accident early in the episode leaves one dead and the other with destroyed hands. A strange medical experiment makes one of them whole again, but not without consequences. This kind of late-night terror is what CBSRMT would be known for through the years.

Two pianists are returning from a concert debut together in Napoleanic France when one gets tired of the other’s gloating after his superior performance and he runs the cart off the road. The better, and more vain of the two suffers brain damage and dies, while the poorer pianist suffers severe damage to his hands. The father of the love interest of the better pianist is also a surgeon with a fierce love of music, and a great interest in contributing to the field in his own way. He proposes a grizzly solution to the survivor’s situation.

An interesting episode for sure. 3 stars.

An interesting episode. In particular, I noted how E.G. mentions that there was no pain killers for surgery at that time, but in the story they don't mention it at all - perhaps it was just an aside to give more gravitas to that point. I liked the idea that someone back then with worse equipment than we have now would be able to connect muscle tissue was well as nerves (although some of those could grow/connect on their own if I'm not misunderstanding). I also thought it interesting that there allegedly was little scar tissue after this surgery as well.

Does anyone know what piano music played at the opening of the radio-play is?

Concerning the third movement of the Moolight Sonata, she ought to have said, "I've never heard it played faster".

This story kept me on the edge of my seat... 5 star performance!

A tale of selfishness where the best part for me was about 38 minutes in... not a favorite at all.

A very good tale, creepy. Could picture this for a good Halloween scare. One of my favorites!

This bunch have some serious issues.

This is a radio drama based on a horror movie. I remember watching it around 1966. Does anyone know the name of the movie?

This is based on The Hands of Orlac, which has been remade several times. RMT usually credits inspirations, but not this time. In the original 1924 silent, the donor was an executed murderer

An octopus has a nervous system with distributed control so that arms really do have, to an amazing degree, minds of their own. Human hands? Not so much. This ghost story wasn't very effective because everyone is so dumb and no one acts or behaves in any way remotely like a real person. He got what he deserved because he had a guilty conscience, okay. But then why did this woman fall in love with her ex because he was wearing her deceased lover's hands? She's that vapid? But she's just a gold-digger who really hated both of them? But the hands were talented? Or the hands are really that imbued with the essence of the original man that they have the talent to be an extraordinary pianist and also the love.... oh, why bother. Thinking this through more than the author isn't worth it. This was a dog. Sorry, this story didn't work. As a kid, this would have bored me to sleep. As an adult, it's just eye-rolling dumb. Not creepy or haunting. Not an effective effort, although I applaud the cast for giving it their best (they were let down by a D.O.A. script). This actually makes me feel badly for people who are helped by transplant. They don't deserve this kind of superstition putting stigma on their life gifts.