In 1965’s Curse of the Stone Hand, a dilapidated mansion sits deserted. Two men explore the grounds of the estate and one of them mentions that this house was once the finest in “Kent” but now the locals feel that it is cursed. There are mysterious stone sculptures of hands throughout the house. Some inhabitants think that the hands are the source of the curse. The first inhabitant of the house was a degenerate gambler named Robert Braun (Carlos Cores), who gambled himself into debt and, as a result, joined the Suicide Club as a way to try to win back his money. The hands, we are told, are somehow to blame for this, though it sounds like it’s more of a case of Robert needing to join Gamblers Anonymous. Once Robert was no longer in the house, the estate was claimed by another rich family. The family’s son was a sadist who had the power of hypnotism, which he used to torment his sister’s fiancé. Again, in my opinion, it’s open to debate as to whether or not the hands are to blame. To me, it seems more likely that the hypnotist is just a spoiled wastrel who wasn’t properly raised by his parents. The message seems to be less “Beware of the hands” and more “Don’t let your child grow up to be a hypnotist.”
If all of this sounds disjointed, that’s because it is. American film distributor Jerry Warren purchased two Chilean films and then edited them together to form what would become Curse of the Stone Hand. He dubbed over the dialogue to create some false connections between the two films and then he shot a few extra scenes with Katherine Victor and John Carradine. Victor and Carradine served to provide exposition, filling in the blanks that had been created by Warren’s mash-up. John Carradine’s character is especially interesting because he’s credited as being “The Old Drunk” but his character doesn’t ever appear to be drunk. Instead, he appears to just be one of the many people who works on the estate and who has opinions about the family that lives there. Carradine only has about two minutes of screen time. (Of course, Jerry Warren gave him top billing.) He’s not onscreen long enough to really give a performance that could be considered either good or bad. That said, it’s impossible not to smile whenever John Carradine shows up in one of these films. It’s always a little amusing how John Carradine effortlessly went back and forth from working with John Ford to working with people like Jerry Warren. Before there was Eric Roberts, there was John Carradine.
Curse of the Stone Hand is pretty much an incoherent film. It’s possible that the original Chilean films were good. Some of the shots do feature a bit of atmosphere. But, ultimately, it’s impossible to tell while watching this film, with its dubbed dialogue and its incomprehensible plot. That said, I’ll always have a spot in my heart for the shamelessness of filmmakers like Jerry Warren. Warren knew that you could get a lot out of a melodramatic title and a cameo from a name performer. Curse of the Stone Hand stands as a tribute to his never give up, never surrender spirit.
