“Mad Love” (1935)

For once: grand guignol as noun rather than adjective.

Peter Lorre plays that rarest of things — a wimpering sadist. A brilliant doctor, he’s obsessed with an actress of the aforementioned French genre. If, like me, you’re a fan of the “someone transplanted a murderer’s hands on the end of my arms” movies, Mad Love is the benchmark.

High style weirdness ensues, with big helpings of broad humour, gothic atmospherics and of course, Lorre’s indelible performance. Colin “Dr. Frankenstein” Clive hams it up as usual, but you won’t care.

This is an “old” movie that holds up amazingly well today and puts most modern productions to shame.

Mad Love is a true classic that can be enjoyed again and again. Well worth buying.