a_chinn Corny low budget horror film about a rich old woman who staves off her relatives seeing inheritance by using her creepy insane brother to act as the butler, who then frightens (and possibly murders) them off. The brother is played by Craig Stevens, who's later play the ultra cool Peter Gunn, but here he's looking very much like Riff Raff from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Overall, it's a dumb mystery that's not at all scary. The film is very stagey (there was basically one set) and is overly talky. At times, this film felt like an SCTV parody of this type of bad 1940s horror picture. No real reason to watch this one outside of camp value.

MartinHafer "The Hidden Hand" is an interesting twist on the familiar old dark house thrillers. But, like so many similar films in this genre in this era, it has Willie Best on hand...as if there was some unwritten law that he be on hand in each of these films!!The film begins with a madman escaping from the sanitarium. It seems that John Channing (Milton Parsons) was assisted in his escape by his sister, Lorinda (Cecil Cunningham). She seems pretty unconcerned about her murderous brother's antics and wants his help in throwing an interesting party. She has invited her relatives there and she knows most of them are real swine....and she and John are going to make sure the deserving ones don't leave the house alive!There are many nice twists in the film...but I don't want to discuss them because it would spoil the film. Overall, it's fun and quite entertaining...and well worth seeing.

MikeMagi There was a time when every major studio turned out "B" movies, 60 minute quickies to fill a double bill. "The Hidden Hand," for example. It features a group of credible, little-known actors (aside from Craig Stevens who had not yet played Peter Gunn) and keeps the budget slim by using only one set, a mysterious mansion where members of a greedy family gather to be knocked off. Why are there a pair of homicidal hands behind the painting in the living room? How come the carpet nearby hides a quick dip in a watery grave?? And how did the mistress of the manor get out of the crypt in which she was interred to plot the demise of her house guests? At least, the cast includes Milton Parsons who is either the funniest or scariest butler to escape an insane asylum. In short, a surprisingly entertaining throwback.

Norm-30 Milton Parsons was a great character actor of the 1940's, and appeared in many films, especially the Charlie Chan series.This film is probably his BIGGEST role; altho, for some odd reason he is billed 8th (He's one of the top 3 characters).He plays an escaped maniac from a mental institution, who helps his not-so-sane-either sister kill off the greedy members of their family, who want the "hidden treasure".An excellent film, with many plot twists, secret panels, and great scared-reaction comedy by Willie Best.