The Hands of Mr. Ottermole story
In 1919 London, a serial killer is stalking the streets, killing by strangulation a husband and wife, an elderly flower seller, and a policeman. The city is filled with fear, and the police, led by Sgt. Ottermole, are stumped. Journalist Summers suspects that the killer has to be someone that people take for granted, and helps trap the true killer: Sgt. Ottermole, who claims that his hands are out of his control. Directed by: Robert Stevens. Story by: Thomas Burke, Francis Cockrell.
7 total · 4 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| evil hand | major | Sargent Ottermole explained that the murderous impulse resided solely in the eponymous body-parts of his, which acted quite on their own accord. Sargent Ottermole claimed that his murderous impulse resided solely in his hands, which acted quite on their own accord. Summers supposed that Sargent Ottermole was probably insane for thinking Ottermole's own hands could have a murderous mind of their own. |
| journalism | major | The newspaper reporter Summers pestered the officers while they conducted their investigation into the serial murder. |
| law enforcement | major | The story followed police efforts to catch a serial killer who was going around strangling people. |
| serial murder | major | The story followed efforts to catch a serial killer who was going around strangling people. |
| coping with the death of a family member | minor | A nephew lamented the death by strangulation of his aunt and uncle. |
| husband and wife | minor | We heard a husband speak jovially to his wife, before he was brutally strangled to death. |
| racism in society | minor | A police officer ventured that the murderer must be a (disgusted voice) foreigner since no Englishman had the murderous temperament required. |