---
name: "Herman Hand"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/herman-hand"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "17 August 1875"
died: "1 December 1951"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 78
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-09-19T22:54:49.474255+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Herman Hand

Composer. Born 17 August 1875 in Vienna, Austria. Died 1 December 1951.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 17 August 1875, Vienna, Austria
- **Died:** 1 December 1951
- **Active:** 1932–1935
- **Frequently works with:** [Gary Cooper](https://film.one/person/gary-cooper.md)
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Romance 2, War 2, Adventure 1
- **Screen time:** 5 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $3m across 1 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q112452480, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0359471/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1092864

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*A Farewell to Arms*](https://film.one/film/a-farewell-to-arms.md) (80)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Herman Hand was an Austrian-born American composer and orchestrator. Born in Vienna in 1875, he trained as a French horn player at the Vienna Conservatory before emigrating to the United States in 1900. He became a naturalised citizen in 1922 and worked initially in theatre, providing incidental music and orchestrations for Broadway productions including *Chauve-Souris* (1922).

From the late 1920s he contributed to Hollywood film scores, mainly for Paramount Pictures. His work, often uncredited, included composition and orchestration on films such as *A Farewell to Arms* (1932), *Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde* (1931), *Shanghai Express* (1932), *I'm No Angel* (1933), *The Lives of a Bengal Lancer* (1935) and *The Devil Is a Woman* (1935). He continued as an orchestrator into the 1940s on titles including *North West Mounted Police* (1940) and *Unconquered* (1947). Hand died in Los Angeles in 1951.

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, rjmartz.com, catalog.afi.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

- *The Lives of a Bengal Lancer* (1935), Fi1m 74, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/the-lives-of-a-bengal-lancer.md)
- *A Farewell to Arms* (1932), Fi1m 80, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/a-farewell-to-arms.md)
- *Shanghai Express* (1932), Fi1m 80, Orchestrator — [page](https://film.one/film/shanghai-express.md)

## Complete filmography (24)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Columbia: America's Greatest Power Stream* (1949), Orchestrator
- *Mystery Broadcast* (1943), Orchestrator
- *No Time for Love* (1943), Orchestrator
- *North West Mounted Police* (1940), Orchestrator
- *Rulers of the Sea* (1939), Orchestrator
- *You and Me* (1938), Orchestrator
- *The Devil Is a Woman* (1935), Music
- *The Lives of a Bengal Lancer* (1935), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/the-lives-of-a-bengal-lancer.md)
- *Lone Cowboy* (1933), Music
- *I'm No Angel* (1933), Original Music Composer
- *Terror Aboard* (1933), Original Music Composer
- *King of the Jungle* (1933), Original Music Composer
- *A Farewell to Arms* (1932), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/a-farewell-to-arms.md)
- *Devil and the Deep* (1932), Original Music Composer
- *The Man from Yesterday* (1932), Music
- *The World and the Flesh* (1932), Original Music Composer
- *The Miracle Man* (1932), Music
- *Shanghai Express* (1932), Orchestrator — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/shanghai-express.md)
- *Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde* (1931), Music
- *Rich Man's Folly* (1931), Music
- *Ladies' Man* (1931), Original Music Composer
- *Dishonored* (1931), Music
- *Man of the World* (1931), Music
- *Monte Carlo* (1930), Original Music Composer

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/herman-hand