40's Inner Sanctum Series Part Two

THE FROZEN GHOST

(1945)

Dir - Harold Young

Overall: MEH

Given the misleading title of The Frozen Ghost, Universal's forth Inner Sanctum mystery is mediocre from front to back.  Again a hypnotism angle is utilized, this time with Lon Chaney Jr. playing a professional in the field who comes to believe that his sensory powers are causing people around him to drop like flies.  Also, the bad guy is caught once more with the police just outside the door listening in, so the go-to plot points were getting a hefty workout.  It all amounts to knowingly cornball stuff, even if the presentation is dry and without much of any campy flourishes.  This was the second and last of the Inner Sanctum movies to pair Chaney with his usual costar Evelyn Ankers, yet their chemistry is lacking.  Speaking of Chaney, he goes through the motions here for the first time in the series, but this is mostly due to his bland character who does not have much to do besides brood and disappear for several portions of the running time.  Martin Kosleck is better utilized as a shady doctor turned wax sculptor, with his naturally sinister demeanor letting the audience in on the fact that he is up to no good even before such things are officially confirmed. 

STRANGE CONFESSION

(1945)

Dir - John Hoffman

Overall: MEH

 

The first in the Inner Sanctum series from Universal to entirely forgo any horror and/or mystery elements, Strange Confession, (The Missing Head), at least gets points for changing up the formula.  It also deserves some props for shining a light on unethical pharmaceutical drug production, be it a simplified, melodramatic light.  Still, there were not many films of either the A or B variety from the era to delve into such controversial issues that ring even more ugly and true eight decades later.  Lon Chaney Jr is a sought-after chemist who goes back to work for his shady former employer played by J. Carrol Naish who bypasses as many avenues as possible to increase his profits.  Things play out in a predictable fashion where we know the bad guy is up to no good every step of the way and that it is only a matter of time before Chaney discovers the level of betrayal that he has suffered, but the finale still packs a gruesome punch.  M. Coates Webster's script cannot justify its mere sixty-three minute length as it still comes off as stretched-out with no action until the very end, but is is a harmlessly efficient watch.  Plus Lloyd Bridges is in it so that is something.

PILLOW OF DEATH

(1945)

Dir - Wallace Fox

Overall: MEH

Universal wraps up their Inner Sanctum mystery series with the first and only one not to open with David Hoffman's disembodied head in a crystal ball.  The goofy title Pillow of Death actually proves appropriate in the movie's final moments where the killer's method of offing their victims is revealed and the road to get there is colored by a couple of seances and red herrings.  Lon Chaney Jr. is an attorney this time who is suspected along with several other would-be culprits of not only killing his wife, but two other people as things keep moving, with a sly, psychic medium, crotchety heiress and her dinner-craving husband, wackadoo maid, eavesdropping neighbor, and attractive secretary all thrown into the mix.  As is typical of the now six-movie-deep franchise, both the melodrama and the camp are dished out gingerly as to not become too unintentionally silly, yet this is also at the cost of making the final product as memorable as it could be.  The film has some macabre atmosphere of only the most mild variety and while director Wallace Fox keeps the talky plot moving forward as much as can be expected, it still results in a mediocre at best whodunit.