1940s 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.

1940s Inner Sanctum Series Part One

CALLING DR. DEATH

(1943)

Dir - Reginald Le Borg

Overall: GOOD

 

Universal kicked-of their six-film Inner Sanctum series with Calling Dr. Death; a breezy noir thriller that establishes the common motifs that would run through most of them.  The isolated, floating crystal ball head of David Hoffman ominously opens things up before the main story, (which features Lon Chaney Jr. in the lead), kicks off and ultimately drops a mysterious murder on us.  It was apparently at Chaney's insistence that inner dialog narration was added to Edward Dein's script, which was a wise move for these films as it both keeps the momentum going when less action is happening on screen and helps us stay invested in his character's psyche.  The plot twist is easy to spot due to the small amount of characters only logically pointing to one culprit, but the inevitable reveal is still cleverly handled in a sensationalized manner where Patrica Morison is tricked under hypnosis to give us a visually fetching montage.  Most of the psychological concepts are pure over-simplified Hollywood nonsense, but there is enough attention to detail as well as a cursing pace and a solid performance from Chaney to keep one on board.

 

WEIRD WOMAN

(1944)

Dir - Reginald Le Borg

Overall: GOOD

 

The second entry in Universal's B-level block of films based off of the Inner Sanctum radio serial is an adaptation of Fritz Leiber's Conjure Wife which was famously perfected eighteen years later by director Sidney Hayes as Night of the Eagle.  Here given the sensationalized title of Weird Woman, it joins the series' leading man Lon Chaney Jr. with his frequent co-star Evelyn Ankers as well as Anne Gwynne and Elizabeth Russell.  This was probably the most dashing role that Chaney ever got where no less than three different women are obsessively smitten with him, which forces one of them to resort to faux-jungle voodoo, another to manipulation, and another to melodramatic frustration.  Though the story is markedly different and condensed, fans of both the source material and Hayes' British masterpiece will recognize the bare-bones similarities.  It makes for a talky sixty-three minutes, but director Reginald Le Borg keeps things moving as agreeably as can be expected and the performances are professionally solid.  By her and the studio's own admittance, Ankers was miscast as the villain, but it is interesting at least to see the generally innocent scream queen in a less sympathetic and more sinister light.

 

DEAD MAN'S EYES

(1944)

Dir - Reginald Le Borg

Overall: MEH

Director Reginald Le Borg helmed the first three entries in Universal's Inner Sanctum series and his last Dead Man's Eyes is also the first one to suffer a drop in quality.  A reason for this is the redundant nature of the script by first time screenwriter Dwight V. Babcock which has its own gimmicky hook of Lon Chaney Jr. playing a recently-made blind man, but also retreads the identical finale used in the previous year's Calling Dr. Death where Chaney dupes the true villain into revealing themselves while the police listen in.  There are far wackier and more convoluted plots out there to be sure, but this one is just silly enough not to take seriously and the story never picks up enough steam to get moving.  Chaney for his part is efficient yet unremarkable as the joyous painter turned bitter handicap, but he does as good of a job as any other professional thespian would at playing a wide-eyed character whose optical proficiency has left them.   Most of the supporting cast is interchangeable, but it does include the "Venezuelan Volcano" Acquanetta as well as Jean Parker, who had a busy career for a few decades and whose character here has the less than flattering nickname of "Brat".