CALLING DR. DEATH
This one stars Chaney as a doctor who uses hypnotism in his practice and was directed by Reginald LeBorg. It’s heavy on voice-over inner-dialogue for Chaney who is tormented by living in a loveless marriage, filled with intrusive thoughts of killing his wife (Ramsay Ames). Sure enough he goes on a bender and his wife turns out dead. Looks like he did it, but did he? J. Carrol Naish is on the case as a police inspector who is straight out of a noir flick and a highlight of the film. This mystery kept me guessing until the end, so it works on that level, and is one of the better INNER SANCTUM MYSTERIES. We’re off to a good start.
WEIRD WOMAN
Once again directed by Reginald LeBorg, this time Chaney stars as… well, he’s a college professor of some kind, I think maybe a cultural anthropologist? He’s in the South Seas doing some research when he falls in love with a woman (Anne Gwynne, second only to Evelyn Ankers in Universal horror appearances, seemingly) who was brought up by the islanders, marries her, and brings her back home with him. Another professor at the college (hey look, it’s Evelyn Ankers) is jealous, and there’s much collegey bickering about publishing and tenure and things like that, plus some murder. Everyone suspects Gwynne, since she comes from an island, and overall this flick is mostly an outdated exercise in racism, though it was probably considered progressive for its time.
DEAD MAN’S EYES
Acquanetta makes her triumphant return to Horrorfest in DEAD MAN’S EYES. Reginald LeBorg is back as director and Chaney is back as an artist who finds himself blinded and unable to work. There is an operation that could cure him, but the eye donor’s gotta croak before the operation can go through and turns up dead prematurely. So now we have Chaney accused of murder again. DID HE DO IT, etc. There’s a pretty cool twist ending, and Acquanetta is on hand as a model that has fallen for the blind artist, so this is a better than average INNER SANCTUM flick.
THE FROZEN GHOST
This is where things go sort of downhill. To be honest I can’t even really remember that much of this mystery. This time we switch directors for Harold Young, and Chaney stars as a popular mentalist performing on stage and radio. A man accidentally dies while under hypnosis, and Chaney blames himself. Then there’s a bunch of stuff at a wax museum where a crazed and disgraced plastic surgeon played effectively by Martin Kosleck works as a sculptor. The climax is memorable, involving the furnace of the wax museum and an unfortunate fall. But for the life of me this one was so convoluted it lost me.
STRANGE CONFESSION
This one’s interesting in that it’s sort of a remake of NIGHT KEY, with flu vaccines standing in for security systems. Chaney’s developing a vaccine for a company owned by J. Carrol Naish, an actor who should be in everything all the time, and quits when Nash takes his vaccine and all the glory behind developing it. Settling into a humble life as a pharmacist, Chaney’s pulled back in when Naish apologizes and begs for him back. Chaney wants to say no but his wife (Brenda Joyce) wishes they had more money. As soon as he’s back in employ, Chaney’s shipped off to South America to develop a drug (along with Lloyd Bridges!) and Naish puts the moves on Chaney’s wife. He also rushes Chaney’s drug into development before it’s tested and proved, disaster strikes, and Chaney seeks revenge. This was probably my second favorite INNER SANCTUM mystery, after CALLING DR. DEATH.
PILLOW OF DEATH
And here’s the last INNER SANCTUM mystery, one of the more forgettable ones, this time directed by Wallace Fox. Now Chaney’s a lawyer who wants to divorce his wife and marry his secretary but when his wife turns up dead everyone thinks he killed her! This happens to Chaney a lot. His dead wife’s wealthy family employs a medium (J. Edward Bloomberg) who points the finger at Chaney. As usual there’s at least a little twist in the end here, and WIZARD OF OZ fans take note: Clara “Aunt Em” Blandick co-stars.
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