The wheels were beginning to wobble on the Inner Sanctum Express with the release of its third film, Dead Man's Eyes; a fairly pedestrian murder mystery that illustrates the creative team's growing indifference to the material. The story is contrived and Director Reginald LeBorg, who labored impressively on the previous two entries under challenging circumstances, is unable to breathe much life into the story nor draw charismatic performances from his cast. Lon Chaney scores solo top billing above the title in what could have been an impressive tour de force characterization but he is betrayed by the screenplay.
Chaney is cast as struggling painter Dave Stuart who hopes his current portrait of smouldering Tanya Czoraki (Acquanetta) will catapult him to the big time and make him, in his eyes, worthy of his society fiancée Heather Hayden (Jean Parker). Through an innocent but horrible blunder by Tanya Dave accidentally washes his eyes out with acetic acid and is permanently blinded. He becomes embittered and breaks off his engagement to Heather while plunging himself into alcohol. Dave learns there is a risky corneal transplant procedure that could restore his sight but it requires fresh corneas; Heather's father Stanley "Dad" Hayden (Edward Fielding) changes his will to become that donor in order to provide hope. Soon Hayden is found murdered in his home with Dave and his bloodied hands standing over the body. The sightless artist protests his innocence to a horrified Heather but she is unconvinced; however the transplant is still performed. Dave emerges from the surgery still unable to see but determined to discover who killed Hayden and clear his name.
The narrative, concocted by screenwriter Dwight V. Babcock, is an opaque morass of unrequited affection, self sacrifice, and a love triangle between Dave (who loves Heather), Tonya (who loves Dave) and Dr. Alan Bittaker (Paul Kelly) who loves Tonya. On the periphery we also have Heather (who loves Dave) and Nick Phillips (George Meeker) who loves Heather. Everyone has a stake in whether or not Dave gets his eyesight back and they all (except for Heather) have a motive for knocking off Dad Hayden. In true murder mystery fashion all parties get steamed up over Hayden before he turns up dead and the rest of the narrative is concerned with who-done-it. Lots of talking, cajoling, and reasoning conspire with a lack of action to bog the story down. To add further confusion to the plot Babcock seems to have taken a cue from the Monster in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man by portraying the supposedly sightless Dave as someone with script-convenience blindness. In the end it makes sense but it poses unnecessary questions as the tale unfolds. The ultimate solution to the mystery and obscure clue that leads to the culprit's unmasking is ludicrously contrived and positively ridiculous.
Poor Reginald LeBorg seems to run out of creative juice with this one. He employs his familiar techniques of extreme closeups, tight medium shots, and a few montages to compensate for the dull sets and finite locations. The whispering Lon Chaney voiceovers unfortunately return and add nothing to the plot as there is minimal mental turmoil presented; only musings and ponderings over suspects. LeBorg resorts to the old chestnut of blaring newspaper headlines to convey information and, given the bizarre nature of the dead man's eyes angle, seem warranted.
The director fails to cajole animated performances from his cast although the script is a truly formidable opponent. Lon Chaney gives a better and more traditionally solid account of himself no doubt the result of being cast as a middle class, temperamental artist rather than some upper crust professional. He lays it on a bit thick as he broods over his accident; very gloomy, morose, and prone to fly off the handle with minimal provocation as only Lon can (subtlety is, as usual, absent from his interpretation). Chaney's penchant for self-flagellation, merely hinted at in the first two films, detonates into absurdity here as he stews over his situation. Still, this is an enjoyable performance and should please his fans. Jean Parker is solid as Heather and contributes the liveliest turn in the movie while Paul Kelly underplays his role as Dave's friend and psychiatrist Bettiker. Considering his body of work Kelly appears to phone this one in although he has a fine moment at the end when his true nature is revealed. Inheriting the nosy inspector role is Thomas Gomez as Captain Drury; Gomez is his typically oily self in a part that should have been better written. The rest of the supporting performances are ably filled with the exception of Acquanetta, the promoted "Venezuelan Volcano" who failed to erupt here or anywhere else in her brief film career, as the lovesick Tonya. She gives Ramsay Ames a run for her money as the worst performer in the series with a laughably inept rendition of the sultry model.
Dead Man's Eyes represents a turn for the worse among the Inner Sanctum films. Complacency had definitely begun to sink in at this point and the film is neither campy enough to be a guilty pleasure nor intelligent enough for a compelling mystery. There is the novelty of witnessing Lon Chaney solving a crime rather than perpetuating one while enjoying such veteran purveyors of melodrama as Paul Kelly and Thomas Gomez going through their paces. Overall this just seems like a missed opportunity to capitalize on a potentially intriguing premise.
Chaney is cast as struggling painter Dave Stuart who hopes his current portrait of smouldering Tanya Czoraki (Acquanetta) will catapult him to the big time and make him, in his eyes, worthy of his society fiancée Heather Hayden (Jean Parker). Through an innocent but horrible blunder by Tanya Dave accidentally washes his eyes out with acetic acid and is permanently blinded. He becomes embittered and breaks off his engagement to Heather while plunging himself into alcohol. Dave learns there is a risky corneal transplant procedure that could restore his sight but it requires fresh corneas; Heather's father Stanley "Dad" Hayden (Edward Fielding) changes his will to become that donor in order to provide hope. Soon Hayden is found murdered in his home with Dave and his bloodied hands standing over the body. The sightless artist protests his innocence to a horrified Heather but she is unconvinced; however the transplant is still performed. Dave emerges from the surgery still unable to see but determined to discover who killed Hayden and clear his name.
The narrative, concocted by screenwriter Dwight V. Babcock, is an opaque morass of unrequited affection, self sacrifice, and a love triangle between Dave (who loves Heather), Tonya (who loves Dave) and Dr. Alan Bittaker (Paul Kelly) who loves Tonya. On the periphery we also have Heather (who loves Dave) and Nick Phillips (George Meeker) who loves Heather. Everyone has a stake in whether or not Dave gets his eyesight back and they all (except for Heather) have a motive for knocking off Dad Hayden. In true murder mystery fashion all parties get steamed up over Hayden before he turns up dead and the rest of the narrative is concerned with who-done-it. Lots of talking, cajoling, and reasoning conspire with a lack of action to bog the story down. To add further confusion to the plot Babcock seems to have taken a cue from the Monster in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man by portraying the supposedly sightless Dave as someone with script-convenience blindness. In the end it makes sense but it poses unnecessary questions as the tale unfolds. The ultimate solution to the mystery and obscure clue that leads to the culprit's unmasking is ludicrously contrived and positively ridiculous.
Poor Reginald LeBorg seems to run out of creative juice with this one. He employs his familiar techniques of extreme closeups, tight medium shots, and a few montages to compensate for the dull sets and finite locations. The whispering Lon Chaney voiceovers unfortunately return and add nothing to the plot as there is minimal mental turmoil presented; only musings and ponderings over suspects. LeBorg resorts to the old chestnut of blaring newspaper headlines to convey information and, given the bizarre nature of the dead man's eyes angle, seem warranted.
The director fails to cajole animated performances from his cast although the script is a truly formidable opponent. Lon Chaney gives a better and more traditionally solid account of himself no doubt the result of being cast as a middle class, temperamental artist rather than some upper crust professional. He lays it on a bit thick as he broods over his accident; very gloomy, morose, and prone to fly off the handle with minimal provocation as only Lon can (subtlety is, as usual, absent from his interpretation). Chaney's penchant for self-flagellation, merely hinted at in the first two films, detonates into absurdity here as he stews over his situation. Still, this is an enjoyable performance and should please his fans. Jean Parker is solid as Heather and contributes the liveliest turn in the movie while Paul Kelly underplays his role as Dave's friend and psychiatrist Bettiker. Considering his body of work Kelly appears to phone this one in although he has a fine moment at the end when his true nature is revealed. Inheriting the nosy inspector role is Thomas Gomez as Captain Drury; Gomez is his typically oily self in a part that should have been better written. The rest of the supporting performances are ably filled with the exception of Acquanetta, the promoted "Venezuelan Volcano" who failed to erupt here or anywhere else in her brief film career, as the lovesick Tonya. She gives Ramsay Ames a run for her money as the worst performer in the series with a laughably inept rendition of the sultry model.
Dead Man's Eyes represents a turn for the worse among the Inner Sanctum films. Complacency had definitely begun to sink in at this point and the film is neither campy enough to be a guilty pleasure nor intelligent enough for a compelling mystery. There is the novelty of witnessing Lon Chaney solving a crime rather than perpetuating one while enjoying such veteran purveyors of melodrama as Paul Kelly and Thomas Gomez going through their paces. Overall this just seems like a missed opportunity to capitalize on a potentially intriguing premise.