After a promising start with Calling Dr. Death (1943), Universal's Inner Sanctum series hits near bottom with this turkey. Mentalist Gregor (Chaney) uses his hypnotic powers to read minds, which makes for a good stage act until he goes bonkers over a subject's accidental death. From then on events pile up in no particular order or reason. The only requirement appears that whatever the four writers come up with, it has to happen inside the cheesy wax museum where notorious villains of the past slouch around like department store manikins. I guess they're supposed to be scary. But that's hard to tell since director Young appears to have no discernible purpose in what he puts on-screen. The final product plays like it's assembled from 5-dollar odds and ends inside a single tacky set.
And that's too bad, because it's a waste of an outstanding supporting cast-- Dumbrille and Kosleck, Ankers and Birell. One thing about this series—it sure has its share of classy dames. However, part of the series' problem is a miscast Chaney. His hulking frame is not exactly the dress-up, lover-boy type. Yet his role in the series has him playing intellectual, irresistible types from one entry to the next. No doubt the studio was hoping to promote the films with his Wolf Man reputation. Also, note that he's not appearing with any body make-up as he does in so many of his other horror features. I wouldn't be surprised he had that written into his contract, maybe in hopes of elevating his career out of the horror genre. As a result, the scariest thing he does here is stare into the camera for bleary-eyed close-ups. Thus, about the only reason to scope out this disappointing 60-minutes is to catch Chaney in a Clark Gable moustache.
And that's too bad, because it's a waste of an outstanding supporting cast-- Dumbrille and Kosleck, Ankers and Birell. One thing about this series—it sure has its share of classy dames. However, part of the series' problem is a miscast Chaney. His hulking frame is not exactly the dress-up, lover-boy type. Yet his role in the series has him playing intellectual, irresistible types from one entry to the next. No doubt the studio was hoping to promote the films with his Wolf Man reputation. Also, note that he's not appearing with any body make-up as he does in so many of his other horror features. I wouldn't be surprised he had that written into his contract, maybe in hopes of elevating his career out of the horror genre. As a result, the scariest thing he does here is stare into the camera for bleary-eyed close-ups. Thus, about the only reason to scope out this disappointing 60-minutes is to catch Chaney in a Clark Gable moustache.