Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Michael O'Keefe Lon Chaney Jr is called Dr. Death. This is the initial mystery from Universal's "Inner Sanctum" series. Doctor Steele (Chaney Jr.) is a well known neurologist plagued by a beautiful, but unfaithful wife (Ramsay Ames). Despondent dealing with the thought of his conniving wife, Steele blacks out and loses track of time; upon returning home, he is met by Inspector Gregg (J. Carrol Naish), who advises him of the murder of his wife. The doctor is browbeaten in search of a confession. Steele is almost convinced that he did kill his cheating wife. The doc's attractive nurse, Stella (Patricia Morison), in her loyalty tries to prove her boss is innocent.This Film-Noir thriller is directed by Reginald Le Borg. Atmospheric and well acted. Other players include: David Bruce, George Eldredge, Holmes Herbert, Fay Helm and Charles Wagenheim.

Scarecrow-88 An eminent neurologist, whose psyche is starting to fracture because of his bad marriage, is starting to unravel as his no-good wife continues to harass him, flaunting her adultery and basically challenging Dr. Steele to do something about it (she taunts his inability to free himself from her, not knowing what could possibly result as he contemplates in his tormented mind the idea of murdering her). When her body is found in Steele's hunting lodge, her face destroyed by acid, could the doctor be responsible? Even worse, Dr. Steele was found by his assistant, Stella, in his office, suffering amnesia, unable to determine his whereabouts during the weekend his wife was murdered. Duval, Maria's lover, is the one arrested for the crime because he was there near the time of the murder, had a quarrel with her over leaving Steele, and seems like as good a candidate as any to kill the woman who could not abandon the position and social standing attributing to a life of luxury and prominence which comes from being married to a prestigious neurologist. Sentenced to the electric chair in court by circumstantial evidence, Duval seems doomed to die for a crime he didn't commit as Steele tries to unlock the mystery of his *lost weekend*. Talking to Duval, Steele is convinced he's hiding something—but what? An Inner Sanctum Mystery starring Lon Chaney Jr who, at this time in his career, continued to mine the sad pathos of Lawrence Talbot with characters like his Doc Steele, a wrongfully mistreated innocent, caught in a trap, seeking to escape. Maybe Steele isn't suffering from lycanthropy, but he's unsure of what took place for two days, having a hard time living with the thought that someone is possibly sentenced to death for a crime he might have actually committed, needing to reveal the concealed truth behind what actually happened and why. Of course, with any mystery, revelations regarding the true character of certain individuals emerge: Duval isn't a saint by any imagination and nurse Stella (the stunning Patricia Morison) may not be an angel Steele believes her to be. J. Carrol Naish is wonderful as Inspector Gregg, the detective on the case who seems convinced that Steele is behind the murder of his wife and often muses about his feelings to the doctor, a cynical air about him which seems to hit a nerve on every occasion they meet. My favorite scenes are between the uncomfortable Chaney and confident Naish, the insinuations and accusations freely offered by the cop to the man he considers (we think) the likely killer. Hypnosis is a device used in the plot to unearth the sinister details (Steele uses hypnosis as a technique to help his patients acknowledge what it is that has caused them such psychological crisis) behind Maria's violent death, explaining the unusual explosion in Steele's office (acid was used here as well) which led to certain important files in a cabinet being burned, and how a gambling debt, along with thousands of dollars taken from the doctor by his wife, was the culprit behind everything. Fay Helm, despite maybe one real scene, leaves quite an impression, as a nasty bitch who laughs in Chaney's face, mocking him, earning our immediate disgust because she has no qualms against torturing her devoted husband. Morison (the Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes film, "Dressed to Kill" may be her most memorable role), I would have loved to see Universal use in more Gothic horror movies; not sure why she wasn't. I must admit that I found the disembodied head in the crystal ball setting up these Inner Sanctum Mysteries to be a bit tacky, but it has a charm that goes with that particular era in horror. Most of the film has Chaney, whispering in voice-over, explaining Dr. Steele's thoughts to us.

MartinHafer In the 1940s, Universal Studios made a short series of films dubbed "The Inner Sanctum" movies. They all apparently starred Lon Chaney, Jr. and were B-movies. In other words, they were lower budget and ran at only a little over one hour, as they were intended to be the second (and lesser) film during a double-feature. In general, Bs were not great films, though compared to other films of the style, Inner Sanctum films are definitely a notch above the rest.In this installment, Chaney plays a Neurosurgeon who also does hypnosis (an odd combination by the way). He seems like a nice guy and you have to feel sorry for him since he's apparently married a horrible woman who treats him like dirt. When this lady is killed, you'd think that would be the end of his problems, however, police think he might be the killer and Chaney isn't sure himself since his memories of that weekend are missing! Using hypnosis, he gets to the heart of the problem.By the way, the hypnotic portions of the film were wrong in that hypnosis works very little like they showed it. However, as most people watching the film are NOT trained hypnotists (I am), they really won't notice or care that this aspect of the movie is mostly mumbo-jumbo. Aside from that, the acting, writing and direction are all pretty good--and the film is a nice diverting little mystery.By the way, this film is one of six that have been released on DVD--with three episodes on each DVD. This is from Disk 1 and also includes DEAD MAN'S EYES and WEIRD WOMAN--both of which are of comparable quality. I strongly recommend you see the series and if you like it, also try Columbia Pictures' WHISTLER series--as it's very similar in style.

bblumes the music is very good and a cast with Lon Chaney Patricia Morison J.Carrol Naish makes this a great little b movie. Also Ramsey Ames is Quite stunning as always. These inner sanctum movies are a lot of fun if you are a fan of the thirties and forties Universal horror pictures. The director Reginald Leborg was a skilled director who never got the credit he deserved. The movie has some very interesting camera techniques rarely seen in pictures of this era. Patricia Morison once said that Lon Chaney came up to her and shook her hand and told her that it was an honor to work with her. She was quite touched by this and had a number of nice things to say about Lon in an interview she gave about ten years ago.