DEAD MAN'S EYES - "An Inner Sanctum Mystery" (1944)

 

Like Jay and the Techniques said back in 1966, 'We gotta keep the ball rollin" and also just like "The Hokey Pokey," that's what this Saturday Night Special is all about!

 

Tonight's feature is the third of six "Inner Sanctum" mysteries that were made between 1943 to 1945. "Inner Sanctum" was a radio show that aired from January 7, 1941 to October 5, 1952, and this series of movies happened after Universal bought the rights in 1943.

 

 

Each of these "Inner Sanctum" films except the last one, "Pillow Of Death" opened with the disembodied head of David Hoffman as "The Spirit Of The Inner Sanctum" giving a brief warning to the viewing audience.

 

As you can see, it was probably quite painful for Mr. Hoffman, whose last role was that of the messenger in William Castle's "13 Ghosts."

Lon Chaney Jr. was the star of all six of the ""Inner Sanctum" films.

 

 In this one, Lon is Dave Stuart, a good artist with a promising career. In this shot, he's working on his current project, a portrait of a woman named Tanya as played by the awesome actress Acquanetta. I've often wondered if she ever got paid for the use of her name by the makers of Acqua Net hair spray!

When his eyes get tired, Dave puts boric acid on them to make them feel better, but it would have probably been better for him if he didn't store acetic acid on the same shelf!

It's nice to see Lon in a role where he's a suave and debonair gentleman instead of some kind of monster! Dave and his fiance Heather are getting ready to get hitched, and life is good. Heather is played by Jean Parker, whose many roles have included women with names like Mazie, Timka, Toni, Betty, Sally, Molly, Kitty, Necia, Della, Dixie, Madge, Frances, Doris, Shirley, Hatti, Dolly, and Clara, and that's only about half of them!

Dave thinks his pal, a psychiatrist named Alan and his model Tanya, would make a swell couple, but secretly Tanya is in love with Dave instead. Alan was played by Paul Kelly, who in 1915 starred in a series of 18 comedy shorts about a guy named Willie Jarr.

Tanya accidentally got the bottles out of order, and Dave gets acetic instead of boric acid in his already sore eyes!

Dave is permanently blinded, which for a painter of fine arts, is just not cool.

Dave believes and agrees that it was just a mistake, and isn't vindictive toward Tanya at all.

Heather's Dad is very rich, and he likes Dave a lot, enough so that he tells Dave that he will make out a will that says when he dies, they can remove his corneas for an operation that might possibly restore Dave's vision. Edward Fielding had the role of Stanley Hayden. In his first role in 1916, Edward played Dr. Watson in a movie called "Sherlock Holmes."

 

I honestly believe this is the weirdest fireplace I have ever seen, just like an open fire in the room. I'm assuming there's some kind of vent above it there in the wall

Dave is understandably on a bummer, and he doesn't even want to get married any more.

Now Dave is just spending all his time drinking. The good news is that he gets to wear cool dark glasses!

One night Heather comes home to find her Father dead on the floor. Dave is there for no understandable reason, and worse than that, his hands are covered with blood!

Heather freaks!

 

The newspapers are all over this story, because even though Dave is the suspected murderer, he is still in the will as the recipient of the dead man's eyes.

He gets the surgery, and it seems like after all that, it was still a failure.

 

Somebody murders Tanya, and the portly Captain Drury who has been on the case the whole time, does everything he can come up with to prove that the operation was a success, and that Dave can actually now see, and is perfectly capable of murder. Thomas Gomez as Captain Drury is another one of those special people that was in more than one episode of "The Twilight Zone." Those two shows were "Escape Clause," an "Dust." Oddly enough, Thomas's first role in 1942 was also a Sherlock Holmes film titled "Sherlock Holmes And The Voice Of Terror."

  Dave really didn't kill Tanya or Heather's Dad, and his vision really was restored. There's a happy ending, and Heather gets to wear that crazy looking hat, and look good doing it some how.