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Film: Dead Man’s Eyes
Year: 1944
Director: Reginald Le Borg
Writer: Dwight V. Babcock
Starring: Lon Chaney Jr., Jean Parker and Paul Kelly
Review:
This was a film that I learned about thanks to the Horror Show Guide encyclopedia that I’m working through. What is interesting is that it was the next up from that list I made of those movies. Since we are in 2024, I held off watching this for months to make it a featured review for my Foray through the Fours as well. This is my second Inner Sanctum Mystery that I’ve seen, which I’ll bring up later.
Synopsis: when an artist is blinded, his fiancée’s father offers an operation to restore his sight. When the benefactor suddenly dies, the artist becomes a suspect.
Let me introduce our characters a bit. The artist is Dave Stuart (Lon Chaney Jr.). He is painting Tanya Czoraki (Acquanetta). We get the vibe that she is in love with him. He’s engaged though to Heather Hayden (Jean Parker). The two women finally meet when Dave declines an offer to get dinner with Tanya and Heather shows up to Dave’s place. We see that after painting for the day, he washes his eyes out. The solution is boric acid. He is also convinced that this painting he’s working on is the best of his career.
I’ll include here that Heather is being pursued by Nick Phillips (George Meeker). The two used to date, but I get the idea that she broke it off. Her father is Stanley (Edward Fielding) and he loves Dave. He can’t wait for the two to be married. Stanley isn’t a fan of Nick and doesn’t understand why his daughter entertains him. I should also include here that Dave has a friend of Alan Bittaker (Paul Kelly) is in love with Tanya. She doesn’t feel the same though.
Now the tragedy that puts the events into motion is Tanya washing her hands after a session. She moves around bottles in Dave’s closet. I’m not sure if she does this on purpose or not. Instead of washing his eyes out with the normal solution, he uses acetic acid. This blinds him. The accident destroys his confidence. He gives up on life, breaks his engagement off with Heather and then to get her to move on by telling her that he loves Tanya. This excites her, but she also feels guilty and stays on to help him in his time of need.
There is a chance though for Dave to regain his sight. Dr. Welles (Jonathan Hale) believes that a cornea transplant would work. It isn’t guaranteed though. Stanley offers him his when he passes away. This gets signed into his will through his attorney, played by Pierre Watkin. It becomes suspicious though when Stanley is murdered. The prime suspect is Dave, for obvious reasons. If that isn’t enough, the surgery happens and doesn’t seem to work, which makes him feel even worse.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is giving a bit of background on Inner Sanctum Mystery. These started out as radio dramas. They partnered with Universal and made six feature length films. It feels like the precursor to anthologies like The Twilight Zone, Outer Limits or Tales from the Darkside. They start out with a preamble by David Hoffman who is The Spirit of the Inner Sanctum.
Now that I’ve gotten that information out of the way, I thought this was an interesting story. There are different parts that are in a gray area and makes you wonder about the characters. The first would be if Tanya moved the bottles on purpose. I get the feeling that she did. I don’t know if she realized that it would blind Dave. It worked for what she wanted. She is in love with him from the beginning. Heather noticed it. Dave doesn’t. It is from there that we learn that Nick is in love with Heather, but she doesn’t feel that way. This annoys Stanley. The accident goes down and shatters our lead’s world.
It is from there that the people want to help him, but he doesn’t want it. He shuts down and I can’t fault him. I probably would as well. Because Dave is now a burden, he breaks off his engagement with Heather and then tells her that he’s in love with Tanya. I do believe he has feelings for the latter woman, but not the same as he does for Heather. Tanya, feeling guilty for what she did, contributes there as well. These are complicated relationships that add a dimension to this and that’s something I appreciate.
Let’s then get over to Stanley’s death. Captain Drury (Thomas Gomez) is the lead investigator. Dave would be the obvious suspect. He gets the old man’s eyes and Stanley’s attorney points out there is nothing that can be done there. It doesn’t help that Dave found the body and there is blood on his hands. I won’t spoil what happens here, but Dave claims he didn’t do it. We see that Stanley is already dead when he comes in. There are ways that the movie could swerve and there are other suspects as well. I did enjoy how this was managed for the story.
That should be enough for the story. What I’ll say before getting away from it is that for a movie running just over an hour, they utilize the time well. What helps make this work is the acting. Chaney is great here as our lead. Not is best performance, but still good. I like Parker as the Heather character. She doesn’t know if she can trust Dave since she comes in after her father has been murdered and sees the blood on him. Kelly works in his role. I like how he grows fond of Tanya and how he factors in more as we go. Gomez was fine as the detective. I like Hale, Fielding and Watkin as they become a catalyst to helping Dave. It also makes him a suspect. Meeker, Acquanetta and the rest of the cast round this out for what is needed.
All that is left is filmmaking. I’ve already said that despite its short runtime, I think they use all that time well. The cinematography is fine. The best part is showing Dave’s vision going blurry as his eyes are burned with acid. I did appreciate that. The rest work for what was needed. This is limited to effects used, but it also is more about the story and the acting. That works for what was needed. The same could be said for the soundtrack. Didn’t stand out or hurt the atmosphere for me.
In conclusion, this is a solid Inner Sanctum Mystery. I like that we have complicated characters and motives. That makes red herrings for the mystery to build. That brings in the Film Noir vibe. Credit to the acting with Chaney leading the way there. Even though this only runs an hour long, I think this has enough time to develop things well. I’d also say that the filmmaking was solid. The best part would be the cinematography, especially with the effect of Dave’s vision going out. Not one I can recommend to everyone. If you’re a fan of movies from this era, I’d say give this a watch. It was a solid film in my opinion.
My Rating: 7 out of 10