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In this above average offering from Universal, Inner Sanctum series regular Lon Chaney plays a talented painter named Dave Stewart who is in love with a girl he intends to marry (Jean Parker). His beautiful model (CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN's Acquanetta) is jealous of their romance and would rather have Dave all to herself. One day after a grueling painting session, Dave's eyewash gets switched with acid, and the artist is rendered blind when he accidentally douses his tired eyes with it. His fiancé's elderly father generously offers to donate his eyes to Dave upon his death, so when the old man is subsequently murdered, all suspicion points to the blinded painter.

This mild whodunit offers a variety of possibilities as to who the murderer might be -- is it Dave Stewart? His jilted model? Or perhaps one of two other men who harbor a jealousy (one loves Acquanetta, the other desires Dave's woman)...? It's a pity the exotic beauty Acquanetta never learned to act (and if you think she's horrible here, you should see her in 1944's JUNGLE WOMAN!). This entry also features Thomas Gomez as a pushy policeman who keeps on Chaney's trail, much as J. Carrol Naish did (but better) in the first Inner Sanctum Mystery, CALLING DR. DEATH. **1/2 out of ****

Dead Man's Eyes (1944) is the third of six Inner Sanctum films starring Lon Chaney, Jr. It is has a very intense atmosphere and is an overall good movie. David Stuart is an artist and engaged to be married to Heather Hayden. Heather's father, Dad Hayden, likes David. Tanya Czoraki is David's model - she falls for David, becomes jealous of his engagement and blinds David. David's friends tell him of a very expensive eye operation that may or may not work involving a dead man's eyes. David loves Heather, he wants to marry her but pushes her away due to his blindness. He's tired of everyone feeling sorry for him and wants his eye sight back. But at what price? Murder for their eyes? Or is David being set up?

This one is quite interesting and worth watching if you like mysteries, crime, thrillers and horror.

7.5/10

Artist Dave Stewart is engaged to beautiful rich Heather Hayden (Jean Parker). Unfortunately his model Tania (Acquanetta) loves him too and is insanely jealous. One night he accidentally (???) puts acid in his eyes and becomes blind. There is one chance to regain his sight--an eye operation...but who's eyes will he use? Then someone dies...

A little convoluted but enjoyable, compact murder mystery. It's briskly paced and never dull. The acting is OK--Chaney is just OK in his role, Parker is very good but Acquanetta, while being very beautiful, is a terrible actress. The only problem with this is that it IS pushing credibility to believe that Parker and Acquanetta are head over heels in love with Chaney! Still, not bad. I give it a 6.

The third movie in the theatrical "Inner Sanctum" series is fine entertainment for old time thriller lovers. Lon Chaney Jr. is in fine form as Dave Stuart, a painter. He's engaged to rich girl Heather Hayden (Jean Parker), and this is in fact a union that her father Stanley (Edward Fielding) is eager to see come to fruition. One day Dave mistakes acid for his eyewash and blinds himself, and Stanley promises Dave that he will provide his own eyeballs for a risky cornea operation should the old man die. Well, the old man *does* get murdered, and Dave falls under suspicion. And, as it turns out, there are others who could conceivably benefit from the death.

"Dead Man's Eyes" is not what this viewer would consider a great mystery, but it *is* a solid and engaging diversion for barely over an hour. (All of the "Inner Sanctum" movies have very trim running times.) It does its job at setting up dubious characters and their motives, and having suspicion keep shifting from one to another. The filmmaking (Reginald LeBorg is the director) is efficient and to the point.

The acting is wonderful from much of the cast. Lon Jr. is rather over emphatic at times, but there's no denying the sincerity of his performance. Parker is cute and appealing. Acquanetta, who plays Tanya, the model who is in love with Dave, is a striking beauty but not much of an actress. Paul Kelly is good fun as Alan Bittaker, Daves' chipper psychiatrist friend. Thomas Gomez is likewise a stitch as the smirking detective on the case. Jonathan Hale (as the eye surgeon), Fielding, and George Meeker (as Heathers' pathetic former boyfriend) are all rock solid.

Fans of Lon Jr. would do well to check him out in this sort of atmospheric Universal B picture, where he's not required to put on elaborate makeup or dress in fanciful costume.

Seven out of 10.

DEAD MAN'S EYES (Universal, 1944), directed by Reginald LeBorg, the third in the "Inner Sanctum" mysteries based on the radio series owned and operated by Simon and Schuster Publishers, stars Lon Chaney, Universal's resident horror star, taking time away from both Wolf Man and Mummy characterizations. Opening in tradition with a man's head inside the crystal ball, addressing the audience by saying, "This is the Inner Sanctum, the fantastic world controlled by mass of living, cult seeking flesh. The mind, it destroys, distracts, creates monsters. Yes, even you, without knowing, can commit murder." Here's to another segment: The original screenplay by Dwight V. Babcock revolves around Dave Stuart (Lon Chaney), a struggling young artist nearly completing what might become his greatest painted masterpiece, with Tanya Czoraki (Acquanetta) posing as his model. It so happens that Tanya is secretly in love with Dave, and jealous of his engagement to marry Heather Hayden (Jean Parker), whose father, Stanley Hayden (Edward Fielding), likes Dave enough as if were his own son. This doesn't go well with Nick Phillips (George Meeker), Heather's jealous and former suitor. Alan Bittaker (Paul Kelly), a psychiatrist and Dave's closest friend, has a secret passion for Tanya. After a day's work painting on the canvas, Dave's ends his daily routine by cleansing his tired eyes with eyewash. While conversing with Alan, Tanya unwittingly moves the bottles in his cabinet, which causes Dave to accidentally place acid on his eyes, damaging his cornea and going blind. Because of his handicap and unable to finish his painting, he orders the canvas covered, breaks his engagement to Heather, and turns to self pity by boozing alcohol. The guilt ridden Tanya offers to help and keep Dave company by day, hoping in time he's transfer his affections towards her. However, Dave is given some hope by Doctor Samuel Welles (Jonathan Hale) that he might be able to perform a difficult operation of a cornea transplant that might have him see again. "Dad" Hayden agrees to donate the cornea of his own eyes to Dave, leaving that statement in his will at the time of his death. Because of Hayden's suspicions towards Tanya, he and Dave argue and part company. Wanting to apologize for his actions, Dave visits Hayden at his residence, only to be have Heather walk in and finding him standing over her father's dead body. Accused of his mysterious murder, Doctor Welles does follow through with the operation using dead man's eyes. With the operation unsuccessful, and hounded by Detective Druey (Thomas Gomez), Dave, in total darkness, takes it upon himself to clear his name and solve Hayden's murder and other subsequent murders connected to his supposed crime.

Whether intentional or not, scenes involving artist later blinded, and jealous model, appear to parallel that with Rudyard Kipling's film based story, THE LIGHT THAT FAILED, recently produced by Paramount in 1939, starring Ronald Colman and Ida Lupino. Though not a murder mystery as DEAD MAN'S EYES, THE LIGHT THAT FAILED does involve Lupino's bravura performance as a model who eventually goes mad through endless hours of modeling by destroying the painted canvas. For Acaquanetta, fresh from her recent screen introduction title role as the CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN (Universal, 1943), is not a very good actress, and can't compare to Lupino. There are moments where Acaquanetta gives the impression she's reciting her worded lines one by one from cue cards with little or no emotion of expression whatsoever. Jean Parker, looking very much like Jean Arthur in both profile and hair style, comes off better, even through a couple of sudden shrieks. Thomas Gomez, doing a J. Carrol Naish police inspector reprise from CALLING DOCTOR DEATH (1943), adds a little flavor of his own as the hounding police inspector. Lon Chaney does exceptionally well as a tormented blind man, sporting sunglasses, feeling his way around the room with either hands of walking cane, and moments of how to handle himself with the outside world. These moments are briefly motivated in favor of murder mystery, which doesn't hurt the story in the least. Director LeBorg keeps the pace moving for 64 minutes, though abrupt blackouts and middle scene fade-ins are evident.

As with other five features in the "Inner Sanctum" series, DEAD MAN'S EYES slowly faded away from television broadcasts starting by the late 1970s where, due to the Chaney horror film reputation, played part of "Fright Night" or any other Saturday evening horror film nights. Unlike the other five, DEAD MAN'S EYES became the only one to be presented on cable television's American Movie Classics during the 1989-90 season. It did premiere on Turner classic Movies July 13, 2023. Regardless, availability onto home video in 1997 on double bill with PILLOW OF DEATH (1945), and later onto DVD, has assured DEAD MAN'S EYES not completely blind to those curious about this nearly forgotten series of murder mysteries that entertained movie audiences back in the day when films of this nature were quite popular and commonly played. Next "Inner Santrum" episode: THE FROZEN GHOST (1945) Brrr. (**1/2)

Lon Chaney, Jr. plays an artist who is engaged to beautiful Jean Parker and has exotic Acquanetta lusting after him. Sounds like a charmed life. But then this genius goes and accidentally puts acid in his own eyes! Chaney's now blind and must await a donor for a cornea transplant. Parker's father offers his corneas, to be removed after he dies. But someone up and kills the old guy and it looks to everybody like Chaney might have done it to speed things up.

This enjoyable entry in Universal's Inner Sanctum mystery thriller series is directed by Reginald Le Borg. Chaney is great in this series. I'm sure he enjoyed getting a break from the monster movies he was making at this time. He gives his all in every Inner Sanctum movie. A really good cast here to back him up. Jean Parker is lovely as always. Thomas Gomez, Paul Kelly, and Jonathan Hale are all great support. Acquanetta is nice to look at but probably the worst actress Universal had in any of their movies. Her monotone line delivery is dreadful.

This isn't one of the best of the series but it's good. The biggest problem, aside from Acquanetta's poor acting, is that the mystery part is unsurprising. The killer is obvious, despite all of the red herrings they have in place. Still, it's fun and fans of the series and Chaney will enjoy it.

Dead Man's Eyes (1944)

*** (out of 4)

Third in the Inner Sanctum series has a painter (Lon Chaney, Jr.) accidentally pouring acid into his eyes causing him to go blind. Soon he's suspected of killing his father in law, the man who was going to give him his eyes for a transplant. This is certainly the best of the three film's I've seen in the series due in large part to a pretty good screenplay that has plenty of twists and turns. I picked up on the ending ten minutes before it actually happened but the film still remained a lot of fun. Chaney also delivers a good performance.

... and it really isn't a horror film. It is one of the Inner Sanctum Mysteries series of movies from Universal.

Artist Dave Stuart (Lon Chaney Jr.) is painting a portrait with Tanya (Acquanetta) as a model. Tanya is madly in love with Dave, although he has given her no encouragement and is in love with a woman he has known since childhood, Heather Hayden (Jean Parker). Dave is not the height of organization and keeps bottles of dangerous acid in the same cabinet as his bottle of eyewash. One day he reaches for the bottle of what should be his eyewash and instead puts acid on his eyes. He is blinded and can only have his sight restored by a cornea transplant. His future father in law has his will changed to say that upon his death his eyes will be used for the cornea transplant Dave needs if he has not found a donor and had the operation yet. And then said future father-in-law is found dead in his study, bludgeoned to death with Dave standing over the body and blood on his hands. Complications ensue, not the least of which is Dave's fiancee not feeling the same about Dave after having found her dad's body with Dave nearby and him having everything to gain from her dad's death.

I really enjoyed this atmospheric entry that is much more mystery than horror, but obviously lots of people didn't or they dozed off, with them saying that the model Tanya deliberately blinded Dave. She confesses to moving the bottles but said she was careless rather than trying to blind Dave as a woman scorned. She never recants this story. Just about everybody but the household pet has a motive to have killed Stanley Hayden, so the rest of the film is how that murderer is found out.

Acquanetta gives a lifeless performance as the model Tanya. It's like she is bored out of her mind and just reciting lines. This kind of performance worked for her in "Captive Wild Woman" where she is a woman produced by glandular experiments performed on an ape and was basically wandering around in shock, but here she just looks like the stand-in in a high school play.

Thomas Gomez is the bad cop in the bad cop/good cop routine who forgot to bring along a good cop. He likes to torment Dave Stuart because he believes him to be guilty. Will he ever be mortified if he is wrong.

The people who ran Universal after the Laemmles lost control, Standard Capital, really were up a creek since everybody on the lot who was loyal to the Laemmles - and that was lots of them - left when the Laemmles did. So think of it as though Mitt Romney, with tons of money but not an artistic bone in his body, now has to run a movie studio with no legacy personnel. Things are rough for a few years as you try to build up franchises, but by the 40s you are bringing in new talent and figuring out how to make Universal Horror work for you. This is where Universal was when this movie was made - trying to live off Universal horror as they got their other franchises and post Laemmle stars off the ground. When I look at the film through that lens it's pretty good.

1944's "Dead Man's Eyes" was third of the six 'Inner Sanctum' mysteries, later included in Universal's popular SHOCK! package of classic horror films issued to television in the late 50s. Unlike its predecessors, this pretty much ranks as a straight up whodunit, with some macabre touches borrowed from a previous SHOCK! title, "Mystery of the White Room," a 1939 'Crime Club' mystery wherein one character has his sight restored by a corneal transplant from the murder victim. Lon Chaney again is a tortured victim, the (justifiably) starving artist Dave Stuart, whose latest painting is believed to be the masterpiece that will put his career on the path to success. Engaged to wealthy Heather (Jean Parker), Dave is blind to the devotion of his attractive model, Tanya Czoraki (Acquanetta,) who mishandles identical bottles on the artist's top shelf, one containing eye wash, the other acetic acid (surely any man keeping such items side by side gets what he deserves). The unthinkable happens, Dave falling victim to the (intended?) switch, rendered sightless by the acid's corrosive effects. Heather's devoted father (Edward Fielding) wills his eyes to his prospective son-in-law, then winds up murdered in his own home, the blind Dave himself stumbling over the body before his fiancée discovers what happened. Were it not for the endless bickering and/or bellyaching, it might have been the best of the entire series, the too-slow buildup and mostly mediocre acting sinking the whole enterprise. After a horrendous showing in "Jungle Woman," the woeful Acquanetta is once again entrusted with dialogue, displaying all the downtrodden acting prowess of Rondo Hatton in a sadly indifferent display that cannot be considered a performance; rather fittingly, this was her farewell to Universal. Underrated beauty Jean Parker was enjoying her best year in the genre, starring with Lionel Atwill in "Lady in the Death House," Bela Lugosi in "One Body Too Many," and John Carradine in "Bluebeard." As the police inspector, Thomas Gomez, usually cast as villains, doesn't enjoy the kind of juicy dialogue that J. Carrol Naish had in "Calling Dr. Death," but he definitely has more depth than his successors in both "The Frozen Ghost" and "Pillow of Death." The smarmy Paul Kelly is certainly in his element as a psychiatrist mooning over Tanya's questionable qualities, with similar turns in "Star of Midnight," "The Missing Guest," and "The Cat Creeps." Beatrice Roberts, Queen Azura in "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars," had an almost continuous run of unbilled bits, her beauty always standing out, as it does here, easily catching the eye of police guard Eddie Dunn. As for Chaney, this pity party is just a dreary bore, unfortunately foreshadowing the very next entry, "The Frozen Ghost," which at least boasts a much stronger cast. "Dead Man's Eyes" made three appearances on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater- Mar 23 1968 (following 1962's Mexican "The Bloody Vampire"), July 30 1977 (following 1967's Japanese "King Kong Escapes"), and Feb 26 1983 (solo).

A kind of early horror movie. An artist blinds himself and the only answer is to get an eye transplant. The prime candidate for this is then murdered and the blind artist suspected. A love triangle is the motivation for all this. Considering he is blind, the artist moves with alarming swiftness and him deliberately smashing a glass against a wall seems a little dim. A reasonable little plot, if only the acting particularly from the two ladies, was not so wooden.

Now this is about the most horrible thing that can happen to a painter: when Dave Stuart is just about to finish his masterpiece, of which he hopes he can get enough money to marry his fiancée Heather, his beautiful but somewhat stupid model Tanya mixes up the bottles in his bathroom - and instead of eye fluid, he puts acid into his eyes and is blinded! And now, of course, he feels completely useless, and out of decency he tells Heather he can't marry her; which suits Tanya just fine, because she, who's in love with him too, can play his nurse now and make him dependent on her... But there still is hope: the eye specialist explains that a pair of eyes from a dead man could be transplanted to him, and there's a small chance that he'll be able to see again; and Heather's father, who still loves Dave like a son and wants his daughter to become happy with him, arranges in his will that as soon as he dies, Dave will get his eyes - and that puts the old man in GREAT danger...

Another "Inner Sanctum" mystery full of suspense, jealousy and psychology (Dave's best friend Alan actually is a psychiatrist), with lots of twists and turns to the intricate plot, REALLY eerie moments especially during the transplantation scenes, and marvelous acting, particularly on the part of Lon Chaney Jr. as the blinded artist - a REAL gem among the murder mysteries of the 40s!

Lon Chaney Jr. plays an artist who accidentally blinds himself with acid(thinking it was normal eye wash) His jealous new model Tanya(played by Acquanetta) feels horribly guilty by her "mistake" and so agrees to take care of him during his period of adjustment. However, the father of the woman he was going to marry agrees to donate his eyes for an experimental cornea transplant upon his death, which occurs quite soon as he is murdered... Who killed him, and why, and will the operation be a success regardless? OK mystery has a number of suspects to choose from, and keeps viewer guessing until the end. Not a classic by any means, but still fairly entertaining.

While the plot of this third "Inner Sanctum" film is, in itself, intriguing - and certainly provides plenty of possible suspects - the handling is rather stiff, with too much talk and little real suspense!

Once again, Chaney is the talented object of desire(!) - a painter - torn between society woman Jean Parker and exotic model Acquanetta; he really loves the former but, when he's rendered blind in an accident, he decides to let her go and accepts the latter's care (she being the unwitting cause of his precarious condition!). Paul Kelly has a good role as Chaney's best friend and secret (but unrequited) admirer of Acquanetta.

Parker's elderly father opts to have his eyes transplanted after his death so, when he ends up murdered, police detective Thomas Gomez turns up to root out the guilty party; the denouement, then, is pretty convoluted but not very exciting. While the quality of this series has steadily deteriorated so far from one entry to the next (though the films are never boring and mercifully short), I still look forward to the remaining three installments...

So what's so scary about a corneal transplant. Maybe if they had shown the eyes in a bottle or some of the surgery, there might be a shudder or two. Instead, we get close-ups of Chaney's bleary-eyed squint, which is sort of scary in itself.

This is a tepid Inner Sanctum entry, at best, more of a whodunit than a Chaney horror exercise. The plot is somewhat offbeat—can accidentally blinded artist Dave Stuart (Chaney) see well enough to be a killer, and if not, then who did murder two people. The only suspense is a routine one of finding the culprit. Then too, the damning piece of evidence strikes me as pretty far-fetched. I wish there were a memorable scene or some catchy dialog to recommend here, but there really isn't.

Perhaps the most notable feature is Paul Kelly's (Alan) really authoritative head doctor. He's totally credible. On the other hand, for fans of truly inept acting, there's Acquanetta (Tanya) whose dialog delivery is at times almost painful. Actually, I blame the studio for pushing her into a speaking role she was so clearly unprepared for. All in all, the offbeat premise has more potential than the rather cheap and clumsy treatment it gets here. Too bad.

Dead Man's Eyes is directed by Reginald Le Borg and written by Dwight V. Babcock. It stars Lon Chaney Jr, Jean Parker, Acquanetta, Paul Kelly and Thomas Gomez. Music is by Paul Sawtell and cinematography by Paul Ivano. Part of Universal Pictures Inner Sanctum series, plot finds Chaney as artist David Stuart, who after accidentally being blinded finds himself the suspected murderer of the man who had bequeathed his own eyes for cornea transplant.

A steady if unspectacular entry in the Inner Sanctum series, Dead Man's Eyes is more a mystery who done it than a bona fide thriller. Clocking in at just over an hour, film makes the big mistake of taking too long to get to the actual murder that underpins the drama. For a full length feature film, the 30 minute build up of characters and set up of plot would be most welcome, but in a compact production such as this, for the final third it gives the feeling of cramming too much into too short a running time. There's barely time for proper detective work and suspects are hardly afforded time to become viable. However, on the plus side is that the killer is hidden well enough, the acting is mostly agreeable (except the woeful Acquanetta) and characters are interesting because they are such miserablists, the latter of which helps to feed the picture a sense of hopelessness.

Enjoyable if forgettable come the end, there's enough atmosphere and mystery to keep it just about above average. 6/10

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.

Dave Stuart (Lon Chaney Jr.) is a painter blinded by his model Tanya Czoraki (Acquanetta) who is jealous of his girlfriend Heather Hayden (Jean Parker). Heather's father promises Dave his eyes after his death. When he is murdered, Dave becomes the prime suspect.

This is part of Universal's Inner Sanctum series starring Lon Chaney Jr. The premise is poetic. It's a slow old style horror. It's a B-movie. The premise is interesting as a piece of writing. The tension is not always that high. This is solid but unimpressive. It needs more horror and more noir style. It just needs more of everything.

Lon Chaney's model, Acquanetta, is jealous of his fiancee, Jean Parker, so she puts acid in his medicine cabinet, where she knows he keeps his eyewash to lave his tired eyes after sessions. He does so, and burns out his corneas. Miss Parker's father, Edward Fielding changes his will to leave Chaney his corneas. He's quickly and conveniently found clubbed to death with Chaney standing over him. The operation is not successful, so Chaney calls off the engagement and is nursed by Acquanetta, who is loved by Paul Kelly, who used to yearn for Miss Parker.

I should mention that Thomas Gomez, Jonathan Hale, George Meeker, and Eddie Dunn all have roles in this slop. It was badly directed by Reginald LeBorg, who had recently graduated from directing bad soundies. Mostly though, I am going to discuss Acquanetta, dubbed by studio publicity "The Venezuelan Volcano". She speaks her lines with no accent, nor emotion, nor seeming to understand their meaning, as befits someone from Venezuela whose other roles include "The Ape Woman" in the minds of publicists, I suppose. She was born as Mildred Davenport in Wyoming and appeared in a total of eleven movies. She quit the movies in 1950 and moved with her new husband to Arizona. There she occupied herself with family, charity, and publishing her poetry. She died in 2004 at the age of 83.

The Inner Sanctum mysteries afforded Lon Chaney the chance to stretch his acting chops, sans heavy monster makeup and "Dead Man's Eyes" may be the best of the lot, along with "Strange Confession".

Chaney is a struggling artist who one day accidentally washes his eyes with acid, blinding him & leading to his prospective father-in-law drawing up an agreement that upon his death, his eyes should be used for an operation to restore Chaney's sight. Of course, the old man ends up getting murdered, leading to a pretty involving whodunit as Chaney & the police try to solve the mystery of Dad Hayden's murder.

I don't know if the Inner Sanctum mysteries get much respect from critics, but I found most of them to be very engaging & this was definitely one of the better ones. I'm a big fan of Lon Chaney Jr., I think he deserves to be put up there with the all-time greats of horror, Karloff, Lugosi, Price.

At barely over an hour, Dead Man's Eyes is an entertaining mystery.

The third of the Inner Sanctum Mysteries although it begins okay but quickly becomes rather silly and in the end just laughable. It is a bit nasty with him and acid and his eyes but unfortunately the model played by the stunning Acquanetta but her acting is terrible and at the end it is just a shame that might have been so much better.