These Inner Sanctum films had a lot of good things going for them, but I think they would have been a lot better if they had been more fantastical, less real. This starts of quite promisingly: Lon Chaney Jnr is an artist, who is again desired by women. Although clearly lusted after by his model (Acquanetta), his engaged to a rich girl whose dad adores Lon. The model accidentally (or was it deliberate) puts acid in Lon’s eyewash, and he goes blind. The dad offers up his eyes in the event of his death for an eye transplant… and then he winds up dead. So far so crazy, with some good Lon Chaney moments screaming over his eyes, then hitting the booze. But then things settle down and it turns into a boring mystery. Once Acquanetta dies it’s pretty obvious who did it and the twist of Chaney regaining his sight but hiding it is obvious.
This could have been good, delirious fun but the punches are pulled. Chaney should have been guilty, too, to give it more kick, and so Chaney could do more tormented stuff.
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