The first Inner Sanctum where Lon Chaney doesn’t play a character who is desired by a whole bunch of women. He still plays a genius, though – a chemist whose work is often exploited by his boss (J Carrol Naish). The boss does things like take credit for Chaney’s work, put his discoveries on the market before they’re ready, and try to get his wife (Brenda Joyce). The action proceeds logically and intriguingly – drug companies in a hurry to get their materials on the market before proper testing is great material. It’s one of the – if not the - most intelligent and thoughtful entries in the series.
But the whole movie felt like Act One of a longer movie; it’s all this set up to drive Chaney to murder… and then the film ends. I wanted more, like Chaney going on a rampage being affected by the drug, or using some technique he’d picked up in South America, or something. Like all the Inner Sanctum films, it’s unsatisfying.
There are some pleasures: the photography, strong acting (Lon Chaney is very good), Naish is an imposing villain, there’s Lloyd Bridges as Chaney’s assistant. Joyce’s character is a surprise: at first I thought she was meant to be a bitch, but my sympathies were with her – her husband’s a weak boffin who never wants to make money and takes off into the jungle without telling her; and she’s genuinely distraught by the end. Not bad – just could and should have been better, like all Inner Sanctums.
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