Dead Man's Eyes (1944)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

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!

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).

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.

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