Inner Sanctum: Calling Dr. Death/Strange Confession

The son of the "man of a thousand faces," Lon Chaney, Jr., stars in this low-priced double feature. We watched the opener, Calling Dr. Death which also kicked off the Inner Sanctum film series in 1943 (the franchise began on radio on 1941, and had a brief run on television in 1954). Here, Lon stars as neurologist Mark Steele, a good-hearted man saddled with an unfaithful-and-rub-your-nose-in-it wife (Ramsay Ames) who suddenly turns up nastily carved and quite deceased. Naturally, the local inspector (J. Carrol Naish) suspects the doctor (who, in turn, begins to suspect himself--oh, these insecure shrinks). On the doctor’s side is his fawning, faithful secretary (Patricia Morison), who might know more than she’s telling… Good acting and some choice dialogue ("he’s mad, perhaps, but not without reason") make Calling Dr. Death watchable, but astute viewers will figure out who the real culprit is long before the rather slow inspector. An optional purchase. (R. Pitman)