Rainey Dawn
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
JLRMovieReviews
With character actors like Paul Kelly, Thomas Gomez and Jean Parker, this Inner Sanctum outing has Lon Chaney as an artist and is one of the better vehicles for Lon. He starred in all six films in the Inner Sanctum series, and this one concerns him putting acid in his eyes by mistake, instead of his intended eye-wash. Or did someone plan it that way? When his future father-in-law says he has put it in his will that Lon gets his eyes for a surgical procedure, the old man is mysteriously killed within days. Did Lon - a blind man - do it? Did a young model, who loves him, do it, so that he will be blind and bound to her forever? Did the psychiatrist do it, because he loves her and he will only have her if Lon gets his sight back? Did the old man's daughter do it? Obviously not! They strike again, when she is on the phone with the next victim. But, you won't find out the answer, until you buy this neat Inner Sanctum series DVD set. Or see it on TV. But I think that's less likely. This b-picture is given grade A production with good actors and quick dialogue that pushes you along. So what are you waiting for? Go into the Inner Sanctum.
simeon_flake
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.
Spikeopath
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
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