Ajouter une intrigue dans votre langueWhen an artist is blinded, his fiancée's father offers an operation to restore his sight. When the benefactor suddenly dies, the artist becomes a suspect.When an artist is blinded, his fiancée's father offers an operation to restore his sight. When the benefactor suddenly dies, the artist becomes a suspect.When an artist is blinded, his fiancée's father offers an operation to restore his sight. When the benefactor suddenly dies, the artist becomes a suspect.
- Réalisation
- Scénario
- Casting principal
- Dave Stuart
- (as Lon Chaney)
- Travers the Butler
- (non crédité)
- The Waiter
- (non crédité)
- The Spirit of the Inner Sanctum
- (non crédité)
- The Cab Driver
- (non crédité)
- George the Headwaiter
- (non crédité)
- Nurse
- (non crédité)
Avis à la une
This enjoyable entry in Universal's Inner Sanctum mystery thriller series is directed by Reginald Le Borg. Chaney is great in this series. I'm sure he enjoyed getting a break from the monster movies he was making at this time. He gives his all in every Inner Sanctum movie. A really good cast here to back him up. Jean Parker is lovely as always. Thomas Gomez, Paul Kelly, and Jonathan Hale are all great support. Acquanetta is nice to look at but probably the worst actress Universal had in any of their movies. Her monotone line delivery is dreadful.
This isn't one of the best of the series but it's good. The biggest problem, aside from Acquanetta's poor acting, is that the mystery part is unsurprising. The killer is obvious, despite all of the red herrings they have in place. Still, it's fun and fans of the series and Chaney will enjoy it.
"Dead Man's Eyes" is not what this viewer would consider a great mystery, but it *is* a solid and engaging diversion for barely over an hour. (All of the "Inner Sanctum" movies have very trim running times.) It does its job at setting up dubious characters and their motives, and having suspicion keep shifting from one to another. The filmmaking (Reginald LeBorg is the director) is efficient and to the point.
The acting is wonderful from much of the cast. Lon Jr. is rather over emphatic at times, but there's no denying the sincerity of his performance. Parker is cute and appealing. Acquanetta, who plays Tanya, the model who is in love with Dave, is a striking beauty but not much of an actress. Paul Kelly is good fun as Alan Bittaker, Daves' chipper psychiatrist friend. Thomas Gomez is likewise a stitch as the smirking detective on the case. Jonathan Hale (as the eye surgeon), Fielding, and George Meeker (as Heathers' pathetic former boyfriend) are all rock solid.
Fans of Lon Jr. would do well to check him out in this sort of atmospheric Universal B picture, where he's not required to put on elaborate makeup or dress in fanciful costume.
Seven out of 10.
A little convoluted but enjoyable, compact murder mystery. It's briskly paced and never dull. The acting is OK--Chaney is just OK in his role, Parker is very good but Acquanetta, while being very beautiful, is a terrible actress. The only problem with this is that it IS pushing credibility to believe that Parker and Acquanetta are head over heels in love with Chaney! Still, not bad. I give it a 6.
This is a tepid Inner Sanctum entry, at best, more of a whodunit than a Chaney horror exercise. The plot is somewhat offbeat—can accidentally blinded artist Dave Stuart (Chaney) see well enough to be a killer, and if not, then who did murder two people. The only suspense is a routine one of finding the culprit. Then too, the damning piece of evidence strikes me as pretty far-fetched. I wish there were a memorable scene or some catchy dialog to recommend here, but there really isn't.
Perhaps the most notable feature is Paul Kelly's (Alan) really authoritative head doctor. He's totally credible. On the other hand, for fans of truly inept acting, there's Acquanetta (Tanya) whose dialog delivery is at times almost painful. Actually, I blame the studio for pushing her into a speaking role she was so clearly unprepared for. All in all, the offbeat premise has more potential than the rather cheap and clumsy treatment it gets here. Too bad.
Artist Dave Stuart (Lon Chaney Jr.) is painting a portrait with Tanya (Acquanetta) as a model. Tanya is madly in love with Dave, although he has given her no encouragement and is in love with a woman he has known since childhood, Heather Hayden (Jean Parker). Dave is not the height of organization and keeps bottles of dangerous acid in the same cabinet as his bottle of eyewash. One day he reaches for the bottle of what should be his eyewash and instead puts acid on his eyes. He is blinded and can only have his sight restored by a cornea transplant. His future father in law has his will changed to say that upon his death his eyes will be used for the cornea transplant Dave needs if he has not found a donor and had the operation yet. And then said future father-in-law is found dead in his study, bludgeoned to death with Dave standing over the body and blood on his hands. Complications ensue, not the least of which is Dave's fiancee not feeling the same about Dave after having found her dad's body with Dave nearby and him having everything to gain from her dad's death.
I really enjoyed this atmospheric entry that is much more mystery than horror, but obviously lots of people didn't or they dozed off, with them saying that the model Tanya deliberately blinded Dave. She confesses to moving the bottles but said she was careless rather than trying to blind Dave as a woman scorned. She never recants this story. Just about everybody but the household pet has a motive to have killed Stanley Hayden, so the rest of the film is how that murderer is found out.
Acquanetta gives a lifeless performance as the model Tanya. It's like she is bored out of her mind and just reciting lines. This kind of performance worked for her in "Captive Wild Woman" where she is a woman produced by glandular experiments performed on an ape and was basically wandering around in shock, but here she just looks like the stand-in in a high school play.
Thomas Gomez is the bad cop in the bad cop/good cop routine who forgot to bring along a good cop. He likes to torment Dave Stuart because he believes him to be guilty. Will he ever be mortified if he is wrong.
The people who ran Universal after the Laemmles lost control, Standard Capital, really were up a creek since everybody on the lot who was loyal to the Laemmles - and that was lots of them - left when the Laemmles did. So think of it as though Mitt Romney, with tons of money but not an artistic bone in his body, now has to run a movie studio with no legacy personnel. Things are rough for a few years as you try to build up franchises, but by the 40s you are bringing in new talent and figuring out how to make Universal Horror work for you. This is where Universal was when this movie was made - trying to live off Universal horror as they got their other franchises and post Laemmle stars off the ground. When I look at the film through that lens it's pretty good.
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesThis was the third of the six films in Universal's INNER SANCTUM series released by Universal from 1943 to 1945. These films were derived from the popular radio program that aired on the NBC Blue Network from 1941 to 1952, for a total of 511 episodes (some sources say more).
- Citations
Captain Drury: Did you know that somebody stole Hayden's eyes just after Doc Welles removed them from the body?
Dave Stuart: No!
Captain Drury: They later turned up at the hospital, rather mysteriously. It's my opinion that Tanya took them... and that Bittaker got them from her and returned them.
Dave Stuart: But WHY?
Captain Drury: As long as you're blind, you remain dependent upon Tanya... and I think she rather likes it that way. She knows that if you regain your sight, she'll lose you to Miss Hayden. So she tried to prevent the operation, but Bittaker intervened and returned the eyes. He was afraid she might get into trouble, so he did it anonymously.
Dave Stuart: I don't believe it!
Captain Drury: It's a nice theory though, isn't it?
[Looks closely at the blind man's dark glasses]
Captain Drury: Well, you'll be seeing me.
- ConnexionsFeatured in Svengoolie: Dead Man's Eyes (2016)
Meilleurs choix
- How long is Dead Man's Eyes?Alimenté par Alexa
Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Langue
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- Dead Man's Eyes
- Lieux de tournage
- Société de production
- Voir plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
- Durée1 heure 4 minutes
- Couleur
- Rapport de forme
- 1.37 : 1