O Travesseiro da Morte

Pillow of Death is the last of the six Inner Sanctum mystery / thriller films that Universal made in the 40s. And, in my opinion, it's one of the two best (Weird Woman being the other). In this one, Lon Chaney Jr is Wayne Fletcher, a lawyer in love with his secretary. The problem is, he's got a wife at home. So when she's found dead under mysterious circumstances, Fletcher is the natural suspect.

Despite what I consider to be a rather silly title, Pillow of Death is a solid little film. The writing is excellent with a surprising (at least surprising to me - even on a repeat viewing) solution that works nicely. The atmospheric "old dark house" trappings, complete with a seance, and plot twists keep things interesting. The direction is crisp as the film moves along at a good pace. And, like most of Universal's B output from this time period, the sets and cinematography look better than they have any right. It really is quite beautiful to look at. Overall, Pillow of Death is a well made movie.

As for the acting, there's very little to complain about. Chaney is fine in the lead, but I admit the "tormented soul" routine he perfected in The Wolf Man gets a bit old. Co-star Brenda Joyce, taking a break from playing Jane in the Tarzan series, is more than capable. There are a number of notable performances in the supporting cast, but none quite like George Cleveland. What a joy!

7/10.

Last of the Inner Sanctum movies. It was pretty obvious these weren't making money--this doesn't even open with the floating head in the crystal ball.

Attorney Wayne Fletcher (Lon Chaney Jr.) is in love with his secretary Donna Kinkaid (Brenda Joyce), but he's married. His wife is found smothered to death and he's the prime suspect. He's released (lack of evidence) but a seance is held and his wife is heard accusing him of murder...then her body disappears from the crypt...then members of the Kinkaid family are getting murdered...

Busy little murder mystery. It's shot on big, beautiful, atmospheric sets (I'm assuming from another movie) and has good performances and keeps you guessing who's doing it, and why, till the very end. Entertaining--one of the better Inner Sanctums. I give it a 7.

Pillow Of Death is the last of Universial's well-made, entertaining Inner Sactum series of second feature thrillers, all utilizing the often wasted talent of Lon Chaney, Jr., off-beat stories, a rather spooky, Gothic atmosphere, a battalion of fine character actors, and a covey of beautiful "B" leading ladies, and second female leads as the love interests of the unglamorous Chaney. All get the job done in under seventy minutes, Pillow being the longest by a bit at an hour and six minutes. It is also the only picture of the series not to use the spooky, distorted talking head in a crystal ball as a prologue, a device apparently inherited from the popular radio show which inspired the movie series. It wasn't really missed. Neither the worst nor the best of the series, Pillow has arguably the best production values with most of the action set in a lavish Victorian mansion.

Chaney's secretary the beautiful Brenda Joyce, also his love interest in Strange Confession (see my review), lives in the "old dark house" with a set of eccentric, querulous relatives. Chaney, an attorney, leaves her there in the opening scene, then drives home and "have it out with" his wife. You see, he wants to marry said pretty secretary, who has apparently been sitting on big, strong bossy-wossy's lap while taking dictation. But he finds that his wife has been murdered by suffocation (with the title pillow no doubt). He becomes suspect numero uno of course and for the rest of the movie is subjected to investigation and harassment by the police and a goofy, fat spiritualist (J. Edward Bromberg). Seances and bodies pile up.

This well done "old dark house" mystery has you suspecting everyone, including Chaney and Joyce, before it is over. The suspects, as is traditional in one of these, are eliminated by becoming victims -- except for the resident ghost of course, which turns out to be a raccoon in the attic. I'm not so sure I didn't suspect that pest, too. The identity of the killer did in fact come as a surprise! Big hint: it wasn't the butler. The clever drawing room mystery style was what kept this rather confused entry in the Inner Sanctum cycle interesting. Well-acted by all. Chaney was always fascinating, and Brenda Joyce deserved better than swinging through the jungle on a vine with Tarzan.

Not as good as some of the others in the series, but mild entertainment for 66 minutes with the a/c going full blast on a hot August evening.

Pillow of Death (1945)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Final installment in the Inner Sanctum series has a lawyer (Lon Chaney, Jr.) suspected of murdering his wife. After her death he gets involved with a group of psychics. This film, even at 61-minutes, dragged along and bored the hell out of me from the start. Chaney is very bland here as are the supporting characters. The story really isn't too interesting and all the spiritual stuff comes off silly.

This is certainly the worst in the series but you can now view all six films via Universal's DVD collection.

Reviewers really disagree on the merits of this final Inner Sanctum entry. To me, it's the most fun of the six, although I think the first entry Calling Dr. Death (1943) is the most imaginative and comes closest to what the series was trying to achieve in the realm of psychological horror.

What lifts this 60-minutes are several droll performances, a great Gothic set (no doubt left over from an A-production), and a pretty good whodunit that kept me guessing. George Cleveland's crusty old man remains a real hoot, and a role he appears to be really enjoying. Note too cop Winton Graff's subtly droll reactions to Cleveland's scrappy character. Too bad they don't have more scenes together. Then there're the two sourpuss old women. I especially like Rosalind Ivan's ditzy old gal with her subtle tongue-in-cheek. (At the same time, i also can't help noticing the rather woeful Bernard Thomas as the young neighbor, demonstrating again how the war had depleted Hollywood's ranks of young male talent.)

And check out that elaborate Gothic set, so richly appointed that it adds needed spooky atmosphere. Speaking of atmosphere, the lighting bill must have come to all of five dollars. Come to think of it-- I wonder if the cast kept bumping into each other. Also, I certainly didn't anticipate the solution to the whodunit. Cleverly, it doesn't follow stereotype. No, there's nothing memorable here, but this series programmer is more subtly amusing than most and better than the series norm, at least, in my view.