One of the Universal INNER SANCTUM series and not one of Lon Chaney's greatest. He is a psychiatric hypnotist with an odd way of waking his patients up . He gives them a smack on the face.. hard ! He also does an annoying whispered voice-over narration through the entire film ! It really wasn't very good but it's enjoyable to watch Lon, Jr. in anything, just to see him. Co-starring as Chaney's overly-devoted nurse is Patricia Morison. Perhaps better known as Broadway's original Kate in "Kiss Me Kate" and in Alfred Drake's "Kismet". She celebrated her 101st Birthday in March of 2016! Also present as a police inspector hot on the trail in the murder case is J. Carrol Naish always his excellent self.

CALLING DOCTOR DEATH (Universal, 1943), directed by Reginald LeBorg, marks the first of the "Inner Sanctum" mysteries, all starring Lon Chaney Jr. (billed solely as Lon Chaney in the credits). These second feature productions offered the mustached Chaney the opportunity to carry on a story without portraying an assortment of Universal monsters since his breakthrough performance as The Wolf Man (1941), followed by the Frankenstein monster ("The Ghost of Frankenstein, 1942); Klaris, the Mummy (starting with "The Mummy's Tomb," 1942) and Count Dracula ("Son of Dracula, 1943). This, and some subsequent films in a total of six, mostly come with an introduction before the title credits with an image of a man's head (David Hoffman) floating inside a crystal ball looking directly into the camera, and saying, "This is the Inner Sanctum, the fantastic world controlled by mass of living, cult seeking flesh. The mind .. it destroys, distracts, creates monsters. Yes, even you, without knowing, can commit murder."Taken from an original screenplay by Edward Dein, inspired by the "Inner Sanctum" stories owned and copyrighted by Simon and Schuster Publishers, this initial entry is not one about a doctor performing mercy killings, (though not a bad idea), but about a neurologist, Doctor Mark Steel (Lon Chaney), who, through the assistance of his confident, Stella Madden (Patricia Morison), enters the minds of patients through hypnotism, and solving whatever problem they may have. Though Mark is able to help those in need of his services, he's unable to do the same for himself, coping with his troubled two-year marriage to Maria (Ramsay Ames), an attractive, but faithless woman with outside affairs. Finding himself dining alone and awaiting to 3 a.m. for his wife's return (and suspecting another man involved), upon her return he asks for a divorce, but is refused. Maria intends remaining a doctor's wife and being part of the social circle. Later, after returning home late Saturday afternoon, Mark is told by Bryant (Holmes Herbert), his butler, that Mrs. Steel is gone for the weekend. In a delirious state, Mark drives to the country lodge to have a showdown. The next scene finds him being awakened by his nurse at his office Monday morning, unable to recall anything that occurred over the weekend. Then the arrival of detectives inform Mark of his wife's brutal murder with face burned with acid and head struck by a blunt instrument. In spite the fact that Robert Duval (David Bruce), Maria's lover and married man with an invalid wife (Fay Helm), being arrested, tried and sentenced to be executed for the crime, Mark still believes him innocent. With the help of Stella, hypnotizes himself to verbally record on Dictaphone to account for his missing alibi, but Inspector Gregg (J. Carrol Naish) of the police department has his doubts, continuing to hound and suspect Mark of foul play.A well-scripted 64 minute mystery, with eerie background music, voice-over thoughts through the minds of central characters, and occasional slanted camera angles, CALLING DOCTOR DEATH is satisfactory screen entertainment. With Lon Chaney performing more of an actor than his usual tormented wolf man in a series of films, he's in fine support by Patricia Morison as his loyal assistant with few key scenes along her way, and J. Carrol Naish in a performance not much different from Peter Falk's style from his seventies TV mystery series as "Columbo."Not broadcast regularly on television since the late 1970s, this and other "Inner Sanctum" mysteries starring Lon Chaney became available in a three set, double-feature packages on home video in the 1997, with CALLING DOCTOR DEATH double billed with the rarely seen and revived STRANGE CONFESSION (1945), and later the DVD format with three films on two discs collection in chronological order. A treat for Chaney fans and or old-time movie mystery lovers. Next installment: WEIRD WOMAN (1944), which is somewhat better. (**1/2)

In the 1940s, Universal Studios made a short series of films dubbed "The Inner Sanctum" movies. They all apparently starred Lon Chaney, Jr. and were B-movies. In other words, they were lower budget and ran at only a little over one hour, as they were intended to be the second (and lesser) film during a double-feature. In general, Bs were not great films, though compared to other films of the style, Inner Sanctum films are definitely a notch above the rest.In this installment, Chaney plays a Neurosurgeon who also does hypnosis (an odd combination by the way). He seems like a nice guy and you have to feel sorry for him since he's apparently married a horrible woman who treats him like dirt. When this lady is killed, you'd think that would be the end of his problems, however, police think he might be the killer and Chaney isn't sure himself since his memories of that weekend are missing! Using hypnosis, he gets to the heart of the problem.By the way, the hypnotic portions of the film were wrong in that hypnosis works very little like they showed it. However, as most people watching the film are NOT trained hypnotists (I am), they really won't notice or care that this aspect of the movie is mostly mumbo-jumbo. Aside from that, the acting, writing and direction are all pretty good--and the film is a nice diverting little mystery.By the way, this film is one of six that have been released on DVD--with three episodes on each DVD. This is from Disk 1 and also includes DEAD MAN'S EYES and WEIRD WOMAN--both of which are of comparable quality. I strongly recommend you see the series and if you like it, also try Columbia Pictures' WHISTLER series--as it's very similar in style.

"Calling Dr. Death" was the first of six "Inner Sanctum" mysteries produced by Universal between 1943 and 1945 starring Lon Chaney Jr. They were adapted from the popular radio program of the day of the same name.In the opener, Chaney plays neurologist Dr. Mark Steel who is stuck in a loveless marriage with gold digging wife Maria (Ramsey Ames) who is having an affair with Robert Duval (David Bruce). After he learns that the two plan a weekend together at the Steel's country house, Mark becomes despondent and drives aimlessly around the country.The following Monday morning Mark's assistant Stella Madden (Patricia Morison) finds him asleep at his desk. He is unable to remember his whereabouts for the last part of the weekend. Suddenly he is arrested for Maria's murder. Detective Inspector Gregg (J. Carroll Naish) is assigned to the case.Later it is learned that Maria's lover Duval has been arrested for the murder. He is convicted and sentenced to death. Meanwhile Insp. Gregg who believes Duval to be innocent, continues to dog Mark. As Duval's execution date approaches, Mark allows himself to be hypnotized in order to find the truth. Who done it? Hmmmmmmm.Universal continued to use Chaney to the maximum, not really knowing how to handle his talent. In addition to his horror roles (Wolf Man, Dracula, Frankenstein's Montster etc.) he would also show up in the studio's serials, westerns or even in Abbott & Costello comedies.Watch for 30s "B" movie hero Rex Lease as one of the detectives who arrest Chaney.