Right in the beginning it seems to be the same old story with spiritualists and fake mediums: 'Gregor the Great' (Lon Chaney Jr.) hypnotizes his beautiful medium Maura (Evelyn Ankers) during his obviously quite successful radio broadcast to read the thoughts of some of the people in the audience. She evades difficult questions, and so a drunkard starts grumbling that it's all a phony - and Gregor accepts the 'challenge', invites him up to the stage and tries to hypnotize him... and the man drops dead! From now on, although the autopsy proves that the alcoholic died of a perfectly natural heart failure, Gregor is absolutely convinced that he killed the man: he'd wished him dead because he threatened to spoil his radio broadcast, and then he'd hypnotized him and killed him that way - nobody, not even Maura, his fiancée, can get that obsession out of his mind. So his manager George suggests that he should spend some time at Mme. Monet's Wax Museum, a nice, secluded place - with murder scenes made out of wax all around, and a VERY weird young artist, a former plastic surgeon, who talks to the wax figures and is himself obsessed by Mme. Monet's pretty young niece Nina...This fourth one of the six movies made from the hugely successful radio program "Inner Sanctum" certainly IS scary, a mixture of a murder mystery and a horror movie (Universal Studios were masters at that...); the cast is quite good, Lon Chaney Jr. is once more teamed with Evelyn Ankers (they co-starred in eight movies altogether), and once more seems doomed by a strange kind of fate to do bad, like in "The Wolf Man"... Although "The Frozen Ghost" is nothing too inventive, it's QUITE a treat for fans of the genre!

"The Frozen Ghost" might just be the quintessential wacky 1940s B-movie mystery, packed with enough plot to fill any six films, and uncertain of which of those six films it really wants to be. While it may not be the most serious of the "Inner Sanctum" series of low-low-budget thrillers made by Unversal between 1943 and 1945, it is likely the most entertaining. Part murder mystery, part wax museum horror film, part romance, "The Frozen Ghost" gallops along at a nonsensical pace and features a rich group of actors, all of whom are peculiarly cast. Leading the pack is Lon Chaney, who tried to escape the heavy Wolf Man and Mummy makeup with this series, and who does a pretty good job as a stage hypnotist tormented by the thought that he might have killed someone during his act. This might be Chaney's best stab at a leading man role, though it is undermined by the fact that every single female character in the film, from age 16 to 40, falls madly in love with him at sight, much in the way Roger Moore's version of James Bond was a walking aphrodisiac. While Chaney was a passable leading man, ascribing this rampant sex appeal to him is as fantastical as brain transplants. Douglas Dumbrille, a smooth British actor given to silky villains, plays the tough American detective, and Martin Kosleck, usually cast as a cold as ice Nazi, here appears as a road-company Peter Lorre lunatic. And Milburn Stone -- "Doc" on "Gunsmoke" -- shows up as Chaney's harried agent. But don't even worry about the caprices of the casting or plotting. Just sit back, try to keep up with it, and enjoy the kind of anything-goes film-making that doesn't exist anymore.

"The Frozen Ghost" was the fourth of six low budget "Inner Sanctum" mysteries based on the popular radio series of the day, produced by Universal between 1943 and 1945 and starring Lon Chaney Jr.The film opens with mentalist Alex Gregor, aka Gregor the Great (Chaney) and his assistant Maura Daniel (Evelyn Ankers) guessing the secrets of a radio audience. A skeptic (Arthur Hohl) goes on stage to prove that Gregor is a fake. When Gregor tries to hypnotize the man, he falls over dead. Alex blames himself for the man's death and becomes depressed even though police Inspector Brant (Douglas Dumbrille) proves the man died of natural causes.Still depressed, Alex breaks his engagement with Maura. Alex' manager, George Keene (Milburn Stone) conspires with Valerie Monet (Tala Birell) to have Alex stay at her place to get some rest. Valerie's home also houses a wax museum which she runs with her partner Rudi Polden (Martin Kosleck) who turns out to be a disgraced plastic surgeon. When Valerie's niece Nina (Elena Verdugo) becomes enamored of Alex, Rudi becomes jealous. Meanwhile Maura confronts Valerie over Alex' affections,When Valerie suddenly disappears, Alex again is convinced that he is responsible. Inspecter Brant is called in by Nina to investigate. Brant begins to suspect Alex. Then Nina also disappears. Who is responsible for these disappearances and possible murders? Is Alex really a murderer, as he believes? What is the sinister Rudi's involvement in all of this?Chaney as always is better than his material. He conveys real fear and guilt as a man who believes himself a murderer. Ankers has little to do and we don't get to hear her trademark blood curdling scream in this one. Dumbrille, usually cast as a villain, gets a change of pace as the police inspector. Stone is good as Gregor's trusted (or is he?) friend and manager.Milburn Stone is best remembered as "Doc" on TV's "Gunsmoke" (1955-75). "B" movie fans will spot Dennis Moore as the radio announcer and Eddie Acuff as a reporter.A better mystery than some would have you believe.

Another uneven and lackadaisical performance by Lon Chaney Jr., accompanied by a cast of scenery-chewing melodrama players, somehow does not completely spoil this little mystery story from the "Inner Sanctum" series. Silly stuff, perfect for a Saturday morning in bed. Good, dopey fun in keeping with the tradition of '40s "B" pictures.