One of my all time favorites.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

The screeching white cockatoo gives a. Better performance than the screeching Ramsay Ames in the very first of the "Inner Sanctum" series, part of Universal's "quota quickies", and pleasant time fillers if you can get past the ridiculous plots. Lon Chaney Jr. is a troubled doctor married to harridan Ames who whispers his thoughts to the audience in an annoying manner. A scene with the bellowing Ames makes him unsure if he killed her (after she boasted that he didn't have the guts), and his loyal nurse (Patricia Morison) gives him an alibi. When Ames' lover (David Bruce) is arrested for her murder, Chaney begins to feel that he's more than just somehow involved. But that's just the beginning of his nightmare, one that only Dr. Death can cure him of.Some great photographic choices give this a unique look, particularly Chaney walking into the cottage to see his wife's corpse. The audience gets to see everything here from Chaney's mind, a great technical aspect that helps this at least on that front. But the constant whispering from Chaney eventually becomes headache inducing, not aided by Chaney's one note acting. Ir goes into overkill when Chaney undergoes hypnosis. Elements of the script too are ridiculously over the top and extremely melodramatic, although Broadway vet Patricia Morison (the original "Kiss Me Kate") adds a touch of class...in fact, the only touch of class. Veteran character actor J. Carroll Naish plays a particularly obnoxious detective who seems to sneer every word. Like "Lucy wants to be a writer", this is evidence of "How not to write a script".

The "Inner Sanctum" films, of which I have now seen four, seem to fall somewhere between the "A"- and the "B"-movie categories; they're too "small" for the former, but also too polished for the latter. This one, "Calling Dr. Death", is an above-average little murder mystery that keeps you wondering for quite a while. Lon Chaney Jr.'s voice-overs are very effective - he has a genuinely hypnotic voice. And J. Carrol Naish, who usually played villains, gives a decidedly offbeat performance as a police inspector who seems obsessed with getting Chaney to confess to the crime. My main objection has to do with the way the film telegraphs its surprise ending slightly earlier than it should. **1/2 out of 4.

The first of Universal's fun series of thriller films under the Inner Sanctum banner. Each one starred Lon Chaney, Jr. in different roles. In this one, Chaney plays Dr. Mark Steele, a neurosurgeon and expert hypnotist. Steele's unfaithful wife (Ramsay Ames) is found murdered and he's a prime suspect. But Steele has lost his memory of the last few days and can't remember if he killed her or not! So he gets his nurse (Patricia Morison) to hypnotize him so he can try to remember what happened.Chaney's great in this. I'm sure at the time he welcomed the chance to get out of playing movie monsters. Morison and Ames are lovely to look at and good in their roles. The always-solid J. Carrol Naish plays the hard-nosed police detective investigating the case. Holmes Herbert appears in one of his many butler roles. I really like this series. A little silly at times but it just adds to the entertainment value for me. It has that distinct look and feel Universal movies had at the time. Calling Dr. Death is a very good start to a fun, enjoyable series of mystery thrillers.

I hadn't intended to purchase this Set - and only did so after constant prodding by Joe Karlosi; in essence, these films are no worse than the lower-profile sequels of the Universal monster pictures, such as the follow-ups to THE MUMMY (1932) and THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933).This was the first of six "Inner Sanctum" mysteries all starring Lon Chaney Jr. (with his frequent voice-over linking them rather naively with the concurrent noir subgenre) and featuring portentous - and hilarious - intros by a disembodied head in a crystal ball! It's not too bad in itself, with the plot overly familiar but fairly involving - Chaney's mind goes blank one weekend and when he comes to, discovers his unloving wife has been murdered! Of course, he's the chief suspect of dogged detective J. Carroll Naish (the best thing about the entire film) though it's the woman's lover, named Robert Duval(!), who's actually accused - and convicted - of the crime. The characters are all relatively engaging (Chaney is a celebrated neurologist with beautiful Patricia Morison as his devoted assistant) and the plot development plausible enough, making for an entertaining and fast-paced 63 minutes. The final revelation, then, is at once surprising and satisfying.