Rating: 3/5
Cult Movie Challenge 2017 | 42/52 | Shock Theater
From the Inner Sanctum comes a story about the mind and its distortions. How could this lump of flesh we call a brain cause us so much suffering? Why does it drive otherwise well-adapted people to murder?
Man's struggle upward from his dark past is the struggle of reason against superstition.
On a windy evening, a distressed Paula runs through the neighborhood streets. Evelyn spots her from the window. Paul makes it inside, spotting her husband, Norman, writing in his study. Norman is a professor who studies mysticism and cultural anthropology. He adorns his office with meaningful trinkets pilfered from developing countries. Paula sneaks upstairs, setting some stray fabric in a strange ring of seashells and other materials around a portrait of her husband. Evelyn calls Norman to check on Paula, but Norman assures Evelyn that Paula has been in bed all evening.
Still, Norman goes upstairs to check on Paula. He picks up shells from her arrangement, and she shoots up from bed to warn him that it’s bad luck. While leaving, he notices mud on her shoes and worries that she may still be performing the rituals of the South Sea island where he met her. There, he crossed a forbidden barrier that offended the island gods. The ring around his portrait is one of protection. When they returned from the island, the two married, to the chagrin of Ilona, who thought she had pinned Norman down.
When a colleague dies, folks suspect Paula and her supernatural beliefs. Can Norman prove Paula’s innocence and find the true culprit?
The Inner Sanctum films were a small B series from Universal. Their tiny budgets and short shooting schedules were complex for director Reginald Le Borg, but that didn’t stop him from trying to make the most of the materials given. The movie makes the most of its minimal lighting, especially for night shots, giving the film a noir vibe at times, which only enriches the mysterious atmosphere.
Perhaps the movie’s biggest gamble was hiring Evelyn Ankers for a villainous role. She felt miscast and didn’t love her performance. It also didn’t help that she and Anne Gwynne, who plays Paula, were close friends. I think her performance is quite good—I suppose it helps that I don’t know Ankers’s work except for the couple of Universal horror films I’ve seen her in.
Ilona, there's something about your smile right now that reminds me of Jack the Ripper.
Norman’s such an asshole! Lon Chaney Jr. does surprisingly well as a brow-beating intellectual who can’t stand anyone who disagrees with him. The least believable part of the movie is that Paula, who sees how much Norman disrespects her religion, still marries him. Of course, he has his comeuppance.
Some audiences may not appreciate the small-scale and straightforward story, but this one holds up quite nicely compared to many movies from that era, especially by the third act. Yes, it’s got some 40s Orientalism, but it only makes up a small portion of the film. Also, 63 minutes is just right for the story.
I love those old desk lighters you dab down like a pen in an inkwell to light the tip.