Director: Harold Young
Writers: Bernard Schubert, Luci Ward
Stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Evelyn Ankers, Milburn Stone
Run Time: 1 Hour, 1 Minute
Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/85133879
Synopsis
Maura is the subject of the great hypnotist, Gregor the Great. He can hypnotize a person and make them into a psychic. He hypnotizes a man from the audience, but the man dies on stage. Alex Gregor thinks he “willed” the man to death, and he admits his guilt to the police.
He tells Maura that he thinks they should break off their engagement. The police say the man died from natural causes, but Gregor is convinced the he did it. Gregor creates a Will that leaves everything to Maura, and manager George tells friend Valerie Money about it. Valerie runs the local wax museum.
George and Alex go to visit the museum and see Valerie and her niece Nina. Her assistant Rudi shows them how the wax figures are made. Rudi was a disgraced plastic surgeon who now makes wax figures.
Alex moves in with them. Rudi likes Nina, but Nina likes Alex. Valerie accuses Alex of lusting after Nina, but he proclaims his innocence. He kills her with his mind as well; the first time wasn’t a fluke!
The police come looking for Valerie, but Rudi has hidden her body amongst the wax figures. Nina finds the body, and Rudi chases her. Nina finds Alex with Valerie’s scarf and thinks they are both in on the crime.
George and Rudi are trying to have Alex committed to invalidate the will. It turns out Rudi has put Valerie and Nina into suspended animation, but Valerie is actually dead. They plan to throw both women into the wax-melting furnace.
He hypnotizes Maura and uses her psychic ability to draw out the murderers. They catch George with the help of the police, and then rush downstairs to save Nina. Rudi clumsily falls into the fire pit all by himself and dies.
Inspector Brandt comes asking for help with a new case, and he wants Alex to help…
Commentary
It’s got the same inner monologues as the other films in the Inner Sanctum series, which is starting to grow on me. It once again also has the melodramatic soap-opera style of filming.
The whole plot hinges on whether or not Alex can actually make Maura telepathic through hypnosis, which is a new idea, but still a stretch of the imagination. Still, this was one of the better films of the series.