In this above average offering from Universal, Inner Sanctum series regular Lon Chaney plays a talented painter named Dave Stewart who is in love with a girl he intends to marry (Jean Parker). His beautiful model (CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN&#39;s Acquanetta) is jealous of their romance and would rather have Dave all to herself. One day after a grueling painting session, Dave&#39;s eyewash gets switched with acid, and the artist is rendered blind when he accidentally douses his tired eyes with it. His fiancé&#39;s elderly father generously offers to donate his eyes to Dave upon his death, so when the old man is subsequently murdered, all suspicion points to the blinded painter. <br/><br/>This mild whodunit offers a variety of possibilities as to who the murderer might be -- is it Dave Stewart? His jilted model? Or perhaps one of two other men who harbor a jealousy (one loves Acquanetta, the other desires Dave&#39;s woman)...? It&#39;s a pity the exotic beauty Acquanetta never learned to act (and if you think she&#39;s horrible here, you should see her in 1944&#39;s JUNGLE WOMAN!). This entry also features Thomas Gomez as a pushy policeman who keeps on Chaney&#39;s trail, much as J. Carrol Naish did (but better) in the first Inner Sanctum Mystery, CALLING DR. DEATH. **1/2 out of ****

Now this is about the most horrible thing that can happen to a painter: when Dave Stuart is just about to finish his masterpiece, of which he hopes he can get enough money to marry his fiancée Heather, his beautiful but somewhat stupid model Tanya mixes up the bottles in his bathroom - and instead of eye fluid, he puts acid into his eyes and is blinded! And now, of course, he feels completely useless, and out of decency he tells Heather he can&#39;t marry her; which suits Tanya just fine, because she, who&#39;s in love with him too, can play his nurse now and make him dependent on her... But there still is hope: the eye specialist explains that a pair of eyes from a dead man could be transplanted to him, and there&#39;s a small chance that he&#39;ll be able to see again; and Heather&#39;s father, who still loves Dave like a son and wants his daughter to become happy with him, arranges in his will that as soon as he dies, Dave will get his eyes - and that puts the old man in GREAT danger...<br/><br/>Another &quot;Inner Sanctum&quot; mystery full of suspense, jealousy and psychology (Dave&#39;s best friend Alan actually is a psychiatrist), with lots of twists and turns to the intricate plot, REALLY eerie moments especially during the transplantation scenes, and marvelous acting, particularly on the part of Lon Chaney Jr. as the blinded artist - a REAL gem among the murder mysteries of the 40s!

Artist Dave Stewart is engaged to beautiful rich Heather Hayden (Jean Parker). Unfortunately his model Tania (Acquanetta) loves him too and is insanely jealous. One night he accidentally (???) puts acid in his eyes and becomes blind. There is one chance to regain his sight--an eye operation...but who&#39;s eyes will he use? Then someone dies...<br/><br/>A little convoluted but enjoyable, compact murder mystery. It&#39;s briskly paced and never dull. The acting is OK--Chaney is just OK in his role, Parker is very good but Acquanetta, while being very beautiful, is a terrible actress. The only problem with this is that it IS pushing credibility to believe that Parker and Acquanetta are head over heels in love with Chaney! Still, not bad. I give it a 6.