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.

Dr. Steele (Lon Chaney Jr.) is a psychiatrist married to a cheating wife who refuses to give him a divorce. He's in love with his nurse (Patricia Morison) who loves him back. Then he blacks out one weekend and awakens to find his wife was brutally murdered. Did he do it or is he being set up?

The first of Universal's "Inner Sanctum" series based on a popular radio show of the time. It's introduced by a floating head in a crystal ball (!!!!). Not a horror movie as believed but a murder mystery. It was made on no budget with a half hour script padded to an hour (notice how many times J. Carrol Naish's policeman hounds Chaney). Also I had the murderer figured out about 20 minutes in but I had no idea why. Still, for what it is (a low-budget B picture) it's not bad. Chaney is OK and Morison and Naish are actually very good. This is not some unsung cinema masterpiece just a quick, efficient B movie. There are worse ways to kill an hour.

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".