Lon Chaney Jr. is a research chemist working for pharmaceuticals manufacturer J. Carroll Naish. Naish not only makes all the money. He takes the credit. Chaney doesn't care. He has his wife, Brenda Joyce, and his son, and his very useful work. He's working on something to cure influenza, and Naish wants to rush it into production, but Chaney has all the data in his head, so Naish lets him have his way. When Chaney wants to go to South America with research assistant Lloyd Bridges, he agrees; his men have stolen Chaney's notes, so while Chaney is off perfecting the drug, Naish will produce a far less effective drug.... and seduce Miss Joyce.

It's the fifth of sixth 'Inner Sanctum' movies produced at Universal I'm the mid-1940s, a remake of 1934's THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD. It's quite clearly a cheap programmer, but it's a lead role for Chaney, pretty near the end of his starring phase, and he gives his usual good, tragic performance.

I do wonder what the FDA is doing about the events in this movie. As I write this, the 2019 Coronavirus is spreading around the world, with lots of panic, talks about pandemics, Internet nonsense about fighting it by drinking bleach - which will almost certainly kill the virus, as well as the people who drink it. Let's hope that the legitimate drug companies can come up with something to fight it.

From 1943 through 1945, Universal Studios made a string of six movies that starred Lon Chaney, Jr. that were all termed "The Inner Sanctum". Many of the actors were seen in several of the films, though Chaney managed to play the lead in all of them. The stories were B-films--with small budgets and running at just over 60 minutes each. In many ways, they were similar to the later "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" TV series. In addition, Columbia Pictures apparently thought there was money in the concept and brought out The Whistler series just a year after the first Inner Sanctum film. Like the other series, the same actor was supposed to star in the films and they all had different stories about murder and mayhem. Of the two series, I think the Inner Sanctum ones were just a bit better and part of this was because Chaney was excellent in the films. This film is the best of the six films and oddly it just happened to be the last I happened to see--making this an excellent way to complete the series.

Chaney plays a kind medical researcher who cares much more about mankind than he does about getting rich. However, his boss (J. Carroll Naish) is a real dirt-bag--with little interest in anything other than getting rich and claiming credit for Chaney's hard work. Oddly, Chaney doesn't mind, as he's happy with his work and just wants to help people. However, when Naish wants to cut corners and possibly risk lives, Chaney is incensed and quits his job.

Some time later, Naish finds Chaney and apologizes for the past and begs him to return to his old job--at a much higher salary and all the independence he wants. Chaney isn't convinced, as he knows Naish is a weasel, but Chaney's wife convinces him to take the job. Things go fine for a while, but Naish definitely didn't learn his lesson and comes up with an evil plan to both steal Chaney's wife AND market a drug that could kill. In the end, the plot works perfectly--leading to a dandy conclusion and making the audience really sympathize with poor old Chaney.

When it comes to writing, the series had great ideas but often the scripts were full of holes. However, this one is not Swiss Cheezy and works great. Exciting and tense--this is the series at its best.

By the way, they never said exactly what was in Chaney's bag. I assumed it was Naish's head or brain but it was deliberately left vague. I like it that way, as it tends to let your mind conjure up all kinds of interesting images.

Acceptable "Inner Sanctum" mystery has Lon Chaney Jr. bringing a bag to a powerful defense attorney and telling his story of how ruthless lab owner J. Carroll Naish did him and partner Lloyd Bridges dirt, purposely releasing it to the public before it was ready. His motive, to get Chaney out of the way so he could put the moves on Chaney's wife, Brenda Joyce, makes the revenge on the lecherous man double motivated. Chaney's a good family man, taking the fifth entry of the series to a domestic level, quite different as the short lived series winds down.

This is a better than average entry, although the scene sacrificing monkeys for scientific research was disturbing, especially seeing Bridges holding one of the adorable critters. Naish, having earlier played one of the detectives in "Calling Dr. Death", is a great villain, although I found it absurd that Chaney would trust him again after having earlier had his career destroyed by him. Bridges, as usual, is a light hearted joy to watch, and for once, Chaney seems easy going in his work as well, as if Bridges' easy manner rubbed off on him. Mary Gordon gives her typical sweet and funny take as Chaney and Joyce's housekeeper.

Topically, this is an interesting take on the subject of medical fraud with medicines made available or tainted, a topical subject today. With a better script than normal, this becomes intriguing because of how much has changed and not changed. It's less melodramatic than others in the series, because the dramatic elements of the story are far more relatable. A twist at the end is a real shocker that makes the revenge on Naish all the more desirable.