| Calling Dr. Death | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Reginald Le Borg |
| Produced by | Ben Pivar |
| Written by | Edward Dein |
| Starring |
Lon Chaney, Jr. Patricia Morison J. Carrol Naish |
| Music by | Paul Sawtell |
| Cinematography | Virgil Miller |
| Editing by | Norman A. Cerf |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 17, 1943 |
| Running time | 63 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Calling Dr. Death (1943) is the first of the Universal Pictures Inner Sanctum mystery films. The "Inner Sanctum" franchise originated with a popular radio series and all of the films star Chaney. The movie stars Lon Chaney, Jr. and Patricia Morison, and was directed by Reginald Le Borg. Chaney plays a neurologist, Dr. Mark Steele, who loses memory of the past few days after learning that his wife has been brutally murdered. Aware of his wife's infidelity and believing he could be the killer, Steele asks his office nurse Stella Madden to help him recover his lost memories.
Plot summary[]
A respected neurologist, Dr. Mark Steele (Lon Chaney, Jr.) treats his patients successfully with hypnosis, but has troubles of his own from a marriage falling apart, that he cannot treat himself in the same way. His wife Maria (Ramsay Ames) is cheating on him on a regular basis, which is something Mark is well aware of. When Maria returns home one night in the early morning hours after a rendez-vous with her lover, Mark finally tells her that he has had enough and that he wants a divorce. Maria, who is leading a very comfortable life as a doctor's wife, refuses her consent to a divorce, and laughs at him as she does so. That night Mark has a dream about strangling his wife to death.
When Maria goes away for the weekend, Mark decides to leave and gets into his car and drives off. Come Monday morning he wakes up in his office only to learn that he is suffering a mental blackout and that the memories of the weekend is missing. He is informed by the police that his wife has been murdered, and that her face was disfigured by some kind of acid. Mark begins to worry about not remembering the slightest thing about his own actions during the weekend.
His worries increase after finding a button from his own jacket near where his wife's body was found. He starts suspecting that he himself has done off with her. His nurse, Stella Madden (Patricia Morison) tells him not to air his suspicions to the police until he knows more. The police goes on to arrest Maria's lover, the architect Mr. Robert Duval (David Bruce), for the murder. Inspector Gregg (J. Carroll Naish), one of the detectives on the case still believes that Mark is the murderer. Mr. Duval's disabled wife (Fay Helm) pays Mark a visit, trying to convince him to help her prove that her husband is innocent.
Mr. Duval is eventually convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. In a moment of guilt Mark gets the idea to hypnotize himself to find out if he really is the real murderer. The hypnosis, however, is not completed because inspector Gregg arrives and interrupts. Nurse Stella does make a video recording of the session though, and on the video Mark talks about meeting up with his wife at a cabin in the mountains. He also tells of having a quarrel with her and leaving the cabin just as Mr. Duval arrives, going straight to his office and sedating himself into deep sleep. Gregg watches the video, but still suspects Mark of being the real murderer.
Curious and craving for information Mark visits the incarcerated Mr.Duval and finds out that he borrowed $10,000 from Maria in order to pay off some gambling debts. After the visit Mark hears that Mr. Duval's request for pardoning has been denied by the governor. He talks to nurse Stella, who faints right in front of him in the office. Mark assumes that the nurse is beat from too much work. He suggests that he hire another nurse as a secretary to handle the bills for the time being, and drives Stella to her family home to rest her up in the good care of her parents.
Upon his return to the office Mark gets a visit from inspector Gregg. Mark is confronted with the fact that there's a connection between Mark's private clinic and the acid used on the face of his murdered wife. Mark realizes there might be more at stake than he first thought and decides to hypnotize Stella to see if she knows more than she is letting him believe. On the night of Mr. Duval's execution, with very little time left, Mark gets to hypnotize Stella. She tells him the truth about her plan together with Mr. Duval to get the $10,000 and that she killed Maria when Mr. Duval tried to give the money back. She also confesses to have tried to burn down Mark's office in order to cover the fact that she had been embezzling him for a long time. Gregg overhears the confession and arrests Stella.[1]
Production[]
Gale Sondergaard (pictured) was considered for the role of Stella Madden but was replaced last minute by Patricia Morison.
Calling Dr. Death was the first film in the "Inner Sanctum Mystery" series.[2] In June 1943, Universal purchased the screen rights to the series from Simon and Schuster, Inc. who were publishers of the popular mystery novels and radio shows.[2][3] Simon and Schuster were using the title Inner Sanctum for their series of mystery novels they had published starting in the 1930s.[2] The radio adaptations had initially started in January 1941 on the NBC Blue Network and was broadcast weekly.[2] Ben Pivar of Universal sought out a suitable entry for the first film in the series, and purchased an original screenplay by freelance writer Edward Dein titled Calling Dr. Death.[3] Dein had previously worked on various mystery films such as The Falcon, Lone Wolf and Boston Blackie series.[3] Dein later reflected on his work at Universal, stating that he worked there "as a reader for a few weeks, which was another horror story. We called this the Snake Pit. In those days, we were not considered to be prolific writers; we were hacks."[4] The Inner Sanctum Mysteries feature a "stream of consciousness" voiceover which Dein stated he incorporated into his script at Lon Chaney, Jr.'s insistence.[5] Dein stated that Chaney felt the dialogue was too technical and he couldn't say the words.[5] LeBorg stated it was both Chaney and Pivar who suggested it, stating "Pivar was very, very crude, not very intelligent, and he couldn't read very well."[5]
Lon Chaney, Jr. was hopeful for the series, craving diversity in his roles after Universal had placed him in various monster roles in their horror films.[3] Pivar planned to produced two Inner Sanctum mystery films a year with each film featuring Chaney and Gale Sondergaard in the lead roles.[4] Director Reginald LeBorg was chosen by Pivar to direct the film, with LeBorg recalling that "Pivar had confidence in me because I was a fighter who tried to get better and better material."[4]
Just before filming was set to begin, Sondergaard was dropped from the cast and her role was rewritten and given to Patricia Morison.[4] LeBorg speculated that Sondergaard was dropped from the film as "she was a leftist and she and her husband [Herbert J. Biberman] were shooting their mouths off quite often."[4] Calling Dr. Death went into production on October 25, 1943 and was finished filming in 20 days.[4] Patrica Morison recalled working on the film with Chaney, stating she "didn't get to know him terribly well - he was a rather shy man, but I enjoyed working with him very much. He was very nice to me."[5][6]
Cast[]
- Lon Chaney, Jr. as Dr. Mark Steel (as Lon Chaney)
- Patricia Morison as Stella Madden
- J. Carrol Naish as Inspector Gregg
- David Bruce as Bob Duval
- Ramsay Ames as Maria Steele
- Fay Helm as Mrs. Duval
- Holmes Herbert as Bryant (the Butler)
Release and reception[]
Calling Dr. Death was released on 17 December 1943.[7]
References[]
- ↑ http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/70116/Calling-Dr-Death/
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Calling Dr. Death (1943)". American Film Institute. https://catalog.afi.com/Film/344-CALLING-DRDEATH?sid=18594624-7ac2-4df1-b166-4b7194454c02&sr=11.171935&cp=1&pos=0.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Weaver, Brunas & Brunas 2007, p. 379.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Weaver, Brunas & Brunas 2007, p. 380.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Weaver, Brunas & Brunas 2007, p. 382.
- ↑ Weaver, Brunas & Brunas 2007, p. 383.
- ↑ Weaver, Universal Horrors, p. 379.
External links[]
- Template:AFI film
- Calling Dr. Death at the Internet Movie Database
- Calling Dr. Death at AllRovi
Template:Reginald Le Borg