Horror 2020 Countdown: Dead Man's Eyes (1944)

 Dead Man's Eyes (1944) dir. Reginald Le Borg, Universal Pictures 

By now Lon Chaney (no longer Jr.) was a proper character actor. He was still under contract to Universal and still doing the Inner Sanctum series. 

David Stuart (Chaney) is an artist of some renown. He's also engaged to Heather Hayden (Jean Parker), who comes from old money. The complication comes from Dave's top model, Tanya (Acquanetta). She is also madly in love with Dave. The rest of the cast is Mr. Hayden (Edward Fielding) and Dr. Alan Bittaker (Paul Kelly). The good doctor feels for Tanya the same way the model feels for Dave. 

Tanya's jealously grows out of control and one fine day she decides if Dave is too blind to see her love, she'll make that statement a literal one. After a session she slips into Dave's bathroom and swaps his bottle of eyewash with the bottle of acid he happens to keep in a similar bottle and also in the bathroom. 

You can guess what happens next. Now blind, Dave declares he can't support Heather in the manner in which she is accustomed to, so he breaks off the engagement just as her ex-boyfriend Nick (George Meeker) comes a calling. Old Man Hayden, however, declares that in the event of his death Dave can have his corneas. Only when he dies, he stresses.

So naturally when Heather comes home late she finds dear old dad dead and Dave stumbling around the room. Police Captain Drury (Thomas Gomez), while considering Dave his top suspect also takes a hard look at Nick. With Dave in jail, surely his path to Heather would be clear?

Or what about Dave's best pal Dr. Bittaker? Sure, he's the one that suggested the operation in the first place but with Dave out of the way, maybe he could have a chance with Tanya?

Or what about Tanya? She's been his faithful nurse since the accident, but maybe she decided to get rid of him after Dave promised Heather to marry her if his eyes were restored. 

Then daddy Hayden's eyes go missing...

Underwhelming; Chaney is better in that he plays a shmuck out of his depth but seriously, Tanya is full on crazy eyes in every scene. The mystery itself is better than Calling Dr. Death but on par with Weird Woman.