Strange Confession

Moviecut—Strange Confession

source: Strange Confession

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.

In the middle of the night, an obviously injured man enters the house of a well-known lawyer, explaining to him that he's his former schoolmate, chemist Jeff Carter, and showing him the contents of his large bag - which quite obviously HORRIFY the attorney. But he sits down and listens to Jeff's story, which he begins telling in a LONG flashback: Jeff, who's always been an altruist and wanting to do good to mankind with his work, is - as his colleagues as well as his wife tell him - the ideal 'object' for exploitation by his ruthless boss Graham, the head of a big pharmaceutics company. Graham takes Jeff's formulas, rushes them on to the market in order to make huge profits, and pays him peanuts for it - until one day, he wants to market Jeff's new 'miracle drug' for all kinds of diseases, although Jeff insists that it's not perfected yet and it would be irresponsible and dangerous to sell it as it is; Graham insists, and Jeff resigns. He gets work as an assistant at a drugstore; but that doesn't seem to please his pretty young wife Mary very much, because there his salary is even smaller than when he worked for reckless exploiter Graham - and then, one New Year's Eve, Graham comes to see Jeff in order to beg him to come back to the company; and meets Mary for the first time... Immediately, the scoundrel has got a scheme ready: he sends Jeff, who consents to work for him again, and his assistant Dave to South America, where, according to Jeff, the only missing ingredient for the 'miracle drug' can be found - and so he's got him out of the way for making love to Mary, and for copying his incomplete formula and marketing it in a big way. But THEN, just as Jeff and Dave have found the right formula, a big influenza epidemic breaks out back home, and people, including Jeff's little son Tommy, are being treated with Graham's useless 'medicine'... This is undoubtedly the heaviest, most dramatic and most cruel of the six "Inner Sanctum" movies - for it deals with one of the most cruel crimes: mass murder by false medication (a similar case as in "The Third Man"). And it shows the reckless capitalism and greed of those who 'play' with human lives in this way most drastically in the shape of Graham - we have to take our hats off to J. Carroll Naish for playing that skunk in such a convincing way that we actually HATE him to the core... And at the same time, the movie 'commits' a clear violation of the Production Code: 'The sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of the crime...' But see and judge for yourself...

Lon Chaney, Jr. plays an idealistic chemist who creates a drug that may cure influenza. His unscrupulous and greedy boss (J. Carrol Naish) wants to release the drug right away but Chaney insists on doing more tests to make sure its safe. Naish releases the drug on the market anyway with tragic results. You really shouldn't tick off Lon Chaney, Jr. The fifth of six Inner Sanctum movies from Universal starring a mustachioed Lon Chaney, Jr. This one has a somewhat troubled history as it was a remake of an earlier Universal film, The Man Who Reclaimed His Head. The first film was based off of a play by Jean Bart. There was some dispute about whether Universal had the rights to do more than one adaptation of Bart's play. So this one was out of circulation for decades. As was often the case with the Inner Sanctum series, the cast is excellent. Chaney does some of his finest acting here. Legendary character actor J. Carrol Naish makes a particularly rotten villain. Lloyd Bridges, Milburn Stone, Addison Richards, and beautiful Brenda Joyce round out the cast. This is considered by many to be the best of the series. This may be because it has less in common with the others. There are some who don't appreciate the bizarre and quirky charms of the other films in the series. This one is more straightforward and less fantastic, so perhaps that's why it seems to have a better reputation. Regardless, it's a fine B movie that I happen to enjoy even if I wouldn't go so far as to call it my favorite of the bunch.

Of the six Inner Sanctum movies Lon Chaney made at Universal, for me this one constantly switches positions with two others in "Top Three" status. Chaney plays Jeff Carter, a good husband and father who's too soft when it comes to handling his domineering boss Roger Graham (J. Carrol Naish). Jeff's a skilled, meticulous lab chemist busy developing medicines with his partner (played by a very young Lloyd Bridges), but for all his achievements still lives modestly with his family in a tiny apartment. Jeff works hard while watching Graham take all the money and credit, and ultimately becomes a pawn in Graham's game when the boss sends Jeff away for a month on a job in South America for his own selfish ulterior motives. STRANGE CONFESSION benefits right away for being somewhat different in style and approach from all the other Inner Sanctum mysteries, and it ropes you in from its prelude where we see a tormented Jeff desperately consulting with a lawyer while carrying a black bag with something unspeakable inside it. The film is then told as a flashback where we can find out what happened and why. Chaney gives a good performance, and J. Carrol Naish (who was so perfect with him in CALLING DR. DEATH) again makes for a fine match. *** out of ****

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.

"Strange Confession" was the only Universal "Inner Sanctum" movie I had NEVER seen until the recent release of the entire series on DVD, but from the first few minutes it seemed familiar and I quickly realized why: though the opening credits list the script as based on a "composition" by Jean Bart (which made it seem like it was based on something she wrote in grade school), it was a quite obvious remake of the 1934 Universal film "The Man Who Reclaimed His Head," with Claude Rains, Joan Bennett and Lionel Atwill in the roles played here by Lon Chaney, Jr., Brenda Joyce and J. Carrol Naish. The original took place in France on the eve of the First World War and contained a pacifist message that M. Coates Webster, scenarist for the remake, unsurprisingly omitted since the U.S. was still at war when "Strange Confession" was made. Webster also changed the two antagonists from a radical newspaper editor at odds with his publisher to a scientist at odds with the owner of the pharmaceutical company he works for. Nonetheless, the two films are quite close otherwise and, though hardly as good a film as "The Man Who Reclaimed His Head" (and where is THAT one on DVD, Universal?), "Strange Confession" retains a surprising degree of the original's quality.

As the fifth of Universal's six 'Inner Sanctum' mysteries, 1945's "Strange Confession" has the distinction of being the only one not included in the popular SHOCK! package of classic horror films issued to television in the late 50s. Out of circulation since its rerelease under the title "The Missing Head," it still hasn't made the television rounds to this day, but has been easily available with the other series entries on VHS and now DVD. The reason for its suppression is that this was an unauthorized remake of Jean Bart's unsuccessful play (a measly 28 performances) "The Man Who Reclaimed His Head," previously filmed by Universal in 1934, featuring 'Invisible Man' Claude Rains recreating his stage role opposite villain Lionel Atwill. Streamlined and updated for its star Lon Chaney, "Strange Confession" actually improves on its source, the Chaney protagonist, Jeff Carter, an impoverished chemist working for an unscrupulous boss, Roger Graham (J. Carrol Naish), who takes all the credit for himself; in the original, Rains was a too mild mannered pacifist writer mercilessly used by his employer (Atwill) to advance his warmongering agenda. Without the lengthy antiwar backstory, the remake flows much quicker, and Chaney's family has a charming little son (Gregory Muradian) rather than an insufferable little brat of a daughter, played by 'Baby Jane' (a LONG way from Shirley Temple). Roger Graham is just as ruthless as his inspiration, his company rushing formulas into production regardless of whether or not they actually succeed in curing the patients, and when Jeff Carter's wife (Brenda Joyce) discovers that Graham's 'miracle drug' failed to save her son from an influenza epidemic, she turns on him far more forcefully than Joan Bennett ever did. Among another solid supporting cast are Lloyd Bridges as a good sidekick, ubiquitous Milburn Stone as a bad one, and equally ubiquitous Addison Richards as a doctor, with Mary Gordon and Jack Norton playing neighbors. Lovely Brenda Joyce had just begun her five picture reign as Jane in RKO's 'Tarzan' series, only concluding with her final film in 1949, "Tarzan's Magic Fountain," opposite new Ape Man Lex Barker and former Universal starlet Evelyn Ankers. Brenda's other genre work included "Whispering Ghosts" (John Carradine), "Pillow of Death" (opposite Chaney again), "The Spider Woman Strikes Back" (Gale Sondergaard, Rondo Hatton), "Little Giant" (Abbott and Costello), and "Danger Woman" (Patricia Morison, from "Tarzan and the Huntress"). As for Chaney himself, this was perhaps his best showcase since "Man Made Monster" or "The Wolf Man," not an innocent man accused of murder (as in previous series entries), but a brilliant researcher driven to justifiable homicide by forces beyond his control. Contrary to the numerous naysayers, he is convincing in this role, thanks to a script seemingly tailor made for his personality, not exactly suave, just an all around decent family man; the final 'Inner Sanctum,' "Pillow of Death," found him wallowing in a weak film and bad script, concluding with him as the surprise killer, undeserving of sympathy. The non horror "Strange Confession" never looked better, arguably the best of the half dozen series titles.

You would think no one would want to mess with the Wolf Man, Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy, or Dracula -- all of whom the brawny, sinister-looking Lon Chaney Jr would play during his years on the silver screen. However, in Strange Confession he plays a good-natured, altruistic chemist, interested only in helping mankind by finding cures for diseases. So it's not surprising the amoral boss of the pharmaceutical lab he works for, played with slimy sophistication by J. Carrol Nash, takes advantage of his naive employee. It was bad enough he took credit and even won awards for Chaney's discoveries. But now he sends his star chemist out of the country so he can start selling an unproven influenza remedy Chaney would have objected was not reliable, and even more dastardly, so he can hit on Chaney's wife. When Chaney returns home unexpectedly and is confronted with all the distressing developments which have accrued from his sneaky boss's nefarious doings, look out! No more Mr. Nice Guy! Strange Confession is one of the best of Universal Studio's six spooky little "B" potboilers inspired by the popular "Inner Sanctum" radio show. Each stared Chaney, enjoying a change of pace from his monster image as a suave, nattily dressed leading man. Instead of monster or moron, as in Of Mice And Men, in these nifty little thrillers he plays sophisticated, well-educated men, variously a psychiatrist, a professor, an artist, a hypnotist, a chemist, and an attorney. In the line of duty he receives the sexy attentions of some of Old Hollywood B-movie land's most beautiful babes, the glamorous likes of Evelyn Ankers, Anne Gynne, Patricia Morrison, Aquanetta, Elena Verdugo, and the afore-mentioned pretty Miss Joyce. Wow! Must have been an ego boost for he not-so-handsome Chaney. Could all the cigarettes he smoked in these movies have been to cover up the steam coming out of his ears! But Chaney was a better actor than his later unrewarding roles would indicate, and he carries these short but quite good little movies with his measured portrayals of the tormented heroes. I would rate Strange Confession as the third best of the series with Weird Woman (see my review) as the best. Calling Dr. Death (1943), first in the series, perhaps has a slight edge over Strange in spite of lesser production values, because it incorporates a strong mystery-suspense angle with a tense psychological element. Strange Confession is more of a straight melodrama and the least spooky of the series. Also, Dr. Death gets a boost from the always reliable Nash's scintillating performance as a sardonic detective. Because the six pictures of the series were big studio second features, rather than impoverished independent "B" productions, a lot of mileage was made out of small budgets by borrowing sets from other, often bigger productions and by tapping a stable of on-the-payroll solid character actors such as Nash, Thomas Gomez, Milburn Stone, Douglas Dumbrille, Lloyd Bridges, and Ralph Morgan. While tacky looking in places, these little flicks are not without artistic merit. Though seldom mentioned in the context, all six movies are fine examples of the period film noir style, all loaded with night scenes, darkly shadowed and obliquely angled cinematography, femme fa-tales, doom-laden ambiance, and themes of murder, corruption, and betrayal. All the Sanctums are well-acted, well-directed, handsomely filmed, and stylishly scored. Strange Confession and the rest of the Inner Sanctum series are enduring examples of how the big studios of Hollywood's Golden Era could turn out good-looking, entertaining pictures while only half-way trying. Once you have watched the entire series on Universal's economically priced album of meticulously restored DVD's, you may wish, as yours truly does, they had made sixty of them, instead of only six!