The Frozen Ghost

The Frozen Ghost (1945) is the fourth of six Inner Sanctum films starring Lon Chaney, Jr. Alex Gregor 'the Great' is a stage mentalist. He and his stage assistant and fiancée Maura Daniel preformed a hypnotism act on stage. A member of the audience begins to heckle Alex. Alex invites him to be hypnotized to prove that he is not a fake - Alex then hypnotizes him on stage in front of an audience and the man dies. Alex is sure he killed the man with his eyes! The doctor says the man died of natural causes but Alex becomes obsessed with the notion that he possesses the literal power of "looks that kill". Can Alex kill by looking at someone and willing them to die? Or is just believing in hocus pocus nonsense? Pretty good movie if you like films on wax museums, mesmerism, mysteries and the Hollywood classics. 7/10

Moviecut—The Frozen Ghost

source: The Frozen Ghost

In this, the fourth of the "Inner Sanctum" series of psychological thrillers, series star Lon Chaney Jr. Plays Alex Gregor, a man with a popular "mentalist" radio show. When a skeptical drunk (a hilarious Arthur Hohl) belittles the act, Alex wishes the man dead ... and indeed the man does actually die. Guilt-ridden, Alex goes to stay at the wax museum operated by his lady friend Valerie Monet (Tala Birell). There he gets caught up in more macabre events as Valerie goes missing and Alex is afraid that, once again, the powers of his mind have resulted in death. "The Frozen Ghost" is typical shenanigans for these short & sweet movies, with an "it's all a plot" type story, and another situation where it seems that every major female character has designs on Chaney (also including Maura Daniel (Evelyn Ankers), his partner in his act, and the young and enchanting Nina Coudreau (Elena Verdugo), Valerie's niece). The story IS pretty straightforward, with director Harold Young giving the proceedings adequate atmosphere without any major stylistics. It's all easy enough to watch, with Lon doing a typically engaging job. His whining to the obligatory police inspector character (a very good Douglas Dumbrille) about believing to be guilty of the audience members' death is a hoot. Every cast member gets an A for effort here, especially utility supporting player Martin Kosleck, a top character actor who specialized in villainous roles. Here, he plays a plastic surgeon-turned-sculptor who acts blatantly suspicious at every conceivable junction. Even in light of the fact that Ankers and Chaney did NOT get along in real life, that didn't stop the studio from putting them together fairly frequently, and they DO manage to work well together onscreen. Young Verdugo is a delight, but the true highlight of the film has to be the performance of Dumbrille, who in some ways is your standard cop-on-the-case character, but who also takes time to quote Shakespeare, offer art critiques, and compulsively straighten crooked paintings. "The Frozen Ghost" may not exactly be anything special, but if you're looking for an amiable little thriller with a trim running time of BARELY over an hour, it fills the bill. Seven out of 10.

Lon Chaney, Jr (Alex Gregor), Evelyn Ankers (Maura Daniel), Milburn Stone (George Keene), Tala Birrell (Valerie Monet), Elena Verdugo (Nina), Martin Kosleck (Rudi), Douglass Dumbrille (inspector), Arthur Hohl (inebriated contestant), Pauline Drake (Mabel), Dennis Moore (announcer), William Haade (policeman), Leyland Hodgson (doctor). Director: HAROLD YOUNG. Screenplay: Bernard Schubert, Luci "Quick- Draw" Ward. Story: Henry Sucher (also adaptation), Harrison Carter. Photography: Paul Ivano. Film editor: Fred Feitshans, Jr. Art directors: John B. Goodman and Abraham Grossman. Set decorator: Russell A. Gausman. Costumes designed by Vera West. Sound recording supervisor: Bernard B. Brown. Associate producer: Will Cowan. Copyright 20 November 1944 by Universal. New York opening at the Rialto: 27 July 1945. U.S. release: 29 June 1945. U.K. release: 1 October 1945. Australian release: 19 April 1945. 5,568 feet. 61 minutes. SYNOPSIS: A professional hypnotist fears he has the will to kill. NOTES: This Universal series commenced with Calling Dr Death in 1943. It was followed by Weird Woman, Dead Man's Eyes, The Frozen Ghost (all 1944), Strange Confession, Pillow of Death (both 1945), and Inner Sanctum (1948). The first six films all starred Lon Chaney, Jr. The seventh film, starring Mary Beth Hughes and Charles Russell, was a Film Classics release that is currently available on an Alpha DVD. (Universal DVD box set of six titles rates 9 out of ten). COMMENT: Fourth of the seven "Inner Sanctum Mysteries", "The Frozen Ghost" is much more entertaining than the odd title might suggest, thanks largely to the inventive direction of Harold Young. The story itself is not all that involving. Anyone who is genuinely surprised by the various twists and turns of the complicated plot has obviously not sat through too many of these "B" delights. What makes "The Frozen Ghost" entertaining is not the script, nor even the wooden "acting" of cult hero, Lon Chaney, Jr. (who is actually more animated than usual), but the cast of seasoned players led by such lights as Evelyn Ankers, Elena Verdugo, Tala Birell and particularly Douglass Dumbrille, who easily steals the acting honors. I love all Dmbrille's scenes, whereas Martin Kosleck, who seems ideally cast, disappoints. Paul Ivano's lighting photography is not up to scratch either.

"The Frozen Ghost" is a B-movie from Universal that has higher production values than certain A-movies from some other studios. It is also meticulously well cast in every role, with the possible exception of Douglas Dumbrille, who plays the police inspector and whom I'm more accustomed to seeing in villainous parts. The film handles the ambiguity of whether "Gregor The Great" has genuine psychic powers or not well, and has a few atmospheric voice-overs from Lon Chaney Jr. Despite all that, however, it's not quite up to the level of the better entries from the similar and concurrent film series "The Whistler". **1/2 out of 4.

Lon Chaney Jr. stars as Alex Gregor, a stage mentalist who has a terrible mishap occur when he tries to hypnotize a drunken fool in his act. The man dies, and Alex blames himself, even though police claim it was a heart attack, he decides to retire. His manager persuades him to stay with his friend Valerie, who runs a wax museum, where he meets her attractive niece Nina(played by Elena Verdugo) and the jealous and sinister wax worker Rudi(played by Martin Koslek). When Valerie mysteriously disappears, suspicion falls on Alex, but his assistant/fiancée(played by Evelyn Ankers) helps him uncover the real culprit. Entertaining film with a good cast and story, which may be obvious to a point, but film remains fun for a low budgeter.

Like B westerns at the time the title The Frozen Ghost has nothing to do with ghosts. All the folks here are alive though in suspended animation. Possibly this film might have been better had Universal gotten old horror film standbys Bela Lugosi or Boris Karloff to do the title role. Lon Chaney, Jr. is a fine actor and can be frightening indeed on a occasion, but his role as a mentalist who has convinced himself that he can kill with a thought really required someone like those two titans of horror. In any event Chaney is doing his mentalist act with assistant Evelyn Ankers and when a drunken customer ruins his act he wishes him dead and so he is. His agent and friend Milburn Stone persuades Chaney to retire and spend some time helping another friend of Stone's Martin Kosleck run his wax museum. Kosleck is our bad guy, he's done many a sinister role most prominently Joseph Goebbels in a few films. In this he's a scientist doing the usual ghoulish things that scientists do. When his assistants Tala Birrell and Elena Verdugo disappear Chaney thinks he might have something to do with it. So does homicide cop Douglass Dumbrille for once a good guy. The Frozen Ghost is not up to the usual Universal standards of Gothic horror. Chaney is very much miscast in the lead here.

1944's "The Frozen Ghost" was fourth of the six 'Inner Sanctum' mysteries (released only an entire year after completion), later included in Universal's popular SHOCK! package of classic horror films issued to television in the late 50s, its intriguing title and stronger than usual cast perhaps explaining its more frequent showings than the four other SHOCK! titles. As a vehicle for Lon Chaney however, it's probably the weakest, repeating his pity party from the previous entry, "Dead Man's Eyes," this time as Alex Gregor, successful stage hypnotist, whose latest subject, an alcoholic skeptic (Arthur Hohl), succumbs while going into a trance. The amazingly cloddish and unsympathetic Gregor has no one but himself to blame for all his subsequent troubles, blaming his mesmeric powers for the man's fatal heart attack, and ending his engagement to his lovely partner, Maura Daniel (Evelyn Ankers). Gregor's business manager, George Keene (Milburn Stone), hits upon the brilliant idea of having his downtrodden client begin working at the wax museum of Valerie Monet (Tala Birell), whose teenage niece, Nina Cordreau (Elena Verdugo), quickly develops a crush on the older man. Unhappily, this conflicts with Valerie's own designs on Gregor, who continues to behave in such a crestfallen manner that one would think that any self respecting female would preferably flee from him with great haste. Once the action shifts to the waxworks, Chaney's hapless histrionics fade into the background, actually not a bad thing, as Universal's latest discovery, Martin Kosleck, was making his feature debut for the studio (following a 13 chapter serial, "The Great Alaskan Mystery"), as Rudi Poldan, curator and former plastic surgeon of dubious accomplishment, who hasn't entirely given up his experiments. With so many broads hot for the disturbed yet dull-as-dishwater Gregor, Rudi has his sights set on young Nina, displaying his knife throwing abilities when rebuffed (as they were in "The Mad Doctor," "The Mummy's Curse," and "Pursuit to Algiers"). This entry's police detective is played by Douglass Dumbrille, usually cast as surprise killers, rather more amiable than his predecessors, but also more bland. Exotic beauty Tala Birell, an enticing 36 at the time, was mainly reduced to Poverty Row titles at this juncture, others of interest including "The Lone Wolf Returns," "One Dangerous Night," "Isle of Forgotten Sins," "The Monster Maker," "The Power of the Whistler," "Philo Vance's Secret Mission," and "Philo Vance's Gamble." Dimpled darling Elena Verdugo was no stranger to Lon Chaney, previously providing his love interest in "House of Frankenstein," and still proving an eyeful opposite Lon in 1952's "Thief of Damascus." She also did "Little Giant" (Abbott and Costello), "The Sky Dragon" (Charlie Chan), "The Lost Tribe" (Jungle Jim), and "The Lost Volcano" (Bomba the Jungle Boy), before switching to television, where she endured as Robert Young's devoted nurse on MARCUS WELBY. It was a bittersweet swansong for the departing Evelyn Ankers (after 29 Universal features in four years), clearly pregnant with her only child, whose movie career covered only 11 more films. As for Chaney, this lukewarm repeat role clearly did him no favors, somewhat reviving himself for the climax, which also allowed Evelyn Ankers a chance for redemption.

Right in the beginning it seems to be the same old story with spiritualists and fake mediums: 'Gregor the Great' (Lon Chaney Jr.) hypnotizes his beautiful medium Maura (Evelyn Ankers) during his obviously quite successful radio broadcast to read the thoughts of some of the people in the audience. She evades difficult questions, and so a drunkard starts grumbling that it's all a phony - and Gregor accepts the 'challenge', invites him up to the stage and tries to hypnotize him... and the man drops dead! From now on, although the autopsy proves that the alcoholic died of a perfectly natural heart failure, Gregor is absolutely convinced that he killed the man: he'd wished him dead because he threatened to spoil his radio broadcast, and then he'd hypnotized him and killed him that way - nobody, not even Maura, his fiancée, can get that obsession out of his mind. So his manager George suggests that he should spend some time at Mme. Monet's Wax Museum, a nice, secluded place - with murder scenes made out of wax all around, and a VERY weird young artist, a former plastic surgeon, who talks to the wax figures and is himself obsessed by Mme. Monet's pretty young niece Nina... This fourth one of the six movies made from the hugely successful radio program "Inner Sanctum" certainly IS scary, a mixture of a murder mystery and a horror movie (Universal Studios were masters at that...); the cast is quite good, Lon Chaney Jr. is once more teamed with Evelyn Ankers (they co-starred in eight movies altogether), and once more seems doomed by a strange kind of fate to do bad, like in "The Wolf Man"... Although "The Frozen Ghost" is nothing too inventive, it's QUITE a treat for fans of the genre!