Dead Man's Eyes (1944)

An artist (Lon Chaney Jr.) is blinded in a freak accident. His benefactor (Edward Fielding) promises to bequeath his own eyes upon his death to the artist. When the benefactor is found bludgeoned to death, the artist becomes the key suspect. Directed by Reginald Le Borg, this was one of six Inner Sanctum (a popular radio series) adaptations for the screen by Universal. This one is pretty bad. Badly written, badly acted and well ….. just bad! None of the characters are likable, not even the self pitying blind artist who you would think would engender some sympathy. When the real killer and their motive is exposed, it's so far fetched and illogical that you almost want to laugh. I have a fondness for these on the cheap B mysteries but this one tested my patience. Thomas Gomez plays the detective on the case and his place in the narrative seems to be to rehash the plot a couple of times as if the audience was too slow to follow what's going on. With Jean Parker, Paul Kelly, George Meeker and Acquanetta, who gives the worst performance in the film.