Dead Man's Eyes Movie Review
Artist David Stuart (Lon Chaney Jr.) accidently rubs acid into eyes, rendering him completely blind--however, Stuart's fiancé's father, Dr. Stanley Hayden, offers to donate his eyes to Stuart after his death. Soon after, the man with the generous offer is found killed, and all fingers at pointed at Stuart as the culprit. For being such a short movie (just over an hour long), there's a lot going on here--we have the question of who killed Hayden? Did model Tanya Czoraki (Acquanetta of Captive Wild Woman, Jungle Woman and Tarzan and the Leopard Woman fame) intentionally cause Stuart to lose his sight? Was the surgery successful? Who stole the eyes? Throw in a web of lies and loves and it's enough to make your head spin.
It did his
This is enough to keep you interested in the film, but unfortunately, the delivery doesn't quite live up to the premise. Chaney, who I am typically a fan of, is fairly dull and seems uninterested here--maybe he was tired, having appeared in 8 films the year this came out (1944)--in fact, a quick look shows he appeared in no fewer than 33 films between 1941 and 1945! The acting beyond Chaney gets even worse, especially Acquanetta, who turns in as wooden a performance as one can imagine and was no doubt cast on her looks alone.
Sorry David
There's no blood or gore, and truly this is more a murder mystery than a horror film of any kind. The movie does throw in some twists and turns, and it is a good enough story to keep you hooked until the end. If you're looking for a Chaney movie to watch on a lazy day, you can certainly do a lot better than Dead Man's Eyes.
On A Scale Of One To Ten: 5
I couldn't find a trailer for this film, so instead please enjoy this Lon Chaney Jr. documentary
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