Director: Reginald Le Borg
Writers: Fritz Leiber Jr., Scott Darling
Stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Anne Gwynne, Evelyn Ankers
Run Time: 1 Hour, 3 Minutes
Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/37estZE
Synopsis
It’s another Inner Sanctum series film, so we get the creepy head in the crystal ball introduction again. It says something creepy about “Even you can, unknowingly, commit murder.” Credits Roll.
A woman comes home late at night. Norman Reed (Lon Chaney Jr.) is sitting at his desk, thinking to himself about fear and reason vs. superstition. Why do men believe in strange, supernatural gods? He gets a call claiming a woman saw his wife Paula out on the street earlier, hurrying home. He checks on her, and she lies, but he knows she’s really been out. He wonders if it’s some remnant of a ritual from the island where he first met her…
We flash back to a 1940s version of a south-seas island, with hula girls and bongo drums. He sees Paula swaying mysteriously to the music. He sees a falling star. It’s the music of the Dance of Death, and where the star falls, someone will die. It is revealed that Paula’s father was one of Norman’s professors, so we understand that she’s really a white girl, if that wasn’t already obvious. Norman literally crosses a line in the sand, and the natives attack him. Paula and the old witch woman intervene and save his life.
Not long after, Norman and Paula get married and go to a party, and his old girlfriend Ilona is jealous of Paula. Paula is very superstitious, and Ilona is not.
Back in the present, Norman worries that he may not have done enough to acclimate Paula into the civilized world. Ilona comes to him the next day wanting to assist in Norman’s research. He refuses, so Ilona sends her young assistant Margaret to work for him instead. Norman’s book is a hit, and Ilona credits his success to Paula’s beauty.
Ilona thinks Paula is a witch. Margaret and her boyfriend fight because he’s jealous of her attraction to Norman. Ilona sets up the department chair for blackmail, and gets him to “take any way out.” He gets a gun…
Recently, Paula has been sneaking out at night and going to the cemetery. She lights up a candle and says a chant over it. Norman interrupts her, stomps on the stuff and takes her accessories home. He’s not happy that she’s still so superstitious. Paula says it’s for his protection from Ilona, but Norman isn’t having any of it. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone, just help Norman. He burns her charms and do-dads.
Suddenly, a shot rang out. The department chair has shot himself, and his wife screams “Murder! Murder!” Ilona knows what really happened, and she’s especially creepy after the funeral. Norman realizes that at the very moment the medallion shattered in the fire was when he heard the shots. Coincidence? He’s not sure.
Norman gets annoyed with Margaret, and her boyfriend takes offense. He fights with the boyfriend, and then Paula calls: something bad has happened. Paula hears the “Death Chant.” Norman starts to wonder if Paula is correct in her beliefs. The problems just keep piling on.
Margaret’s boyfriend comes after him again, this time with a gun, and Norman shoots him in self defense. Ilona confronts Paula and tells her to “Go back to the jungle!” The department chair’s wife confronts Norman, and he figures out that Ilona was behind it all. She explains that Ilona is playing the death chant from a record. They enlist the wife’s help in a plan to ensnare Ilona.
Commentary
Maybe this all seemed exotic in 1944, but the world has learned so much about faraway places that this just all seems really preposterous today. The islanders weren’t especially racist stereotypes any more than any others from this time period, but it was noteworthy that Norman married the only white girl in the village. I suspect in the 1940s, nothing else would have been allowed to hit the screen.
Like the other films in the series, it feels a lot like a soap opera. It’s very melodramatic and just a little over the top. There’s not really a “weird woman” here anyway; it’s just a convoluted plot of jealousy and murder.