The final film in the Inner Sanctum Mysteries series and wouldn't you know it, Chaney stars as a lawyer, under suspicion (and arrested) for the suffocation of his wife. Chaney's boozing Wayne Fletcher is hearing his dead wife's voice, communicating to him—is it his guilty conscience or the actual voice of a woman he might have killed? While always a suspect, Fletcher could be the victim of some elaborate trap, orchestrated by another who wants to implicate him for a crime he possibly didn't commit. That's the beauty of "Pillow of Death", you are unsure of Chaney's innocence or guilt, while other films in the Inner Sanctum Mysteries series had murderers that were not as difficult to figure out. Brenda Joyce (Chaney's wife in the previous series entry, "Strange Confession") is Fletcher's secretary, Donna Kincaid, an heiress to the Kincaid fortune, in line to receive the mansion and wealth her name provides. Belle (Clara Blandick) and Samuel (George Cleveland) are two of the remaining Kincaids still alive, soon to be victims themselves of a suffocation killer, maybe tied to the Vivian Fletcher murder. Donna could be a suspect since she benefits from their demises, as well as, a supposed psychic, Julian Julian (J Edward Bromberg), a soft-spoken, even-tempered charlatan who gains the trust of Belle (and had convinced Vivian that she was a medium, one of the main reasons the Fletchers' marriage disintegrated) and the kooky maid Amelia (Rosalind Ivan), holding séances in the Kincaid mansion. Wilton Graff is the investigator, Captain McCracken, in charge of finding the psychopath. "Pillow of Death" is closer to a Universal Studios chiller than previous entries, with an "old dark house" (that has secret passageways and eccentric characters who live within, along with a door that seems to open on its own, not to mention, a cemetery nearby) and series of murders with the same modus operandi, a list of suspects with motive and opportunity. The film raises the question of Chaney's innocence more than previous films—while he's shown downing shots of liquor, puffing away on cigarettes, the typical weary expression and nervy disposition we do see in many of the films where his characters are burdened by the idea of being behind murders they either don't remember or possibly contributed to unknowingly/mistakenly, "Pillow of Death" includes a dead wife's voice goading Fletcher to follow. What sets this apart from all of the films in the series (except maybe "Strange Confession" which leaves us in the dark about what his character had done until the very end) is a shocking conclusion where the killer's identity is unveiled, not following the mould where Chaney and Blandick catch the person responsible by trapping him or her, normally with the investigator awaiting in another room to make the arrest. Having now finished the series, I did find it interesting how Chaney, despite the star status of the films for which he starred and finding himself embroiled in murder plots, was often a "spoke in the wheel" with the supporting cast given just as much screen time as him. What I found amusing about "Pillow of Death" was the way Chaney is always considered the prime suspect, Belle absolutely convinced of his guilt, while others weren't so sure. Despite pouring on the pathos, Chaney isn't granted a reprieve. The film never guarantees that Fletcher is just an abused victim while another is out there *really* committing crimes he is being accused of. Fun cast really get into their roles. Bernard Thomas rounds out the cast as a neighbor, Bruce, in love with Donna, always creeping about, spying on the Kincaids out of fear that Fletcher will kill them. Bruce is another questionable character, mainly because of his peeping tom antics. Bruce wholly believes, like Belle, that Fletcher is, no question about it, Vivian's murderer. The plot also points out that Fletcher and Donna were in love despite his marriage to Vivian, earning Belle's ire, further raising suspicions about either one of them.
Review of Pillow of Death
