The Frozen Ghost

1945 "The screen's newest Inner Sanctum Mystery!"
5.8| 1h1m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 01 June 1945 Released
Producted By: Universal Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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When a man dies of a heart attack, a stage and radio mentalist believes he has willed him to die because he was angry with the man. Riddled with guilt, the mentalist cancels further shows, breaks off his engagement to his female partner, who can read minds while in a hypnotic trance, and takes refuge in the eerie wax-museum-cum-home of another woman friend.

Genre

Crime, Mystery

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Director

Harold Young

Production Companies

Universal Pictures

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The Frozen Ghost Audience Reviews

Scanialara You won't be disappointed!
Diagonaldi Very well executed
Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
JohnHowardReid 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.
Michael O'Keefe One of the better Inner Sanctum Mysteries, THE FROZEN GHOST is directed by Harold Young and stars Lon Chaney Jr. A famous radio hypnotist Alex Gregor (Chaney) is guilt ridden after an audience member dies accidentally during a broadcast. Gregor "The Great" is so despondent he breaks off his engagement to his assistant Maura (Evelyn Ankers) and refuses to perform again. His business manager George Keane (Milburn Stone) gets him a small job with a wax museum. A mentally unstable sculptor Rudi (Martin Kosleck) becomes jealous of Alex and the attention he gets from the museum's owner Valarie Monet (Tala Birell) and her niece Nina (Elena Verdugo). When Mme. Monet disappears, Gregor desperately walks away and Rudi castes suspicion. Miss Maura appears to champion her former love. Douglass Dumbrille rounds out the cast as Inspector Brant.
m2mallory "The Frozen Ghost" might just be the quintessential wacky 1940s B-movie mystery, packed with enough plot to fill any six films, and uncertain of which of those six films it really wants to be. While it may not be the most serious of the "Inner Sanctum" series of low-low-budget thrillers made by Unversal between 1943 and 1945, it is likely the most entertaining. Part murder mystery, part wax museum horror film, part romance, "The Frozen Ghost" gallops along at a nonsensical pace and features a rich group of actors, all of whom are peculiarly cast. Leading the pack is Lon Chaney, who tried to escape the heavy Wolf Man and Mummy makeup with this series, and who does a pretty good job as a stage hypnotist tormented by the thought that he might have killed someone during his act. This might be Chaney's best stab at a leading man role, though it is undermined by the fact that every single female character in the film, from age 16 to 40, falls madly in love with him at sight, much in the way Roger Moore's version of James Bond was a walking aphrodisiac. While Chaney was a passable leading man, ascribing this rampant sex appeal to him is as fantastical as brain transplants. Douglas Dumbrille, a smooth British actor given to silky villains, plays the tough American detective, and Martin Kosleck, usually cast as a cold as ice Nazi, here appears as a road-company Peter Lorre lunatic. And Milburn Stone -- "Doc" on "Gunsmoke" -- shows up as Chaney's harried agent. But don't even worry about the caprices of the casting or plotting. Just sit back, try to keep up with it, and enjoy the kind of anything-goes film-making that doesn't exist anymore.
MARIO GAUCI In spite of its meaningless title, this is one of the better "Inner Sanctums" - though still not exactly a good film. Lon Chaney Jr. is at his most Larry Talbot-like here as a hypnotist constantly bemoaning his fate (thinking he may have killed a drunken and skeptical member of the audience by sheer will-power!). In fact, the opening hypnotism sequence features some unusually odd angles - which is then ruined by the stereotypical (and unfunny) intrusion of Arthur Hoyt as the drunk!! The plot then contrives to incorporate the well-worn wax museum theme, which results in the establishment of an adequate atmosphere throughout the film (not to mention utilizing its furnace for the effective climax). Besides, it's aided immensely by the presence of Martin Kosleck as the unhinged museum 'curator' (with a secret medical past) and Douglass Dumbrille as the wily investigating detective with a fondness for quoting Shakespeare (there's a section of wax figures devoted to characters from the Bard's work). Once again, the star finds himself in a tug-of-war between three females - Evelyn Ankers (playing the good girl this time, as Chaney's assistant/fiancée), Tala Birell (as the jealous and ageing museum owner) and Elena Verdugo (as Birell's ingénue niece, also desired by Kosleck).