CALLING DR DEATH: tiny cop cracks the case

This first entry in a series of six low budget 'Inner Sanctum' thrillers shot by Universal in the mid 40s is notable chiefly for the whispered inner dialogue going on inside the head of the protagonist, Dr Mark Steel. It's almost as if he doesn't want to disturb himself by having his inner voice speak out loud, but disturbed is what he is nonetheless.
The good doc (Lon Chaney Jr) is married to an unfaithful wife (Ramsay Ames) who won't give him a divorce because she likes the good life and social standing that comes with being the wife of a prominent neurologist. When she's found brutally murdered and the doc can't remember where he was on the day it happened, he turns to his loyal nurse and secretary Stella (the beautiful Patricia Morison) to save him from the electric chair.
Ignoring the misleading title (no-one ever calls Dr Steel Dr Death) the plot succeeds in staying just this side of plausibility (unlike some later entries in the series) and masks the killer's true identity for long enough to hold our interest. There's some obvious red herrings, most notably the repeated interjections of Inspector Gregg (J.Carroll Naish) who pops up in almost every scene to make ludicrous accusations which threaten to push the good doctor over the edge.
Naish plays the part as if he's Joseph Calleia but can't quite pull off the oily-suave smoothness or air of slightly exotic mystery he's reaching for. Part of the reason for this is his obvious lack of height. It's almost a cliche that many actors are actually considerably smaller than they appear on screen, but Naish looks tiny even with the help of the camera. Chaney is unlikely leading man material but that doesn't really matter when the actresses surrounding him (Morison, Ames) are so bad they couldn't convincingly exude love playing opposite Clark Gable in his prime.
CALLING DR DEATH was never designed to be high art. It's a 62 minute B-movie intended for the bottom half of a double bill and it suits its purpose very well. Switch brain to off-position, sit back and enjoy.