Inner Sanctum

Lew Landers' Inner Sanctum (1948) was notable for being the first movie ever produced by Walter Shenson, who went on to make A Hard Day's Night. This film is a distinct B-production with one sort of "A" star in Mary Beth Hughes. It is a thriller based on the long-running radio show and is important as a stylish and unsettling film noir -- a story within a story about a murderer (Charles Russell) on the run, stranded in a small town and taking up residence with a family so he can get to a young boy, the only witness in the vicinity of his crime. Landers didn't have a lot to work with, including a short running time; however, he kept the camera in motion throughout to provide a remarkable amount of suspense. The Alpha DVD is a decent if flawed presentation of the movie, tranferred from what looks like a fair-condition print -- all of the night shots (and there are a lot of them) have more than enough detail to allow us to discern their content and action, and while there are some missing