Eyes of the Underworld

Richard Dix stars as Chief Bryan...an honest and hard-working cop who is hiding a secret. What he doesn't know is that the next in line for his job, Kirby, is a scum-bag and is working with a gang of car and tire thieves*. When a special investigator comes to town, Kirby and his cut-throat friends set up the Chief and make it look as if he's working with the gang. Can the investigator, the Chief's loyal assistant (Lon Chaney) or his loving secretary (Wendy Barrie) manage to put the pieces together and learn the truth?

This is a reasonably enjoyable film with lots of twists. It also features Lon Chaney is a particularly good part as a friend who wouldn't mind using a bit of torture to get to the truth! And, since the film came out shortly after Chaney's breakout role in "The Wolf Man", he is prominently featured in the opening credits. Nothing genius about this film--just a solidly entertaining B-type picture that keeps you guessing.

With the outbreak of World War II, the government severely cuts back its allotment of steel and rubber for domestic use, and consequently, automobile theft runs rife ...

Police chief Bryan (Richard Dix) vows to put a car theft ring out of business. But the criminals fight back, using the fact that Bryan was once a jailbird himself to help in framing him and getting him out of office. But he has help, especially from his frightfully loyal assistant Benny (Lon Chaney Jr.) and secretary Betty (Wendy Barrie

The likeable Richard Dix and werewolf Lon Chaney Jr team up as hero and sidekick in this breezy crime thriller- the pace is brisk, the dialogue is sharp, and there's some neat urban interior noir photography. It's nice to see Lon Chaney in a good Guy role, a sidekick, and quite a loyal one.

Enjoyable programmer from Universal starring iron-jawed Richard Dix as an ex-con-turned-police chief who sets out to bust up a car theft ring and gets framed for his efforts. Don Porter plays a special investigator who inadvertently helps with the frame-up, then tries to save the day. Wendy Barrie is Dix's secretary. She's in love with him but he pushes her away on account of his past. Porter's got a thing for Barrie but she's all about that Dix. Lon Chaney, Jr. plays Dix's friend, a dimwitted brute willing to do whatever it takes to help a pal out. This includes torture in one gripping scene. Despite starring in horror films for Universal around this time, Chaney only has a supporting part here (but he makes the most of it). The rest of the cast includes Marc Lawrence, Lloyd Corrigan, Joseph Crehan, and Edward Pawley. Fast-moving B picture with solid direction from Roy William Neill. Nothing exceptional but a good time-passer. Worth a look, if nothing else, for Chaney's performance and that awesome shootout/fight scene near the end. Chaney's character is positively superhuman! He also has one of my favorite movie lines when he's about to torture the bad guy: "You're gonna live a long time in the next few minutes."

This film I enjoyed quite a bit. It's refreshing to see Lon Chaney in a role outside of the Horror genre. He plays Benny in "Eyes of the Underworld" (aka "Criminals of the Underworld"). Benny will remind you a little bit of Lenny (Of Mice and Men 1939) in a round about way - mainly the voice at times but is completely different.

Don Porter also stars as Edward Jason. Porter is good - well known for his role as Professor Russell Lawrence.

If you like and are looking for a fairly good film-noir of the 40s then you should like "Eyes of the Underworld" - it's better than I guessed it would be. Loved the ending - very cute... leaves you laughing.

8/10

"Eyes of the Underworld" (1942), a good remake of the original 1929 crime melodrama of the same title, features Lon Chaney in between "The Ghost of Frankenstein" and "The Mummy's Tomb." Richard Dix stars as Police Chief Richard Bryan, investigating a ring of auto thieves stealing rubber and metal from the war effort during WW2. The thieves are aware that the Chief spent three years in jail for embezzlement long before his present position, and allow one of their gang, Gordon Finch (Marc Lawrence), to be captured, so as to try blackmailing him into releasing him. The Chief decides to resign his post, but is later arrested when Finch kills a guard and escapes, a clever frame-up by the villains. Just when all seems lost, The Chief is rescued by his faithful chauffeur Benny (Chaney), who had also spent time in the penitentiary, taking it upon himself to capture one of the gang and learn their whereabouts (they use musical cues from "The Wolf Man" and "The Ghost of Frankenstein," his previous two classics, in these scenes). In a serious role, Chaney displays a slight Lennie impression, but comes off fairly well, particularly in his climactic encounter with Finch (Marc Lawrence was careful during the fight, admitting of Chaney, "he hurts people"). Wendy Barrie appears as the Chief's loving secretary, and Don Porter gives a valiant effort before Chaney saves the day. A stellar B-film due to fast paced direction from the reliable Roy William Neill, who would go on to helm the last 11 Sherlock Holmes features with Basil Rathbone, and "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man," one of Chaney's best sequels (he had previously shot Columbia's "The Black Room" in 1935, which featured THREE of Boris Karloff's finest performances).