Eyes in the Night

There are many excellent moments in this spy caper, detective and dog drama, murder mystery. The dog does do his own stunts and he does them well.

There are hints at romance, here and there, with the maid and her jailbird hubby, the young Donna Reed and her mom's ex-boyfriend and even the butler and the dog are lovesick for their partners.

Donna Reed looks beautiful. This was before It's a Wonderful Life and The Donna Reed Show. There is one scene I can tell you about without ruining anything for you. Women dressed to kill in the 1940s. In those days you always complimented a lady's new hat no matter how awful it looked. The hat Donna Reed wears at the end of the movie is so awful nobody could muster the courage to fake a compliment.

Edward Arnold is jovial and believable as the blind detective. I especially like the scene where he teaches one of the goons how to play Solitaire. He is also great with his voice in the darkened scene in the basement. The director does a wonderful job with this film.

The play within a movie is a fun idea for introducing some of the villains.

This one is very watchable. The dog is really good in his scenes.

Tom Willett

Edward Arnold plays a blind detective asked to look into the murder of an actor. Very quickly things become complicated as Arnold realizes that there are sinister forces at work that are not run of the mill.

This is a great thriller. I would love to say mystery, except that the mystery is solved about a third of the way through. Granted there are other details to work out, but the mystery is effectively over. Thats not to say you won't be sitting on the edge of your seat, you will. Arnold is an imposing figure and its a joy to watch this "helpless" man turn the tables on all of those around him. We in the audience know he's far from helpless, having witnessed the opening judo lesson, so we know whats in store for those who think they can get the upper hand on him.

The film isn't perfect. There are a few contrived bits and the end is rushed, still its 80 minutes well spent. The highest praise I can think of is if you're like me you'll probably wish there was more with this character. (Actually there is one more film, made three years later called the Hidden Eye, unfortunately that was it)

8 out of 10

If you're a dog lover like me, you'll find this one hard not to like! Good old "Friday" steals this show-with some able assistance from a very keen and rugged blind man. I found this one easy to follow and it kept my interest all the way. A really neat mix of intrigue, mystery, and humor to boot. Oh...and some espionage thrown in as is per this era's thematics. The gal who plays the enemy is quite wicked!

This is a murder mystery that will get you smiling! A fun and easy frolic minus a tangled plot that uses all the "senses". Oh, and a young Donna Reed.......not bad at all. This one makes Rin Tin Tin and Lassie look like amateurs!

Although Edward Arnold did play some other good guys in his career, it's one that's normally associated with villainy. So he must have looked on with gratitude to MGM for allowing him to play Baynard Kendrick's fictional blind detective Duncan MacLain in two films of which Eyes In The Night is the first. My guess is that if Arnold were an MGM contract player the screen might have seen more of the resourceful Duncan MacLain.

Blindness as it has in a lot of people has forced Duncan MacLain to rely on those remaining senses and has honed his intelligence to a fine edge. He thinks pretty fast on his feet, especially after being hired by Ann Harding gains entrance to her household while she's away by convincing her servants that he's a long lost blind uncle. It's from there he finds out what's going on.

Harding hires Arnold because she's concerned that her step daughter Donna Reed is getting in way over her head with actor John Emery. When Emery turns up dead later that's an understatement.

But when Arnold gets into the household and sees what an interesting group of servants Harding and husband Reginald Denny have, he's thinking that romance might not just be at the bottom of this mystery.

Aided by filmdom's most remarkable dog since Rin Tin Tin in the canine of Friday, MacLain is also aided for strong arm stuff by his driver Allen Jenkins. Although as you will see in the film, Arnold when he gets in close is every bit up to the rough house aspect of the gumshoe profession.

The cast is excellent, especially butler Stanley Ridges who becomes Arnold's opposite number in terms of wit and intelligence. A worthy Moriarty type to Arnold's Holmes.

It's too bad that film never saw more of Duncan MacLain.

Edward Arnold plays blind detective Duncan Maclain in "Eyes in the Night," a 1942 MGM film directed by Fred Zinnemann that has a lot of other familiar faces.

Ann Harding made her return to the screen after a few years in this small film, playing the stepmother, Norma Lawry, of a young actress, Barbara (Donna Reed at 21), who's fallen in love with an older actor with whom Harding was once involved.

Norma wants Mac to help her convince the actor it's best to steer clear of Barbara. Norma's husband is in Washington presenting a formula to the government that is critical to the war effort.

Unfortunately, the actor turns up dead, and Barbara sees not only his dead body, but her stepmother, when she arrives at the man's apartment. Norma goes running to Mac for help. He sets out to find the killer, and it leads him into a web of espionage.

Nice job by Zinnemann, who was just starting out, though he didn't like doing the film except for working with Ann Harding and Donna Reed. As others have mentioned, his pitch black gun battle with the only light coming from the fired shots is most effective and portends the great things to come from him. Overall, it's an okay story, well done.

Edward Arnold does an excellent job (though Zinnemann said he kept blowing his lines) as the smart and likable blind detective, who is aided by an assistant (Allen Jenkins) and his dog Friday, who looks to be a German shepherd mix.

Friday is unbelievable - what an actor and athlete! That dog had some training. Zimmemann didn't agree. Friday, who was descended from a silent dog star named Flash, apparently was only good for one take, becoming bored easily. In fact, Friday's only film appearances are in the two Duncan Maclain films.

Besides Reed, one can spot Rosemary DeCamp as Vera the maid, Stanley Ridges as the butler, Stephen McNally as Vera's husband Gabriel, Mantan Moreland as Mac's butler, and I honestly thought Katherine Emery WAS Mercedes MacCambridge. Wow! Even the speaking voice.

This was intended as a series for MGM, but the studio only made one other. Universal took the fat man detective series from the radio and made a film with J. Scott Smart with an early appearance by Rock Hudson directed by William Castle, but never followed it up. Nevertheless, there's something about these fat detectives, going back to Nero Wolfe, I guess, that's appealing.

Enjoyable. Glad Friday was able to keep his date after all.