The Duncan Maclain Collection

Thriller

Mystery

Crime

Eyes in the Night

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

United States of America

English

Edward Arnold

Ann Harding

Donna Reed

Stephen McNally

Katherine Emery

Allen Jenkins

Stanley Ridges

Reginald Denny

John Emery

Rosemary DeCamp

Erik Rolf

Barry Nelson

Reginald Sheffield

Steven Geray

Mantan Moreland

Milburn Stone

Marie Windsor

John Butler

Edward Kilroy

Ivan Miller

G. Raymond Nye

Frank M. Thomas

Fred Zinnemann

Baynard Kendrick

Guy Trosper

Howard Emmett Rogers

Douglas Shearer

Wally Heglin

Daniele Amfitheatrof

Charles Lawton Jr.

Virgil Apger

Ralph E. Winters

Edward G. Boyle

Leonid Raab

Charles J. Hunt

Lennie Hayton

Robert H. Planck

Edwin B. Willis

Stan Rogers

William Steuer

Jack Chertok

Cedric Gibbons

Robert Kalloch

Bert Spurlin

Now you are in my world-darkness!  

Eyes in the Night is directed by Fred Zinnemann and adapted to screenplay by Guy Trosper and Howard Emett Rogers from Baynard Kendrick's novel The Odor of Violets. It stars Edward Arnold, Ann Harding, Donna Reed, Stephen McNally, Katherine Emery, Allen Jenkins, Stanley Ridges and Friday the dog. Photography is shared between Robert Planck and Charles Lawton and the music is scored by Lennie Hayton. Plot finds Arnold as blind detective Duncan Maclain, also a judo expert, he is always accompanied by his intelligent seeing-eye dog, Friday. Maclain is called on to a murder case for his friend, Norma Lawry (Harding), but the body is missing and there appears to be something very sinister going on at the Lawry family home.

A cracking little thriller boosted by a top cast (Donna Reed playing a bitch step-daughter!) and moody photography. What it lacks in simplicity of plot it more than makes up for in terms of execution and tone, with the added "gimmick" of the detective being blind further enhancing the effectiveness of the picture. In fact, that Arnold is so good, and his dog so brilliant (seriously, this is one great dog), it marks this out as ingenious considering the limits of the Wartime story. Zinnemann knits it together skillfully, never letting the pace sag or the tension drop, while there's some great scenes dotted throughout: such as one filmed in total darkness, lit up intermittently by the flash of pistol fire. With the film 99% set at night of in darkened rooms, this lets Planck (The Canterville Ghost/Moonfleet) & Lawton (3:10 To Yuma/The Tall T) dally in atmospheric shadows and murky low lights.

Clocking in at a slim 80 minutes with never a dull moment, Eyes in the Night is one of the more enjoyable film's of its type. Deserves a bigger audience. 7.5/10

CinemaSerf

This is quite an enjoyable thriller with a strong performance from Edward Arnold as "Jim McLain" - a blind detective who is sought out by his old pal "Norma" (Ann Harding) to try to help her put off one of her old boyfriends who is courting her 17 year old stepdaughter. When the cradle-snatcher is found murdered and his friend is the chief suspect, he arrives at her home with his agile guide dog "Friday" and soon discovers a complex Nazi plot to obtain secret papers from her husband. Frankly, the plot's all a bit far-fetched, but Arnold is on super form - especially on the organ, as is his very fleet-of-foot canine companion. Mantan Moreland also shows up now and again in his usual butler's guise to add a little humour to the proceedings and all in all this is a decent piece of wartime cinema.

"Eyes In The Night" (1942) Movie Trailer

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Eyes in the Night

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Cast

Edward Arnold

Ann Harding

Donna Reed

Stephen McNally

Katherine Emery

Allen Jenkins

Stanley Ridges

Reginald Denny

John Emery

Rosemary DeCamp

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