The Hidden Eye

Edward Arnold was an excellent actor, and all films with him are outstanding for his contribution. He made two films as the blind detective Maclaine with his good dog Friday, and although rather short, they are both excellent, the second even better than the first. There is nothing cheap or artificial in the construction of the intrigue, which eventually keeps constantly increasing in excitement and suspense, and you have to worry at times about the detective, especially when his dog gets into trouble. Ray Collins is abominable as the corrupt godfather-like guardian, and it is impossible not to fall into the trap of suspecting the wrong person of all these family murders. This is great entertainment for a chamber drama of murder at home.

Slick programmer from MGM. It's not exactly a whodunit, though the narrative starts out that way. Rather, the plot becomes a battle of wits between Capt. Maclain (Arnold) and the killer. Seems someone's knocking off members of the Hampton family, leaving daughter Jean (Rafferty) in danger. Now blind ex-cop Maclain, along with police dog Friday and comedic helper Marty, have to figure things out before more bloodletting.

Arnold's Maclain has to be the most genial cop in movie annals: he even manages a chuckle in the direst circumstance. I guess that shows acceptance of his impaired condition. Good to see one of my old-time heartthrobs Frances Rafferty looking gorgeous as usual. And that's Leigh Whipper briefly as the colored butler. Too bad he doesn't get to show the soul he shows in the classics Of Mice and Men (1939) and The Ox-Bow Incident (1943). Once you see him there, you don't forget. And, of course, there's Friday who should get a canine Oscar for his winning performance.

Anyway, the programmer's mainly a personality detective show, slickly done by MGM's accomplished production crew. I guess my only reservation is with some of the look-alike supporting players and keeping them straight. Still, it's an entertaining way to spend an hour that's also lost little over the years. Meanwhile, this old geezer could sure use a buddy like the genius-level Friday.

After several members of Jean Hampton's family are murdered, the police begin to suspect her fiancé. Jean decides to hire a private detective to help find the real killer. Captain Duncan Maclain comes onto the case. Being blind, Maclain is a rather unique detective who brings his own methods and skills to the case. And, as one of the few clues is a distinct perfume left behind at each crime scene, being blind may prove an advantage. But can he uncover the killer before anyone else is murdered?

Unlike a lot of the older films I've watched lately, I'm not really a fan of The Hidden Eye. My first issue with the film is the way Edward Albert played Maclain. It just never feels right. I didn't care for him as a character. His deep, hearty laughing response to most every situation really put me off. He solves a case - laughter. He uncovers a clue - laughter. He wrestles a baddie - laughter. His dog is kidnapped - laughter. It was so bizarre and I didn't care for it. My second issue was how easily the mystery was solved. One of the biggest clues is a phone number that Maclain overhears being dialed. How fortunate that of all the phone numbers the bad guy could have called, he dials one that Maclain already knows. So by happenstance, Maclain comes up with the murderer's identity. This also didn't work for me.

The real highlight and the thing I will remember most about watching The Hidden Eye was seeing Audrey Totter in an all too brief, uncredited performance as a perfume saleslady. Her 45 seconds of screen time was so amazing that I had to stop the movie to look her up on IMDb.

4/10

Blind detective Duncan Maclain is asked for help by a young woman whose fiancé is the prime suspect in a murder. This is the second Duncan Maclain movie starring Edward Arnold. The first, Eyes In the Night, was released in 1942. I'm not sure about the reason for the gap between the movies. If MGM was trying to launch a series of B detective movies around this character, one would assume they would have produced them quickly. Maybe this was filmed years before it was released. I don't see that info here on IMDb but that makes more sense than them waiting three years to make a follow-up to a B programmer that wasn't a huge hit to begin with. There's something very odd about the opening minutes of this one. The audio appears to be dubbed. The actors' lips are in sync with the words but it still seems off. You'll see what I mean.

Edward Arnold is always worth a look. Reliable Ray Collins leads a so-so cast backing up Arnold. The weakest part is Frances Rafferty, whose overwrought performance borders on hysterics half the time. It's amusing at first but quickly annoying. She's very pretty, though. Audrey Totter has one small scene but it's a great one. Not a bad B detective movie. The pace is good and there's a nice amount of humor sprinkled throughout. The mystery itself isn't much of a mystery as the killer is revealed to be the most obvious suspect about halfway into the movie. I really wanted it to be the fiancé because his scenes with Rafferty were insufferably corny. If you're a fan of these kinds of movies I'm sure you'll enjoy this enough. Definitely not a waste of an hour so give it a shot.

Eddie Arnold is the blind detective MacLain, helped by his dog and an assistant. now that a couple people from the same family have been knocked off, MacLain is brought in to track down the killers. a lot of discussion on perfumes. and Sumatra keeps coming up. a tired, running gag where MacLain's assistant keeps spilling perfume all over himself. co-stars Frances Rafferty and Ray Collins. the wheels turn slowly as MacLain comes up with clues. and he keeps laughing. it's a little odd. it kind of stumbles along. it has all the usual elements of a crime story, but it's just not very compelling. Directed by Richard Whorf. only directed about ten films, then it was a whole lot of television. no big deal. whatever.