Blind Adventure

Robert Armstrong is Richard Bruce, tooting around London on vacation. when he gets lost in the thick fog, he goes into a house for directions, and finds a dead body. or did he? when he gets help and returns, the body is gone, and everyone denies that anything is amiss. some heavyweight co-stars... Roland Young (the thief! and Topper.) and Ralph Bellamy, Henry Stephenson (played everyone's grandfather, uncle, or wise lawyer). The beginning and the end move right along. Bruce is way out of his element, after complaining about how boring London is. Who can he get to help him? story by Ruth Rose, who also worked on the King Kong films. and.. she was married to the director Ernie Schoedsack! pretty good. mostly good sound and picture quality, although its a little rough in some parts. of course, its coming up on 100 years old!

Noel Coward may have sung of the self-possession of an Englishman in New York, but Robert Armstrong is an American in London in this movie. Lost in a Pea-Souper, he wanders into a home to ask directions back to his hotel only to discover a corpse resting in an armchair.

This quickie is more interesting for its details than its overall effect. The fun of seeing Roland Young playing a soft-hearted Cockney burglar is offset a bit by Helen Mack's unsteady posh accent; the nice plot conceit of starting the movie out by having the whole thing appear to be a P.G. Wodehouse London populated by idiotic young Drones, only to finally reveal the John-Buchan machinations beneath is lessened by the limited number of jokes (mostly a fascination with English Trifles) and the inexplicable inability of people to overcome a copper armed with a whistle.

Still, what there is, is good, is mostly well performed and moves at a good clip. If the bits don't hang together perfectly, many of the bits are a lot of fun.

This little item was recently shown on TCM. It is not well known despite a strong cast and pedigree creative credits. Blind Adventure (like Most Dangerous Game) involves talent that derives from the King Kong franchise.

Blind Adventure is what some would call a "shaggy dog story." It involves characters in odd and often incomprehensible situations that defy logic. It really doesn't pay to over-analyse such movies. The better way to enjoy them is to sit back and just let them unfold. At a later time, you will recall such films for their fun value long after the baffling details fade from your memory. One of the best examples of this genre is the Humphrey Bogart classic Beat the Devil. Who remembers what that was all about? But we certainly remember the wacky principals and their mystifying and often humorous goings on and interactions.

In a little over one hour, we have seen a story in Blind Adventure so convoluted and dense that it defies explanation as to exactly what it was all about. Certainly I will not attempt to clarify it. If The Big Sleep has a large following despite the fact that the narrative remains somewhat unfathomable, perhaps Blind Adventure is another classic-in-waiting yet to be discovered.

Because the Robert Armstrong, Helen Mack and Roland Young characters are so charming and delightful as they wander through the meandering plot of Blind Adventure--we should forgive whatever shortcomings it may otherwise pose for us.

Enjoy!

Blind Adventure (1933)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Director Schoedsack and star Robert Armstrong made this film right after KING KONG and right before THE SON OF KONG so needless to say it's understandable why it's been forgotten over the years. In the film Armstrong plays an American visiting London for the first time and he accidentally walks into a house and finds a dead body. Before long he, a woman (Helen Mack) and a burglars (Roland Young) are involved with a gang of criminals trying to blackmail an important figure. This certainly isn't in the same league as other Schoedsack titles but it's a decent little mystery that will appeal to those who enjoy this type of low-budget thriller, which RKO was an expert at back in the day. For the most part the story is a rather interesting one even though the screenplay never gets too deep into any sort of details. We're pretty much introduced to our characters, the conspiracy and then we see it play out with a few twists and turns but for the most part everything is played straight and quick. At just 63-minutes there's really not too many details about anything but this isn't a bad thing because I'm sure had they added more time then the thing would have started to drag. Armstong is pretty good in his part as the story gives him plenty of attempts at playing the strong, tough guy but it also has fun with his comic timing. This is easy to spot during a scene where he's trying to get out of a party so that he can get a bit of information to the Secret Service. The story really doesn't do Mack much justice but she's certainly easy on the eyes and mixes well with Armstrong. Young doesn't get much to do either but he's fine in the role as is a young Ralph Bellamy. There's some running gags about Americans in London and we even get some nice atmosphere thanks to what appears to be the best fog machine in Hollywood history. The amount of fog that is constantly going is rather fun and makes for a few interesting scenes including one on top of a building where our three leads are trying to get down. BLIND ADVENTURE isn't going to make anyone forget that giant ape but if you've got some time to kill you should be entertained.

"Blind Adventure" is an agreeable low-budget adventure film and while it won't change your life, it is worth your time.

"Blind Adventure" begins with an American (Robert Armstrong) stumbling into a London home and seeing what appears to be a dead man! He immediately leaves the flat and gets help, but when he returns only a moment later, the body is gone and everyone inside behaves as if nothing has happened and Armstrong is crazy. However, a woman staying there in the flat (Helen Mack) realizes SOMETHING is amiss and the rest of the film is like a jigsaw puzzle, as the two of them and a new friend (Roland Young) all worth together to figure out what's really going on--and with spies, blackmail and the sort, it's all pretty exciting.

While the film is easy enough to forget, it has an interesting plot, decent acting and some agreeable supporting actors. I could say more about the film but I don't want to ruin the mystery.