Les yeux dans les ténèbres

Happened on this movie entirely by chance, while skipping through the limited offers on local daytime TV. Decided to sit it out (I'm a sucker for 1930s and 40s black-and-white films) and was very pleased I did. This movie is a thriller of sorts, and it has a major twist: it features a blind detective - quite convincingly, I must add, since he has a very smart (scene-stealing) seeing-eye dog to help him. The story has enough action, suspense, and surprises to keep the viewer interested until the very end. It isn't Hitchcock, but it's very nicely done. Recommended.

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

With an interesting plot, some suspenseful sequences, and a very effective performance by Edward Arnold, "Eyes in the Night" deserves to be much better known. Although its story contained a wartime message, as a whole it rises well above a mere message piece. It has numerous strong points, and not the least of them is director Fred Zinnemann, who scores a success in one of his earlier full-length features.

Arnold heads up a good cast as a blind but very resourceful detective, and he makes the character both interesting and believable. The story gives Arnold a lot of good opportunities, and he makes the most of them. The suspenseful basement sequence could almost have served as a prototype for a similar though much more elaborate sequence in the Audrey Hepburn classic "Wait Until Dark".

Ann Harding, a young Donna Reed, and Reginald Denny are also in the cast, and while they and the other characters cannot compete with Arnold, they all do a solid job. But the standout of the supporting cast is the dog 'Friday', who gets some of the best moments, and who performs very well.

The fast-paced story begins as a murder mystery, but as things slowly become clear, the last half focuses more on espionage and suspense. The story has its less plausible elements, to be sure, but it is all entertaining. It is just as good as a number of other movies from the era that are much better known, and it is well worth the time to watch.

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!

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