Eyes in the Night *** (1942, Edward Arnold, Ann Harding, Donna Reed) – Classic Movie Review 8,371

The 1942 MGM black and white American crime mystery thriller film Eyes in the Night is a slightly unusual wartime whodunit starring Edward Arnold as a blind detective called Duncan ‘Mac’ Maclain. 

Director Fred Zinnemann’s 1942 MGM black and white American crime mystery thriller film Eyes in the Night is a slightly unusual wartime whodunit starring Edward Arnold as a blind detective called Duncan ‘Mac’ Maclain, who gets his seeing-eye guide-dog Friday to help him investigate a murder and find out if a socialite’s former boyfriend was a Nazi agent.

Maclain is visited by his old friend Norma Lawry (Ann Harding), seeking help to see off a former boyfriend, who is courting her 17-year old step-daughter Barbara (Donna Reed).

[Spoiler alert] But then Norma is suspected when the old boyfriend is found murdered, but ‘Mac’ uncovers a Nazi plot to steal her husband’s military secrets.

There is tense and taut work from director Fred Zinnemann (in his second film after Kid Glove Killer) and that boosts what could be just a routine B-movie thriller, as do the strong central star turn by Arnold and the good star support from Ann Harding, Donna Reed, Allen Jenkins and Reginald Denny.

There is a sequel, The Hidden Eye (1945), with Arnold back as Duncan ‘Mac’ Maclain, but this possible series ended up with just the two films.

The screenplay by Guy Trosper and Howard Emmett Rogers is based on Baynard Kendrick’s 1941 novel The Odor of Violets.

Also in the cast are John Emery, Stephen McNally (billed as Horace McNally), Rosemary DeCamp, Stanley Ridges, Mantan Moreland, Erik Rolf, Reginald Sheffield, Steven Geray, and Barry Nelson.

Eyes in the Night was released on October 16, 1942. It runs 80 minutes.

The failure of the copyright holder to renew the film’s copyright resulted in it falling into public domain.

It was a nice little earner, costing $433,000, taking $978,000 at the box office, and landing MGM with a profit of $230,000.

The cast are Edward Arnold as Duncan ‘Mac’ Maclain, Ann Harding as Norma Lawry, Donna Reed as Barbara Lawry, Stephen McNally [Horace McNally] as Gabriel Hoffman, Katherine Emery as Cheli Scott, Allen Jenkins as Marty, Stanley Ridges as Lawry’s butler Hansen, Reginald Denny as Stephen Lawry, John Emery as Paul Gerente, Rosemary DeCamp as Lawry’s maid Vera Hoffman, Barry Nelson as Busch, Reginald Sheffield as Victor, Steven Geray as Anderson, Mantan Moreland as Duncan’s butler Alistair, Milburn Stone as Detective Pete (uncredited), and Marie Windsor as Actress at rehearsal (uncredited).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8,371

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Above, left to right: Reginald Denny, Donna Reed, Edward Arnold and Ann Harding.