Best movie ever!

Absolutely the worst movie.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

An amateurish screenplay and some one-dimensional characterizations dominate this ridiculous thriller where a not-quite so thin man had a brief attempt (2 films in a 3 year period) at a series that never got off the ground. It all starts with the murder of a ham actor who was leading on the stepdaughter of an old flame, and that old flame's ousting by the jealous step-daughter from her father's home. Donna Reed, future Oscar Winner for "From Here to Eternity", gives an entirely too impish and testy performance, snarling as if she were preparing for an audition to play Veda in "Mildred Pierce". Ann Harding and Edward Arnold fare better but the best performance is by a German Shepherd named Friday, obviously given the role since Asta was unavailable.It's obvious from the get-go where this film is going, basically a dime store novel whose structure earned a quick read after being bought on the close-out shelves but ultimately ended up in a thrift shop once that initial read was completed. For MGM to have commissioned this as a screenplay with a cast of former "A" stars seems misguided with its preposterous story, ridiculously melodramatic writing and cartoon villains (a la Boris and Natasha) drawing groans.

I thought this was a great movie. I found the concept of a lead blind detective and a very active smart sidekick, the dog made this a very unique movie to watch. Great use of the fact he was blind in some scenes. Not sure if the dog made it into other movies, but one very smart animal and this added another layer to the movie.The acting seemed a little stilted, but overall I found this to be very entertaining, and somewhat groundbreaking with the mix of character traits, plot and action scenes. Highly recommended.

This was a fairly inventive little drama with a play on words title that effectively describes it's lead character Duncan Maclain (Edward Arnold), a blind detective. It starts out with a murder, but evolves into something of an espionage thriller when Nazi agents reveal their intent to steal a scientist's new invention that will prove useful in the war effort. Charlie Chan would get involved in both types of stories so the hook seemed to be a pretty good one.Being blind was obviously no handicap for Big Mac, as Arnold's character got a lot of mileage out of being a blustery blow-hard upon arriving at the Lawry homestead. But you really have to pay attention to his seeing-eye dog Friday, who makes the save for his master near the end of the story. That was pretty clever the way he knocked over the furniture to gain a way out of the basement where he was trapped. Good old Friday, with him around, having Allen Jenkins on hand seemed to be entirely unnecessary.What's really cool about coming across these all but unknown films from the Forties is seeing who shows up. Folks like Donna Reed in an early screen appearance is a real treat here, along with Barry Nelson in a minor part. I always get a kick out of seeing Mantan Moreland show up anywhere, and we might have seen more of him here if he had been a butler over at The Lawry's instead of Maclain's.

Eyes in the Night (1942) *** (out of 4) A woman (Ann Harding) fears that her stepdaughter (Donna Reed) is involved with an evil man so she goes to his apartment to ask him to leave her alone. Once at the apartment she finds the man dead and the step daughter catches her there and believes that she did the killing. The mother goes to her blind detective friend (Edward Arnold) who starts to investigate and learns that German spies were behind it. This was the first of a two part series for MGM and I'm really not sure why more weren't made as both proved to be good films. This film features a very attractive cast, a nice story and some very good direction by Zinnemann, which makes this a must see for fans of detective movies. Arnold is very good in his role making it very believable that his character is actually blind. The actor plays the part very well and has good chemistry with everyone in the cast. Harding comes off quite strong as well even though her character isn't the best written in the film. Stephen McNally, Katherine Emery, Allen Jenkins and Reginald Denny all add nice supporting performances as well. Reed actually steals the show as the 17-year-old step daughter with an attitude. Her attitude is so dead pan perfect that you'll have no problem hating the young lady who thinks she knows everything. Mantan Moreland is wasted in his few scenes though. The German subplot just works itself into the story and there's never a spotlight shined on it due to WW2, which is a nice twist for this type of film. Most movies from this era beat the war stuff to death but this film stays away from that.