Review of Eyes in the Night

I thought Donna Reed needed her face slapped. She is let off too easy in this film. It's a rambling tale that pairs a murder, a tale of stepmother/stepdaughter friction, and a plot to steal an invention (the details of which we never really know). It has a blind detective and his dog, Friday, and a sidekick who probably couldn't tie his own shoelaces. Still, there is a lot of fun here. There are some great scenes with the blind detective, playing both serious and comic characters. There's the willingness of the Donna Reed character to blackmail her mother for the murder of her playboy boyfriend (who's fifty; she's seventeen). The dog steals the show. He not only is the right hand dog for the blind detective; he has abilities beyond the realm of mortal canines. That said, there are also a group of what seem like incompetent Nazis who use the ingénue to get their hands on said machine. Things bounce around and, of course, good will triumph. This was 1942 when the Hollywood propaganda machine was in full tilt. Watch this for the performance of Edward Arnold as the blind detective and that dog. Once again, Donna Reed need her face slapped.