That dog Friday! In between Rin-Tin-Tin in the 1920s (also a German shepherd) and Lassie just a season or two later I discovered by seeing this film for the first time that there was also Friday, actor-dog extraordinaire! Not only was Edward Arnold deprived of a series and confined to but one more sequel to this very clever and entertaining movie in which his character as a blind detective might have gone on for quite a while, but Friday never got off the ground as a dog star either. And judging from his astonishing tricks and acting accomplishments in this film he would have continued as a canine sensation if they'd only have let him!
As to handicapped detectives, Edward Arnold's role seemed to be a clear predecessor to Raymond Burr's Ironside some decades later as a wheelchair-bound but equally efficacious lawyer.
As I watched this plot unfold, with the manipulative and steely step-daughter played so brilliantly and uncharacteristically (considering her later popular and more sympathetic roles) by Donna Reed as she constantly confronted her long-suffering stepmother Ann Harding, I could not help but be struck by the parallel to Mildred Pierce, filmed just a few years later. In that film the corresponding parts were taken by a likewise debuting and equally bitchy Ann Blyth and the much put-upon mother, veteran Joan Crawford. I wonder if the makers of MP had Eyes in the Night in the back of their mind as they wove their own plot.
As to handicapped detectives, Edward Arnold's role seemed to be a clear predecessor to Raymond Burr's Ironside some decades later as a wheelchair-bound but equally efficacious lawyer.
As I watched this plot unfold, with the manipulative and steely step-daughter played so brilliantly and uncharacteristically (considering her later popular and more sympathetic roles) by Donna Reed as she constantly confronted her long-suffering stepmother Ann Harding, I could not help but be struck by the parallel to Mildred Pierce, filmed just a few years later. In that film the corresponding parts were taken by a likewise debuting and equally bitchy Ann Blyth and the much put-upon mother, veteran Joan Crawford. I wonder if the makers of MP had Eyes in the Night in the back of their mind as they wove their own plot.