The outline of this story is good. Chris Pelly (Maxwell Reed) is blind but awaiting an operation to restore his sight. He seems a sensitive type who relies on touch, hearing and make believe - so far so good. He is invited to a farewell party but after being accidentally dropped at the wrong house he walks into a murder!!! The murderers are still there and once they realise he is blind, they knock him on the head and leave him where his friends can find him. He has managed to find a vital piece of evidence - a ring he has found near the body.
Now the film becomes just another crime thriller. Pelly has his operation and it is a success but along the way he loses his sensitivity, ogling all the pretty girls, trading cheeky quips with the cleaners and I then remembered what an amazingly wooden actor Maxwell Reed was. He returns to the house of the murder and meets Patricia Dale. Dinah Sheridan, by giving her role warmth and feeling, acts rings around Reed and it was a pity her career stopped soon after her greatest triumph - "Genevieve" (1953). Patricia feels the body is that of her brother Norman, who owned the ring. He had presumably died in an air crash, although Patricia never believed it. They track down all the "usual suspects", Norman's girlfriend, her bosses at the travel agency. They recognise Pelly, they were the mob at the house that night and are quite surprised to find he isn't blind anymore! There is also Norman's good mate Chalky - what is he hiding?
The ending isn't predictable but it would have been interesting to speculate what the movie would have been like if Reed had played a blind sleuth. A bit more care may have been needed with the story but Reed (who showed he could be a sensitive player) could have had a role he may have been proud of!!
Recommended.
Now the film becomes just another crime thriller. Pelly has his operation and it is a success but along the way he loses his sensitivity, ogling all the pretty girls, trading cheeky quips with the cleaners and I then remembered what an amazingly wooden actor Maxwell Reed was. He returns to the house of the murder and meets Patricia Dale. Dinah Sheridan, by giving her role warmth and feeling, acts rings around Reed and it was a pity her career stopped soon after her greatest triumph - "Genevieve" (1953). Patricia feels the body is that of her brother Norman, who owned the ring. He had presumably died in an air crash, although Patricia never believed it. They track down all the "usual suspects", Norman's girlfriend, her bosses at the travel agency. They recognise Pelly, they were the mob at the house that night and are quite surprised to find he isn't blind anymore! There is also Norman's good mate Chalky - what is he hiding?
The ending isn't predictable but it would have been interesting to speculate what the movie would have been like if Reed had played a blind sleuth. A bit more care may have been needed with the story but Reed (who showed he could be a sensitive player) could have had a role he may have been proud of!!
Recommended.