This movie was the first of what never materialized as a B-movie detective series starring Edward Arnold as a blind detective. Apparently, the public's reaction to the film was a bit lukewarm and so follow-up films were never made. During the early 1940s, such lower budget series were extremely popular and included Charlie Chan, The Saint, The Whistler, The Falcon, Sherlock Holmes and many others. Too bad this one didn't take off, as it was clearly superior to most of them. While the film wasn't exactly believable (particularly when blind Arnold beats up the bad guys), this is true of all these series films. And it did excel for several reasons. In particular, Arnold played a very likable part. He seemed pretty smart and decent,...as well as very funny and annoying when he wanted to be. In addition, perhaps the greatest sidekick in history helped elevate this series--and I am NOT talking about Allen Jenkins (though he was ONE of Arnold's sidekicks). No, I am talking about Friday the dog--who was an incredibly cool and gifted seeing eye dog in the film. In many ways his stunts were reminiscent of Lassie or Rin Tin Tin, but Friday also was involved in some funny scenes as well. Who would have thought that a dog (other than Asta) could be comic relief as well as man's best friend?! Finally, while she wasn't all that important a character, Donna Reed has a great moment near the end where she gets to deck the leader of the Nazi gang holding them hostage. It's awfully exciting to see the nice and proper Ms. Reed pack such a punch!
Review of Eyes in the Night
