Tonight I watched an entertaining thriller called "Eyes in the Night"(1942), starring Edward Arnold as a blind detective who uncovers an espionage ring while working on a murder case. The plot is convoluted at first; Arnold is visited by his adult niece, a former actress now married to a government scientist. She's worried about her stepdaughter (played by Donna Reed), a rebellious 17 year old who is seeing a much older man - an actor the niece once dated herself. See, I told you it's complicated, but don't waste too much time trying to figure it out because it's a red herring, placed in the script just to add spice and get things going.
Arnold agrees to investigate the relationship, and to "suggest" to the actor that he stop seeing the teenaged stepdaughter. But when he goes to the man's apartment, he finds him dead. His niece is on the scene, as is her stepdaughter. Did either one of them kill the guy? I can't tell you and that's not what the movie is about.
It's about characters, of the kind you used to find in a Ten Little Indians movie, where everyone is ensconced inside a mansion and one by one, suspects are eliminated. This picture was made by MGM and directed by the great Hollywood craftsman Fred Zinneman, who made "High Noon" among other famous flicks, so the budget is slightly higher than the typical "single location" movie from a poverty row studio made in the same style, but the spirit is similar. The whole thing is carried on the considerable shoulders of the burly Arnold, an early Hollywood star with a charismatic screen presence. He and his guide dog end up being pitted against the various members of the spy ring, which includes Donna Reed's drama coach, the house butler, and a host of henchmen including a young Barry Nelson. There are a lot of familiar faces here, but again, don't ask about the specifics. It's never explained if the spies are Nazis, though I suppose we should assume they are, even though none of them has an accent (and they are lead by a drama teacher).
Instead, what you have is a well-made popcorn picture, not of the modern blockbuster variety but of the old-school, Saturday Night at the Movies kind, where you paid a quarter for a ticket and walked out with a smile on your face. It feels like the producers were trying to create a franchise, in line with other individualistic detective characters of the early 1940s such as "Charlie Chan", "Mr. Moto" and "Mr. Wong". True, all of those were Inscrutable Orientals, but why not try a blind man with a dog that's a genius at breaking and entering?
"Eyes in the Night" gets Two Big Thumbs Up as pure fun, with a star turn from Friday the German Shepherd. Definitely worth a watch if you are still scouring Youtube in the what are, hopefully, the waning days of the pandemic. ///
In football news, I'm not sure about that Jared Goff trade by the Rams. I mean, I know Goff didn't live up to expectations, but still, he helped to get us to a Super Bowl and was in the playoffs for three of the four years he was a starter. Yeah, I know he was a turnover machine this year, and that he had no mobility, but the Rams just traded him for Matthew Stafford, who is 32 years old, and while his quarterbacking skills and passing stats are in the upper eschelon, he's an old guy, good for another couple of years at best, because he's injury prone, coming off back surgery a year ago among a host of other ailments.
I know Goff was not a great quarterback, but at least he got ya there, into the playoffs and even to the SB, where he and the Rams did lose, but they lost to Tom Brady and Belichick, which is no disgrace. So at first glance, I think this trade was a mistake. I hope I am proved wrong. ////
That's basically all I know for tonight, but I also watched an episode of "Project Blue Book" about the Skinwalker Ranch in Utah. Blue Book is an amazing show, it's only lasted two seasons so far, and was recently cancelled by the History Channel (maybe because it's too hard core), but this episode reminded me of the book "Hunt For The Skinwalker" by Colm Kelleher. I read it a few years ago and recommend it as one of my top five books on the subject of the paranormal, in this case where it meets military technology.
Read it if you dare.
See you in the morning. Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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