The Hidden Eye

1945 "New adventures of the blind detective and his seeing eye dog!"
6.2| 1h9m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 31 August 1945 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

A perfumed message provides the only clue for a blind detective bent on clearing a man accused of murder.

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Reviews

Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Fulke Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
utgard14 Blind detective Duncan Maclain is asked for help by a young woman whose fiancé is the prime suspect in a murder. This is the second Duncan Maclain movie starring Edward Arnold. The first, Eyes In the Night, was released in 1942. I'm not sure about the reason for the gap between the movies. If MGM was trying to launch a series of B detective movies around this character, one would assume they would have produced them quickly. Maybe this was filmed years before it was released. I don't see that info here on IMDb but that makes more sense than them waiting three years to make a follow-up to a B programmer that wasn't a huge hit to begin with. There's something very odd about the opening minutes of this one. The audio appears to be dubbed. The actors' lips are in sync with the words but it still seems off. You'll see what I mean.Edward Arnold is always worth a look. Reliable Ray Collins leads a so-so cast backing up Arnold. The weakest part is Frances Rafferty, whose overwrought performance borders on hysterics half the time. It's amusing at first but quickly annoying. She's very pretty, though. Audrey Totter has one small scene but it's a great one. Not a bad B detective movie. The pace is good and there's a nice amount of humor sprinkled throughout. The mystery itself isn't much of a mystery as the killer is revealed to be the most obvious suspect about halfway into the movie. I really wanted it to be the fiancé because his scenes with Rafferty were insufferably corny. If you're a fan of these kinds of movies I'm sure you'll enjoy this enough. Definitely not a waste of an hour so give it a shot.
kidboots I could never understand why MGM didn't try to have a serious go of making a series about Capt. Duncan MacLain, an urbane private eye, who just happens to be blind. That does not hamper his skills as he has sharpened his remaining senses as well as being an expert wrestler. He also has an extremely smart seeing eye dog in Friday, who is almost MacLain's match in intelligence. Obviously MGM didn't feel that comfortable with private eyes on dark rainy streets, they didn't exactly fit in with the other series - heroic Dr. Kildare and the all American Hardy family. Of course they also had the Thin Man series but Nick Charles was different, he was a witty bon vivant married to a millionairess!!!The first MacLain film "Eyes in the Night" got off to a terrific start, directed by young up and coming director Fred Zinneman and with a top cast of dependable stars including Edward Arnold who fitted the role like a pair of comfy slippers. But the next one, "The Hidden Eye" appeared almost 5 years later and somehow something was missing.Jean (Frances Rafferty) is eager to marry Barry but is meeting stiff opposition from her uncle who is concerned that with a couple of recent deaths in the family it wouldn't look right. When Uncle Rodney, the man who is going to decide their fate is found murdered and Barry is already in the darkened room, suspicion naturally falls on him. Unfortunately for Barry, he seems to be being set up as that happens for the other murders too.As another reviewer says the murderer is revealed half way through but, for me, that only makes it more interesting as now, with MacLain on the case, they know they are looking for a mad man but one who presents a normal respectable front. There is drama aplenty when Friday is kidnapped - the anguish in Arnold's voice as he promises to do exactly as the kidnapper's want proves there was real affection for the dog, a beautiful Alsation, there.Frances Rafferty was just one of the numerous pretty ingenues who seemed to flood the screen in the 1940s, did a few colourless roles then disappeared. Far more interesting was the perfume counter girl - Audrey Totter gave her part as much oomph as her 60 second bit would allow. I believe she was also at the wrong studio and would have progressed quicker at Warner Bros. where her type of hard boiled dame was more appreciated.Recommended for Audrey!!
MartinHafer I love old B-detective films such as Charlie Chan, The Saint, Boston Blackie and The Falcon. In addition to these very popular series, MGM tried to make a string of films starring veteran character actor Edward Arnold as a blind ex-police captain who now investigates crimes on his own. Unfortunately, while I really liked the first two films of the series, there must not have been much interest as MGM killed the series and only ended up making the two. What a shame, as I found them charming and innovative--something that is lacking in most films of the genre. I liked Arnold's easygoing manner (though my wife felt he laughed too much) and his guide dog, Friday, was a great sidekick--practically stealing the show. The plots were creative, the supporting acting very good and the production values many steps above lower budget Bs. About the only thing that was a deficit was the use of stunt doubles. All too often, it was VERY obvious that it was not the rotund and middle-aged Arnold but a younger and thinner man with significantly more hair! In this regard, it reminded me a lot of the work done on the original STAR TREK television series--where it was obviously NOT Kirk, Spock or McCoy in the action scenes.By the way, if you get a chance, try seeing the first film (EYES IN THE NIGHT). It's really funny watching Arnold's character deliberately trying to be super-obnoxious and irritating!
jknoppow Capt. Maclain, the blind detective, is called in on a murder case by a young lady of his acquaintance, Frances Rafferty. She is about to be married to Barry Gifford; they've tried twice before, but her father wants them to wait. They hope that three times will be lucky. Father seems to be agreeable over the telephone, and he sets up a seven pm appointment for the two to come and talk it over. But when Barry gets there just a few seconds early, he finds his prospective father in law dead at his desk. He's been murdered and the suspicion of the police has fallen on young Barry. For the sake of young love, we hope that Maclain can prove the police wrong before the picture ends, but it looks very bad for Barry.This is not an exceptional film, but it's better than average for a forties B and the acting holds up very well. The plot is a good one, although the number of good suspects is quite small and the film doesn't cheat. But I think that even if you do figure out who the murderer is early on, the situations and the well acted characters will keep you entertained.