Eyes in the Night

Duncan Maclain is a blind private detective with a guide dog called Friday. An old friend comes to him: her stepdaughter is going through a difficult stretch and is involved with an older man. Maclain takes the job. He soon works out that this is not a family problem; at the middle of it there is a murder and an invention stolen for the war. The people opposite him are enemy agents. The film is Fred Zinnemann's first feature; the director who would later be known for work like High Noon and A Man for All Seasons started his career with a B picture. The character comes from Baynard Kendrick's novels and Edward Arnold plays him. The most striking thing about the film is that it does not present blindness as a pitiable lack: Maclain has the advantage over everyone in the dark, and he uses it in the finale. The dog is a real character too. Eighty minutes.