kimpunkrock Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 I discovered this little wartime movie from 1942 called *Eyes in the Night* . This movie stars Edward Arnold as a _blind_ detective that helps solve a murder mystery for an old female friend. Along the way he is helped by his awesome seeing eye dog. The dog steals the movie in a way. Edward Arnold is absolutely great in this. You might remember him better as Jimmy Stewart's Dad in Frank Capra's *You Can't Take it With You*. The Film ends up to be a wartime propaganda film but plays better than most of these B propaganda films from WWII. A blind detective and his seeing eye dog partner! It does not get any better than that. This film is probably in the public domain and is available on the DVD for cheap. Check it out! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034711/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 The second film in this very short (2 films) series, "Hidden Eyes" is also very good. Too bad MGM didn't produced more of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TripleHHH Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 Yes I also like and own this via Alpha DVD Not only does it need to be rewatched It needs to be remastered. Maybe the Roan Group can get ahold of it Most of these obscurities usually wind up w/ Alpha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimpunkrock Posted April 8, 2008 Author Share Posted April 8, 2008 I would love to see *Hidden Eyes* , the second film in the 2 film series. But it is not available on DVD or VHS. I will have to check some public domain sites. The print I have is on a collection of 25 old murder/mystery B films from the 30's and 40's. Most of the prints are bad in this collection but luckily *Eyes in the Night* was one of the best in the set. I actually like Alpha's releases and wish I could own there whole catalog. Though some of their titles are complete stinkers, still fun to own. Edward Arnold is great in this movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Film_Fatale Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 I always found Edward Arnold fascinating in almost everything he did. Wish TCM could get the rights to these movies you mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthemoviefan Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 TCM has shown The Hidden Eye and Eyes in the Night several times each, IIRC. The character of Duncan Maclain is featured in an earlier film, 1938's The Last Express, from the long-unseen (at least on national TV) Universal/Crime Club series. Eyes in the Night has somehow fallen into the public domain, but the other two films have not. Message was edited by: danthemoviefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markbeckuaf Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Wow, I love these two movies!!! I've never had the pleasure to see THE LAST EXPRESS, I didn't realize there was a 3rd film with this character in it, cool to know!!! Now, I wish TCM would air that one!!! I also love these older B films, especially the mysteries and detective yarns! I hope TCM airs more of them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthemoviefan Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 I'd love to see any of the Crime Club films surface on TCM. But according to the first post by "riddlerider" in the link below, The Last Express is the least likely one to turn up: http://z13.invisionfree.com/In_The_Balcony/index.php?showtopic=2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redriver Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 I love Arnold as a Capra villain. Especially MEET JOHN DOE. He's usually better than the leads. Apparently, this wasn't his first venture into detective fiction. He was in the lesser known version of THE GLASS KEY, playing the role Brian Donlevy would later assume. And in the mid 1930's, he played Nero Wolfe! I haven't seen these movies. Not even the one under discussion. But I'd like to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laffite Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Edward Arnold fans should see Come and Get It (1936). He becomes infatuated with younger woman Francis Farmer. Previously he had been in love with her mother. Both mother and daughter are played by Francis (they never appear on screen at the same time). Joel McCrae is the least impressive of all the leads but I don't think he had good material. When I saw this I didn't even recognize Walter Brennan, who plays a very clean cut older guy with a Swedish accent. I got this at the library, I don't think it's been shown on TCM. Edward really gets to put himself out there in this role, a must for fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimpunkrock Posted April 10, 2008 Author Share Posted April 10, 2008 I would love to see that movie *Come and Get It*. Especially since it has Francis Framer. Living in seattle, Francis Farmer is something of a legend here. I am going to have to see this title! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldPackard Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 I did see "Eyes in the Night" on TCM recently. I'm getting more and more "in to" old movies since my retirement (I don't play golf and restoring a 70+ year old car can get unbelievably expensive.) I am finding that many of the lesser known actors such as Edward Arnold and Una Merkle are becomming old friends. If I see them in the cast I know that I can expect to spend some enjoyable time in front of the 'tube. With the likes of them in the lead, many a "B" movie was superior to the "A" film with big name "stars" at the top of the billing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macadoo21 Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Hi - I'm cynthia and am new to this. I love old movies on TCM as well and watch them all the time. In fact, my reason for joining this is to find someone out there who might have seen a movie I saw as a young girl - in the early 40s. All I can remember is the almost very last scene. It seems it was a mystery - black and white - possibly in NYC - and the last scene showed a woman standing on a corner - looking up to the top of a skyscraper - and she was holding a little porcelain, decorated glass shoe that was a popular what-not in those days. I think someone had either been murdered - or committed suicide. That is all I can remember about the movie and it is driving me crazy. Do you know anything about this? Also, am I doing the right thing by picking you out of General Topics to write this too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthemoviefan Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Could the film have been released as late as 1950 (see end of synopsis in this link)? A Life of Her Own may have the ending you describe: http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=271 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madeleine2322 Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 I'm glad to welcome you, OldPackard, to the special world of vintage movies and that genre of talented, versatile, indispensable character actors, who all too often do not achieve the fame of name recognition ("I know the face but not the name"). From early in grade school I memorized the credits, especially the names of the supporting actors. To this day of a badly failing, once "phenomenal" memory for even obscure actors, I can still name many I first saw in the early 30s. (But don't ask me what I did last week!) Edward Arnold brought much to the table: villainy, comedy, mystery, straight drama. His 40-year film career of 150 films started in the era of the "silents," (1916), making two-reeler Westerns and action pictures.He appeared on the NY stage with stars like Ethel Barrymore. In Hollywood, his wide range of roles included "Diamond" Jim Brady twice, tycoon Jim Fisk, detective Nero Wolfe, Daniel Webster; light, comedic fare in which he played to perfection the agitated, exasperated, explosive husband of a dithering or placidly patient wife and the father of a son or daughter whose free-spirited behavior creates constant turmoil and has him, near apoplexy, roaring for order to replace the chaos invading his home. Entertaining. He was also president of the Screen Actors' Guild. A personal bit of trivia. A son of German immigrants (his name was Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider), growing up in NYC's tough Lower East Side, he refused to lend his nephew tuition money to attend beauty school to become a hairdresser, even though he had a successful career at the time and had the money. His reason in refusing his nephew's request was that it would be better for his character to earn it himself. His nephew did just that and when I knew him he was a popular hairdresser at Elizabeth Arden Salon on the Sunset Strip and probably realized his dream of having his own shop.one day. He was a knee-buckler-handsome, blue-eyed, blond guy, who had his uncle's large head and massive forehead. We dated sporadically, both being tenants at "Mamacita's" boardinghouse between Sunset and Hollywood Blvds., just off La Brea, alleged to have been the home in the 20s of silent picture stars, Vilma Banky (The Son of the Sheik with Valentino) and Rod La Rocque. When I visited Hollywood years later, the colonial-style house was gone. I was shocked when David told me about his famous uncle's refusal, but Arnold may have been right. David came through, but he never spoke to his uncle again, at least while I knew him. You mention a 70-year old car. I was the proud owner of a 63 Studebaker Lark, which may have saved my life (according to a CHP officer) when an inebriated sailor hit me head-on, with a pick-up truck, going the wrong way on a one-way Calif.highway. Packards were classy cars. Madeleine Message was edited by: Madeleine2322 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldPackard Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Hi Cynthia.. It looks like Dan was on the ball and found the movie you were thinking about. Thank You Dan... Nice people on this web site,and with a great deal of knowlege that they are happy to share with the rest of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldPackard Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Thank You Madeleine for the kind words. It sounds as if you had fun in southern California. My memories of Hollywood in the early 1960s involved visiting the "Whiskey-a-go-go" with a couple of other guys from my outfit. (That place had the biggest bouncer I ever saw in my life. Nice guy, but BIG...) Otherwise I hung out with relatives in Pasadena, ate at "Bob's Big Boy " on Colorado Bvd.and enjoyed the view(s). One thing we can say about old cars, old movies and old music. The "fun factor" is unbeatable,,, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimpunkrock Posted April 12, 2008 Author Share Posted April 12, 2008 Thank you for the story Madeleine. Very interesting!!!! I am from the Lower East Side myself in a round about way. It makes sense that I am very drawn to actors and actresses that are from there. Of course the biggest for me being Humphrey Bogart. God bless the LES. I am also obsessed with the East Side Kids, the Dead End Kids and the Bowery Boys. Luckily I lived there before the gentrification took place and got to experience what it might have been like for these guys to grow up there. It is now a completely different place. More Edward Arnold!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts