Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

dougdoepke Slick programmer from MGM. It's not exactly a whodunit, though the narrative starts out that way. Rather, the plot becomes a battle of wits between Capt. Maclain (Arnold) and the killer. Seems someone's knocking off members of the Hampton family, leaving daughter Jean (Rafferty) in danger. Now blind ex-cop Maclain, along with police dog Friday and comedic helper Marty, have to figure things out before more bloodletting.Arnold's Maclain has to be the most genial cop in movie annals: he even manages a chuckle in the direst circumstance. I guess that shows acceptance of his impaired condition. Good to see one of my old-time heartthrobs Frances Rafferty looking gorgeous as usual. And that's Leigh Whipper briefly as the colored butler. Too bad he doesn't get to show the soul he shows in the classics Of Mice and Men (1939) and The Ox-Bow Incident (1943). Once you see him there, you don't forget. And, of course, there's Friday who should get a canine Oscar for his winning performance.Anyway, the programmer's mainly a personality detective show, slickly done by MGM's accomplished production crew. I guess my only reservation is with some of the look-alike supporting players and keeping them straight. Still, it's an entertaining way to spend an hour that's also lost little over the years. Meanwhile, this old geezer could sure use a buddy like the genius-level Friday.

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.

sol (There are Spoilers) No where as good as the previous "Blind Detective" feature "Eyes in the Night" the movie "The Hidden Eye" still holds your interest up until the final moments even though the mysterious killer is revealed almost half-way through the film.After being discharged from the US Army Barry Grifford, Paul Langton, had met and fell in love with the pretty heiress to the Hampton tin fortune Jane Hampton, Frances Rafferty. The two lovebirds Barry & Jane eagerly wanting to get hitched have their wedding plans kept on hold by Jane's dad Mr. Arthur Hampton, Raymond Laugay, not wanting his daughter to get married so soon after two members of the family were founded murdered.It later turns out that Uncle Rodney Hampton, Clyde Fillmore, who eventually was to give his consent to Jane & Barrys wedding plans, with his brother Mr. Hamptons blessings, in found murdered in his office as both Jane and Barry came to visit him.Finding a mysterious note laced with his strange Jasmin perfume as well as the Areng Tree mentioned on it all clues to Uncle Rodney's murder leads to Barry. Barry was on the scene of Rodney Hampton's murder and later he was also at the scene of Mr. Hamptons murder which makes him a prime suspect. There's also the fact that the Areng Tree is native to the island of Sumatra the place where Mr. Hampton made his fortune some thirty years ago and his partner Barry father Mr. Grifford ended up losing his shirt! Are these murders the work of Barry Grifford in revenge of what he feels that old man Hampton did to his dad in swindling him of of his share of the prosperous Sumatra Hampton tin mine?Getting family friend and blind sleuth Capt. Duncan "Mac" MacLaine, Edward Arnold, on the case Jane hopes he'll get to the bottom of these murders and exonerate Barry, who has yet to be charged, of committing them. "Mac" together with his partner Marty Corbatt, William "Bill" Phillips, and faithful seeing eye dog Friday sniff out the truth behind Mr. Hampton's and Uncle Rodney's murder in the fact that the mysterious perfume was purposely planted at the murder scene to implicate poor and innocent Barry Grifford.The killer using his henchmen lead by Ferris, Morris Arkrum, realized that "Mac" has got the drop on him and the real reason for the Hampton murders. The killer happens to be in charges of the Hampton tin mine fortune and want's, with all the Hampton's out of the way, to get total control of it. The killer is also positioning Barry into a corner in that he'll murder his sweetheart Jane to exact revenge of what her dad, the late Mr. Hampton, did to his dad in bankrupting him.As "Mac" gets closer to the truth the Killer has his seeing-eye dog Friday dog-napped and held hostage in an effort to get "Mac" off his back. This all backfires with Friday together with his master "Mac", who was also later kidnapped, turning the tables on the Killer and his hoods and then working against the clock in preventing Barry from being shot by the cops as he enters the Hampton Mansion. Barry was hoodwinked by Ferris & Co, impersonating cops, into thinking that he's coming to his sweetheart Janes rescue only to have him be gunned down by the awaiting police. The cops, the real ones, were tipped off by the killer that Barry is going to the mansion to murder Jane and and then plant evidence, fake of course, to implicate him in her murder.The brave and courageous Friday who saved "Mac" earlier by attacking and tearing apart two of his and "Mac" captors at the killers hideout was rendered useless by being locked in a cab, that brought them to the Hampton Masion, by the suddenly metalized killer. "Mac" taking the killer on hand to hand made up for his loss of sight, he was blinded in WWI, by his expertise in both Oriental martial arts of Ju Jutsu and Sumo Wrestling. "Mac" ended up putting him to sleep without the help of Friday who if freed would have done a much better, or worse, job on him which the killer in not being torn to ribbons should be very very thankful for.

Neil Doyle As a genial blind detective, EDWARD ARNOLD chuckles his way through his familiar role as the man whose keen mind and senses detect things that a man with eyesight cannot possibly see. In this particular mystery, the murderer is revealed halfway through and the suspense lies in wondering how Arnold will get on his scent.WILLIAM PHILLIPS has a good supporting role as his assistant who's assigned to test some perfumes. His scene at a perfume counter is the film's only solid comic moment and he shares it with the unbilled and unknown AUDREY TOTTER as an amused clerk. FRANCES RAFFERTY is the pretty leading lady, a woman about to inherit a huge fortune upon the death of her wealthy uncle. The crime is planted on her fiancé and it's up to Arnold to find a way to reveal the true murderer.JACK LAMBERT makes a good thug, but Edward Arnold's bland portrayal of the amiable blind man is a bit tedious after awhile. Overall, it's pretty mild stuff.