Donna Reed

EYES IN THE NIGHT (1942)

Eyes in the Night

“Now you’re in my world…darkness!”

Based on Baynard Kendrick’s 1941 novel “The Odor of Violets,” Eyes in the Night is an entertaining mystery-comedy elevated by the presence of Edward Arnold as a cunning blind detective. The feature-length directial debut of Fred Zinnemann (Act of Violence), Eyes in the Night is definitely above-par for a B-crime film, but viewers looking for the hard edge of noir should look elsewhere. This is a wholesome affair, with a German shepherd named Friday that steals the show and plenty of humor cracking up the seedier crime elements.

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SCANDAL SHEET (1952)

Scandal Sheet

Right before he directed Kansas City Confidential, director Phil Karlson found his stride with the sensational noir Scandal Sheet. Based on the novel The Dark Page by the mighty Sam Fuller, Scandal Sheet is a lurid tale ripped from the tabloid pages the film’s characters write for. Fuller himself cut his chops in his youth as a copy boy, then as a journalist on the crime beat in his teens, so Scandal Sheet is dripping with notes of authenticity. It portrays the ruthless tricks writers and editors alike utilized to score the scoop, right down to covering up a murder (not sure if any editors ever did that, but shit, it’s in the movie).

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