Tonight's Movie: Blind Spot (1947)

Last month Turner Classic Movies featured its first-ever showing of the Columbia Pictures "B" film BLIND SPOT (1947).

The film was hosted by Eddie Muller on TCM's Noir Alley franchise.

As Muller pointed out in his introduction, BLIND SPOT has some overtones of the marvelous BLACK ANGEL (1946) from Universal Pictures, as each film features a leading man whose alcoholism causes him to forget key details surrounding a murder.

Both movies also feature the striking actress Constance Dowling; she was the murder victim in BLACK ANGEL and a secretary who could be either good or bad in BLIND SPOT.

The BLIND SPOT plot concerns Jeffrey Andrews (Chester Morris), a respected yet low-selling author with a serious drinking problem and zero cash in his wallet.

The drunken Andrews goes to beg his publisher, Henry Small (William Forrest), for some money, but is turned down, other than a $20 bill offered out of pity and annoyance.

With the encouragement of Lloyd Harrison (Steven Geray), a more successful author who nonetheless also has a fraught relationship with the publisher, Andrews spins a murder mystery yarn for Small in hopes of a book advance.

Shortly thereafter Small is found dead, and Andrews is arrested by Detective Lt. Fred Applegate (James Bell) as the most likely suspect.

Andrews unfortunately can't remember most of the events surrounding his visit to the publisher. As Andrews attempts to reconstruct what led to Small's death, he's aided by the publisher's secretary Evelyn (Dowling), who appears to have been roughed up by her boss the night of the death, and Harrison, who convinces Applegate to let Andrews out of jail.

Whether or not Evelyn and Harrison are true friends is a question mark, as they each have reasons to have wanted Small dead...and what's with the fact that Small's body was found in a room with the door bolted from the inside?

This was a flawed yet interesting film. One of the film's difficulties is simply that it's hard to watch the drunken Morris for a substantial amount of time.

Morris's character is truly watchable only after his arrest forces him to go on the wagon, at which point he swears off booze. Whether or not it's realistic for such a heavy drinker to go "cold turkey" is an open question, but it came as a relief.

The other problem with the film is a more personal one, in that I have never really enjoyed Geray. I can't quite put my finger on why, I simply don't find him a likeable actor.

On the plus side, the film has quite an interesting plot, written by Martin Goldsmith -- whose novel inspired DETOUR (1945) -- based on a story by Barry Perowne. The prickly-yet-steamy relationship between Andrews and Evelyn is especially fascinating.

Morris and Dowling, who had recently worked together on BOSTON BLACKIE AND THE LAW (1946), have excellent chemistry as he tries to decide whether to kiss or kill the beautiful blonde. I really enjoyed their scenes.

Dowling, incidentally, was the sister of actress Doris Dowling, who was Alan Ladd's unfaithful wife in THE BLUE DAHLIA (1946).

BLIND SPOT runs a quick 73 minutes. It was directed by Robert Gordon and filmed in black and white by George Meehan.

Southern Californians will note that a shot of the 1930 Eastern Columbia Building in Los Angeles is used for the publisher's office.

The cast includes Sid Tomack, Paul E. Burns, Frank Mayo, and Harry Strang.

To my knowledge, BLIND SPOT is not available in an authorized DVD or Blu-ray edition.

Tweet