I’m depressed to learn about the recent demise of UK media distributor Network. It seems we’re losing producers of physical media at a greater rate than new ones are forming. Now that Network has ceased operations, I doubt anybody will pick up titles of theirs like 1942’s The Night Has Eyes. This picture is simply too small and slight to appeal to the other labels.
One reason that would be a shame is it stars James Mason, who is always interesting to watch. Here, he plays a former composer who has isolated himself in a house on the moors following a harrowing experience fighting in the Spanish Civil War. He probably has a horrible secret, as people in such films tend to have.
Disrupting his solitude are Joyce Howard and Tucker McGuire, two school teachers using their holiday time off to investigate the disappearance of a fellow teacher in this location a year before. Howard is the more serious of the two.
McGuire is possibly more boy crazy than any pre-teen girl has ever been. When Howard goes to lock their door before they go to sleep, McGuire tries to stop her, saying, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If you know what I mean.” Howard replies, “I know exactly what you mean” as she firmly locks the door.
When the moors flood, these two are stranded at the house until the water recedes. Mason tells his guests not to explore the premises, and definitely not go looking for the secret room in it. He says he’s never looked for it, which I find hard to believe. I would know every square inch of any house I owned, no matter how large it was.
At least our protagonist is smart enough to immediately recall the famous story the audience is thinking of: “Is it like the Bluebeard story?” Mason cryptically replies, “The flaw in that story is the rescue came too soon.”
Mason has two assistants at the house. Mary Clare is his housekeeper and nurse, who has been by his side since helping him recover after the war. She is especially careful to make sure he takes his pills at night, which is apparently of critical importance during a full moon. There’s also a groundskeeper (Wilfrid Larson) who has a Capuchin. Do not call it a monkey.
With so few characters, there aren’t many directions the story can go in. Still, The Night Has Eyes is a pleasant enough distraction, if houses on moors on dark and stormy nights are your thing. They’re mine, at least, and I hope there will be a home for movies like this now that Network has closed shop.
Dir: Leslie Arliss
Starring: James Mason, Joyce Howard, Mary Clare
Watched on Network UK blu-ray (region B)