{{short description|1940 film}} {{italic title}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use British English|date=May 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = Shadowed Eyes | image = Shadowed_Eyes_film_frame_(1940).jpg | caption = Patricia Hilliard and Basil Sydney in the film<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2 March 1940|title=Shadowed Eyes|id={{ProQuest|1771146486}}|magazine=Picturegoer|volume=9|issue=458|pages=20}}</ref> | director = Maclean Rogers | producer = A. George Smith <br> Kurt Sternberg | writer = Roy Carter <br> Herbert Hill <br> Arnold Ridley | narrator = | starring = Basil Sydney <br> Patricia Hilliard <br> Stewart Rome | music = | cinematography = Geoffrey Faithfull | editing = | studio = George Smith Productions <br> Savoy Productions | distributor = RKO Pictures | released = {{Film date|1940|03|02|df=yes}} | runtime = 68 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = £19,441<ref>{{cite magazine|title='The highest salary ever paid to a human being': Creating a Database of Film Costs from the Bank of England |last=Chapman|first= Llewella|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|magazine=Journal of British cinema and television, 2022-10|volume=19|number=4|pages=470–494 at 482}}</ref> | gross = }} '''''Shadowed Eyes''''' is a 1940 British crime film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Basil Sydney, Patricia Hilliard and Stewart Rome.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web|title=Shadowed Eyes|url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150055735|access-date=10 May 2026|website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=BFI {{!}} Film & TV Database {{!}} Shadowed Eyes (1939) |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/50234 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114065050/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/50234 |archive-date=2009-01-14 |access-date=2026-05-10 |website=BFI |language=en}}</ref> It was written by Roy Carter, Herbert Hill and Arnold Ridley, and was produced at Isleworth Studios in London as a quota quickie for distribution by RKO Pictures.
== Preservation status == The British Film Institute National Archive holds a collection of stills but no film or video materials.<ref name="BFIsearch" />
==Plot== Famous surgeon Emil Zander murders his wife’s lover during a mental blackout. Convicted but deemed insane, he is sent to a private research facility. When his assistant Diana’s father requires urgent eye surgery, his friends smuggle him out to perform it. After a brief, lapse into violence, Zander’s mind clears; he successfully operates, and Diana vows to help him rebuild his life.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1939 |title=Shadowed Eyes |volume=6 |issue=61 |pages=186 |id={{ProQuest|1305807911}} |magazine=The Monthly Film Bulletin}}</ref>
==Cast== * Basil Sydney as Doctor Emil Zander * Patricia Hilliard as Doctor Diana Barnes * Stewart Rome as Sir John Barnes * Ian Fleming as Doctor McKane * Tom Helmore as Ian * Dorothy Calve as Marjorie * Ruby Miller as Mrs Clarke-Fenwick
==Reception== ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' wrote: "Given a good script, direction and acting, this exceedingly far-fetched story might have managed to hold the interest. As it is, the script is atrocious, the direction pedestrian in the extreme and the acting very poor."<ref name=":0" />
''Kine Weekly'' wrote: "Good, honest melodrama straightforwardly told in a scientific-cum-medico atmosphere that cunningly amplifies the emotional significance of its eternal basic theme. The acting is equal to all demands and requirements and so is the direction. It is no mean woman's picture or, for that matter, man's."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=12 October 1939 |title=Shadowed Eyes |volume=272 |issue=1695 |pages=27 |id={{ProQuest|2339770642}} |magazine=Kine Weekly}}</ref>
''The Daily Film Renter'' wrote: "Far-tetched narrative fails to convince and situations are overmelodramatic, but film may get by with not too critical patrons. ... Conviction can hardly be described as the production's strong point, many of the situations being of a highly theatrical nature, while the actors are hard put to it to infuse life into their characterisations. Basil Sydney plays the surgeon with polish, but cannot achieve reality. Patricia Hilliard is the heroine, Stewart Rome the barrister and lan Fleming another doctor, and all three, together with other supporting cast members, also suffer from unbelievable roles."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=9 October 1939 |title=Shadowed Eyes |volume= |issue=3873 |pages=4 |id={{ProQuest|3327058207}} |magazine=The Daily Film Renter}}</ref>
== References == <references/>
==External links== *{{IMDb title|0031918}} {{Maclean Rogers}}
Category:1940 films Category:Films directed by Maclean Rogers Category:1940 crime films Category:British crime films Category:British black-and-white films Category:1940 English-language films Category:1940 British films Category:Quota quickies Category:Films shot at Isleworth Studios Category:RKO Pictures films Category:English-language crime films