看破黑夜  鬼谷先生

If somewhere along in the beginning of this patently fancilful tale about a man who can foresee the future the audience were taken aside and told it was just so much nonsense, it might be acceptable. And even if all the antique business which clutters up the ènd were put on a strictly burlesque level, it might wind up tolerably.

But no. From the very beginning to the very end of the film, we are asked to believe that a fellow might really have supernatural sight—that an ex-vaudevillian might forecast not only what horses will win but who will be killed in accidents and what attempts will be made on peoples' lives.

Now, this sort of thing could be charming — or funny, at least — if done in a spirit of thinly veiled fooling or out-and-out fantasy. But here it is done in somber fashion, with Edward G. Robinson playing the gent as a figure of tragic proportions, fatefully chained to a crystal ball. And Gail Russell plays the young lady whom he vainly forewarns against peril in a mood of distinct melancholia, with her face all the way down to here.