I feel like a heel panning a movie about blinded war veterans, but Bright Victory isn't very good. It reels off too many unnecessarily sentimental scenes to be a good documentary. And it does not contain enough plot to make an even passable drama.

Some shots of the Valley Forge rehabilitation center are fairly interesting. Besides these, only Arthur Kennedy's brilliant acting as a blinded veteran saves this movie from being not only dull, but offensive as well.

It is very clear that Universal Studios are taking advantage of an intrinsically sad situation to load on every tear-provoking scene in their files. One good example is the shot of a blind soldier hearing a letter from his son; the boy was born while the soldier was at war. "I've never seen him," says the soldier, staring with sightless eyes. "And I never will."

Besides a large number of gooey lines like this, Bright Victory also contains a love story and a sermon against prejudice. Then, of course, there is the "heart-throbbing" music--in case one doesn't realize that it's time to cry.

If the only thing Universal intended to leave the audience were a wet hankie, Bright Victory might be written down as a success of sorts. But there is a lot of real meat buried under the flab here and the producers had the material to make an excellent documentary.

They had the acting talent too. Kennedy was given a difficult role, and he deserves plus credit for not overplaying it. Peggy Dow, as the love interest, isn't always agile enough to stay out of the mushy spots. But the rest of the cast is good.

The screenplay, itself, is oversimplified. Starting with Kennedy's blinding by a German sniper, it traces his hospitalization and rehabilitation. But all of his problems are assumed related to his physical defect. No mention is made of his civilian life, or the possibility that blindness might have compounded former problems. This kind of treatment might be effective for an educational film; it leaves a large gap in a supposed piece of cinematic art.

On the screen with Bright Victory are two very amusing pieces. One, entitled Calling Bulldog Drummond, features Walter Pidgeon as the Scotland Yard maestro. Bulldog raises pigs and catches rats. Very interesting for the animal lover.

The other, a public information short, narrates the work of railroad detectives, or "cinder dicks" in the railroad vernacular. These "cinder dicks" guard cars filled with $75,000 worth of cigarettes, keep hoboes out of cars, and apprehend pickpockets in terminals.