The Dark Corner (1946)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Writers:

Jay Dratler (screenplay) and
Bernard C. Schoenfeld (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

9 April 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

Tagline:

Save your lipstick, girls, he plays for keeps.

Plot:

Secretary tries to help her boss, who is framed for a murder.

Plot Keywords:

Secretary | White Suit | Murder | Infidelity | Art Gallery

Cast

Lucille Ball	...	Kathleen Stewart
Clifton Webb	...	Hardy Cathcart
William Bendix	...	Stauffer, alias Fred Foss
Mark Stevens	...	Bradford Galt
Kurt Kreuger	...	Anthony Jardine
Cathy Downs	...	Mari Cathcart
Reed Hadley	...	Lt Frank Reeves
Constance Collier	...	Mrs. Kingsley
Eddie Heywood	...	Himself (as Eddie Heywood and His Orchestra)

Runtime:

99 min | 95 min (FMC Library Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:(Banned) | USA:Approved (certificate #11435)

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

This film with many acclaimed actors could be considered a "Who's Who" of 1950's TV Included are Lucille Ball ("I Love Lucy"), 'William Bendix' ("The Life Of Riley"), _Reed Hadley_ ("Racket Squad" and "Public Defender"), Mark Stevens ("Big Town") and Cathy Downs (Ann Howe of "The Joe Palooka Story").

Goofs:

Continuity: Early in film where Kathleen is seen looking out of the back window of the taxi, she is clearly wearing a ring on her left hand. In all other scenes, like when dancing at the nightclub with Bradford, she is not wearing any ring on the left hand. However, throughout the film, she consistently is wearing a ring on her right hand little finger.

Quotes:

Hardy Cathcart: Lovers of beauty never haggle over price, Tony.

Movie Connections:

References The Thin Man (1934)

Soundtrack:

Give Me the Simple Life

Dark Notions

This is a pretty good thriller more or less in the noir mold and made just after the Second World War. Mark Stevens is a private eye in trouble, Lucille Ball his loyal girl Friday, Clifton Webb an art dealer, and William Bendix a thug. The plot is convoluted and scarcely memorable. This movie is an obvious attempt to cash in on Laura, made two years earlier, in which Webb played a similar role. It's well made by Henry Hathaway, but Webb is a lightweight bad guy, and the film's tone and his performance don't mix well. Bendix is oddly cast in a very unsympathetic role and he plays is excellently. Stevens never became a major star despite some decent chances, and he is good here, if a tad anonymous. Lucille Ball is fine and plays her part straight, a far cry from I Love Lucy, and proves that she could have become a noir icon along the lines of Claire Trevor or Gloria Grahame had she wanted to. Overall the film is worth seeing, however its proto-existential tone, though it works well in some of the dialog, gives the movie at times a pretentious air which it could have done without.