The Dark Corner (1946)

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Writers:

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

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)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Colleen Alpaugh	...	Little Girl with Slide Whistle (uncredited)
Charles Cane	...	Policeman at Tony's Apartment (uncredited)
Ellen Corby	...	Maid (uncredited)
Peter Cusanelli	...	Man (uncredited)
Ralph Dunn	...	Policeman in Galleries (uncredited)
John Elliott	...	Laundry Proprietor (uncredited)
Mary Field	...	Movie Theater Cashier (uncredited)
Alice Fleming	...	Woman (uncredited)
John Goldsworthy	...	Butler (uncredited)
Eugene Goncz	...	Practical Sign Painter (uncredited)
Vincent Graeff	...	Newsboy-Witness (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton	...	Man at Hit-Run Attempt (uncredited)
Eloise Hardt	...	Miss Dennis, Saleswoman (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
John Kelly	...	Policeman in Galleries (uncredited)
Colin Kenny	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Molly Lamont	...	Lucy Wilding (uncredited)
Hope Landin	...	Woman Scrubbing Floor (uncredited)
Thomas Louden	...	Elderly Man (uncredited)
Donald MacBride	...	Policeman in Galleries (uncredited)
Frank Marlowe	...	First Cab Driver (uncredited)
Thomas Martin	...	Henry, the Majordomo (uncredited)
Matt McHugh	...	Milkman (uncredited)
Harold Miller	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Tom Monroe	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Forbes Murray	...	Mr. Bryson (uncredited)
Steve Olsen	...	Arcade Game Barker (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Policeman on Street (uncredited)
Joe Ploski	...	Deli Extra (uncredited)
Raisa	...	Client Daughter (uncredited)
Isabel Randolph	...	Mrs. Reynolds (uncredited)
John Russell	...	Policeman at Tony's Apartment (uncredited)
Pietro Sosso	...	Man (uncredited)
Douglas Spencer	...	Deli Extra (uncredited)
Frieda Stoll	...	Frau Keller (uncredited)
Charles Tannen	...	Second Cab Driver (uncredited)
Minerva Urecal	...	Client Wife (uncredited)
Charles Wagenheim	...	The Real Fred Foss (uncredited)
Regina Wallace	...	Mrs. Bryson (uncredited)
Gisela Werbisek	...	Mrs. Schwartz (uncredited)
Lynn Whitney	...	Stenographer (uncredited)

Directed by
Henry Hathaway

Writing credits
Jay Dratler		(screenplay) and
Bernard C. Schoenfeld		(screenplay) (as Bernard Schoenfeld)
Leo Rosten		(story)

Produced by
Fred Kohlmar	....	producer

Original Music by
Cyril J. Mockridge		(as Cyril Mockridge)

Cinematography by
Joseph MacDonald		(as Joe MacDonald)

Film Editing by
J. Watson Webb Jr.		(as J. Watson Webb)

Art Direction by
James Basevi
Leland Fuller

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little

Costume Design by
Kay Nelson

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
William Eckhardt	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Paul S. Fox	....	associate set decorator

Sound Department
W.D. Flick	....	sound
Harry M. Leonard	....	sound

Special Effects by
Fred Sersen	....	special photographic effects

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe supervisor (uncredited)

Music Department
Maurice De Packh	....	orchestral arranger
Emil Newman	....	musical director

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (presents) (as Twentieth Century-Fox)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1946) (USA) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)

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:

Bradford Galt: There goes my last lead. I feel all dead inside. I'm backed up in a dark corner, and I don't know who's hitting me.

Movie Connections:

References The Thin Man (1934)

Soundtrack:

The More I See You

Ball, Webb, Bendix and Stevens in satisfying - and smashing looking - noir

It's a loss to the noir cycle that Lucille Ball never got to exercise her widely underestimated acting (as opposed to comedic) skills as a femme fatale; she might have gained entry to the Bad Girls' Club. She did, however, lend her welcome presence to three film noir: Two Smart People, Lured, and, the first and best of them, The Dark Corner.

She plays the new, spunky receptionist to private eye Mark Stevens (and gets top billing; logically the star, Stevens comes only fourth in the titles). Once framed into a manslaughter charge in San Francisco, Stevens has come east to start over with a clean slate. But he's being measured for an even bigger frame. White-suited William Bendix is the cat's-paw in a plot to goad Stevens into murdering the old partner who set him up (Kurt Kreuger).

Kreuger, however, isn't even aware that Stevens is out of prison and in New York; he's too busy romancing the young wife (Cathy Downs) of rich art-gallery owner Clifton Webb (she sits around bored, listening to `his paintings crack with age'). Webb is the puppet-master behind the elaborate scheme to eliminate his younger, more virile rival. When Stevens comes to on the floor of his apartment with a poker in his hand and Kreuger bludgeoned to death next to him, he, with Ball's help, must race against his inevitable arrest to find the real killer.

The story flits between two Manhattans: The shabby cityscape of penny arcades under the El and flats that open up onto fire escapes, populated by Stevens, Ball and Bendix, and the haut monde of ritzy galleries and high-ceilinged, richly upholstered apartments inhabited by Clift, Downs and Kreuger. Spanning the gap is the unholy alliance between the coarse Bendix and the p***-elegant Webb, reprising his Bitter Old Queen number from Laura and The Razor's Edge (though again, as in Laura, we're asked to swallow his obsession with a beautiful...woman half his age).

While maintaining a deft balance, the plot weighs in as quite a brutal one (Webb's quick dispatch of Bendix proves quite startling). Despite this role and The Street With No Name, Stevens never quite became the noir icon - like Ladd or Bogart or Mitchum (or even like Powell or Ford or Ryan) he seemed destined for, but he's persuasive enough as a man strained to the limit by forces he can't fathom.

Henry Hathaway directed, but the black magic comes courtesy of cinematographer Joe MacDonald. He ably lighted a number of estimable noirs (Street With No Name, Call Northside 777, Pickup on South Street), but here his work surpasses itself. When Ball and Stevens embrace, he turns a two-shot into a four-shot by placing them in front of a fireplace mirror; we see her face in the foreground, his in reflection. In plot, writing and direction, The Dark Corner falls just short of the finest entries in the cycle. But in its strikingly composed photography, finely filigreed with shadow, it could be shown at a gala opening in Webb's high-priced gallery.