The Dark Corner

The Dark Corner of the title refers to the fact that our hero/protagonist Mark Stevens has himself in a situation where he's being manipulated and he can't see who's doing the manipulating.

To begin with Stevens has a grudge against former partner Kurt Krueger who when they were private eyes together, Krueger was doing a little blackmail on the side that innocent dupe Stevens took a fall for.

But elegant art gallery owner Clifton Webb has a much bigger grudge against Krueger. You remember Webb in his role of Waldo Lydecker in Laura and how obsessed he was with her. In The Dark Corner, he's married his obsession in the person of Cathy Downs. Krueger has been up to his old tricks romancing Downs on the side and Webb, learning of Krueger's previous troubles with Stevens has constructed an elaborate scheme to have Stevens blamed for Krueger's murder.

Webb for all his elegance and brittle sophistication proves to be a cunning foe. Stevens gives a good portrayal of a man trying desperately to find out who's pulling the puppet strings. He's aided and abetted by girl Friday Lucille Ball in a nice dramatic performance, unlike what we've come to expect from here. She proves to be of immense assistance to Stevens and it's her as well as some unforeseen breaks that enable him to figure out what's going on.

Of course the ever dependable William Bendix was borrowed from Paramount and radio's Life of Riley to serve as Webb's trigger man and muscle. Bill Bendix was never bad in anything he did and this is no exception.

The Dark Corner is a fine noir film, a great change of pace for Lucille Ball and a great followup second film for Clifton Webb to succeed Laura.

Mark Stevens plays Bradford Galt, a depressed, New York City private investigator who is trying to forget his troubled past. But someone is tailing Galt for reasons unknown. Lucille Ball adds charm and flair to the story as Galt's faithful, resourceful secretary who invites herself into the detective's dilemma, which eventually leads to a wealthy art collector named Cathcart, played by the suave, and always engaging, Clifton Webb. It's a sordid tale of deceit and murder, expressed visually in typical 1940's film-noir style.

Galt's surroundings are drab and dreary, in marked contrast to the lush, opulent environment of Cathcart and his elitist friends. Director Henry Hathaway leaves no doubt as to where his sympathies lie. It's the late 1940s, and the proletariat class, represented by Galt, is honest and hard working, and up against society's corrupt rich.

In contrast to other film detectives of that era, like Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade, Galt is somewhat plaintive and vulnerable, but these traits make him more sympathetic, even though he can deliver a mean punch when called for.

The film's high-contrast B&W cinematography is striking. It emphasizes harsh lighting, deep shadows, and two-dimensional silhouettes. This visual style, together with occasional sounds of jazz, conveys a dissonance we would expect in a post-WWII environment of the urban underworld. When combined with a story of one man up against sinister forces, these cinematic elements, taken as a whole, communicate a philosophy of existentialism.

For viewers who like heavy-duty 1940's noir films with interesting characters, good acting, and striking cinematography, "The Dark Corner" is one of the better choices.

This is a perfect little film noir, it's everything a film noir is supposed to be. Lucille Ball is great (I echo the sentiments of the person who said she should have done more of this type of film.) She's not a femme fatale, she's a completely innocent heroine; perhaps a little unusual in film noir, but it works. The use of light and dark, some terrific camera angles, and a somewhat confusing plot make this a superb example of this genre. One wonders why this film is not better known; it should be.

On paper, a run-of-the-mill film noir, with familiar plot exposition and stock characters but executed well enough to make the whole an above-average thriller. The story has all the pulp-fiction hallmarks you would want, including a smooth womanising playboy who lives dangerously as he cuckolds an older wealthy businessman by having an affair with his young, pretty wife, a tough-talking private eye assisted by his sassy, attractive secretary and a tough "heavy" to give us the obligatory fight scenes too. Okay, so the main characters appear to be facsimiles of A-movie prototypes, with Clifton Webb not quite as venal as Claude Rains, Mark Stevens not quite as hard-boiled as Alan Ladd and Lucille Ball not quite as alluring as Lauren Bacall but they commit so well to their characters that a fairly preposterous narrative becomes gripping and involving throughout. Much interest of course will come from perusing the young and surprisingly attractive Lucille Ball in an early role, before her looks became slightly hawkish in her later years and of course she developed that voice! In a high-class acting ensemble, she just about takes the plaudits. Seasoned director Hathaway further elevates matters with some choice flourishes of his own, with effective use of trademark noir devices as reflecting shots in mirrors, dark interiors and obligatory interplay of shadow and light, particularly a scene where the adulterous couple are caught out by the husband in silhouette. The dialogue again isn't quite up to Chandler standard and modern-day viewers aware of "Austin Powers" will smile at the innocent, occasional use of the word "shagging" throughout, but the actors bite into their words with conviction as the twisting plot reaches its satisfactory "loose ends all-tied-up" conclusion. As a devotee of film noir, I was pleasantly surprised and not a little pleased to discover this little known gem hiding away in the early hours of extra-terrestrial TV.

Mark Stevens a couple years earlier had played a sweet-voiced singer (small role in "Rhapsody in Blue," 1943-45). So when Fox Studio in '46 cast Stevens (4th in name order) as the hard-boiled private detective, they probably hoped Dame Fortune would smile on Stevens the way she did on Dick Powell (former sweet-voiced singer) when he was cast against type as the hard-boiled private detective in "Murder My Sweet" (RKO '44). Not to speak of minor actor Alan Ladd, who had been cast (only 4th in order) as the hard-boiled anti-hero in "This Gun for Hire" (Para. '42) -- and became a super-star overnight. Evidently the 3d time was not the charm, and Mark Stevens didn't strike it rich, the way Dick Powell and Alan Ladd had done... Speaking more positively, I would like to credit what to me is one of the best scenes in the film, combining high drama with plausible psychology. Detective Stevens, totally desperate to find the true culprit before the police catch him, tries a shot in the dark. He visits the "Cascara Gallery," with which he's totally unfamiliar (he's never been there). Awaiting gallery owner Clifton Webb in the latter's office, Stevens encounters a young woman (Cathy Downs), unknown to him, who turns out to be Webb's wife. From this point on, the desperate Stevens must improvise (think on his feet), trying to get the truth out of Downs. With believable uncertainty and hesitation (plus audience suspense), he does improvise, in a way that is dramatically quite satisfying. It's as if director Hathaway went back to the film pioneer D. W. Griffith (celebrated for "photographing thought"), and did the same thing in this one brief scene. Watch this part of "Dark Corner" and judge for yourself. -- Steven P Hill, Cinema Studies, University of Illinois.