After serving time for involuntary manslaughter, private investigator Mark Stevens (as Bradford "Brad" Galt) relocates from California to New York, and sets up shop. Attracted to new secretary Lucille Ball (as Kathleen Stuart), Mr. Stevens takes her out for dinner and dancing. During their date, Stevens and Ms. Ball are followed by a white-suited William Bendix (as Stauffer). Stevens thinks Mr. Bendix may have been sent by former business partner Kurt Kreuger (as Anthony "Tony" Jardine), who is having an affair with Cathy Downs (as Mari), the beautiful wife of wealthy art dealer Clifton Webb (as Hardy Cathcart).
Director Henry Hathaway and 20th Century Fox get far more than they bargained for with this unheralded crime drama. Though he is billed fourth, Stevens does well in the lead. "There goes my last lead," he says, "I feel all dead inside. I'm backed up in a dark corner, and I don't know who's hitting me." Ball is startlingly good, in an atypical role. Conversely, Mr. Webb and Mr. Bendix succeed by reprising familiar characterizations (in "Laura" and "The Glass Key"). Joe MacDonald's black-and-white cinematography is the film's most obvious strength. And, you get a moderate dose of queenly Constance Collier (as Mrs. Kingsley).
******* The Dark Corner (4/9/46) Henry Hathaway ~ Mark Stevens, Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix
Director Henry Hathaway and 20th Century Fox get far more than they bargained for with this unheralded crime drama. Though he is billed fourth, Stevens does well in the lead. "There goes my last lead," he says, "I feel all dead inside. I'm backed up in a dark corner, and I don't know who's hitting me." Ball is startlingly good, in an atypical role. Conversely, Mr. Webb and Mr. Bendix succeed by reprising familiar characterizations (in "Laura" and "The Glass Key"). Joe MacDonald's black-and-white cinematography is the film's most obvious strength. And, you get a moderate dose of queenly Constance Collier (as Mrs. Kingsley).
******* The Dark Corner (4/9/46) Henry Hathaway ~ Mark Stevens, Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix