The Dark Corner (1946)

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

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Writers:

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

Stars:

Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix

Cast

Complete credited 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)

Storyline

Private investigator Bradford Galt has moved to New York from San Fransisco after serving a jail term on account of his lawyer partner Tony Jardine. When he finds someone is tailing - and possibly trying to kill him, Galt believes Jardine is behind it. As he finds there is rather more to it, he is increasingly glad to have his attractive new secretary Kathleen around, for several reason.

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Plot Keywords:

white suit | secretary | murder | new york city | art gallery | 

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Taglines:

Save your lipstick, girls, he plays for keeps.

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Genres:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 April 1946 (USA)

Also Known As:

Feind im Dunkel

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min 95 min (FMC Library Print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Kathleen is unsuccessful at following a suspicious character for her boss, she tells him he should have hired William Powell as a secretary instead. Powell played the detective in the Thin Man and Philo Vance movie series.

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

Hardy Cathcart: [whispering] Tell him you need two hundred dollars to leave town.
Stauffer, alias Fred Foss: [on the phone to Galt] I need two yards, powder money.

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Connections

References The Thin Man (1934)

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Soundtracks

"There Will Never Be Another You"
(uncredited)
Music by Harry Warren
Played when Kathleen is at Brad's apartment

User Reviews

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.