''The Dark Corner'' is a 1946 American

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

directed by

Henry Hathaway Henry Hathaway (March 13, 1898 – February 11, 1985) was an American film director and producer. He is best known as a director of Westerns, especially starring Randolph Scott and John Wayne. He directed Gary Cooper in seven films. Backgro ...

and starring

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden ...

Clifton Webb Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck (November 19, 1889 – October 13, 1966), known professionally as Clifton Webb, was an American actor, singer, and dancer. He worked extensively and was known for his stage appearances in the plays of Noël Coward, in ...

William Bendix William Bendix (January 14, 1906 – December 14, 1964) was an American film, radio, and television actor, who typically played rough, blue-collar characters. He is best remembered for his role in ''Wake Island'', which earned him an Academy ...

and Mark Stevens.. The film was not a commercial success but has since been described as a "Grade A example of

Plot

Private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...

Bradford Galt has moved from San Francisco to New York to escape a troubled past. He blames his former partner Tony Jardine for his problems. Complicating matters, he is being hounded by New York Police Lieutenant Frank Reeves and finds that he is being followed by a thug in a white suit. After a little rough "persuasion", the thug admits he has been hired by Jardine. Or was he? Galt suspects Jardine is trying to frame him for a murder. But it turns out that Jardine is just part of a wider-ranging conspiracy involving a wealthy art gallery owner, Hardy Cathcart. With the help of his sharp-witted secretary Kathleen (

), Galt is able to overcome all these obstacles and clear himself.

Cast

as Kathleen Stewart *

as Hardy Cathcart *

as Stauffer aka Fred Foss * Mark Stevens as Bradford Galt *

Kurt Kreuger Kurt Kreuger (July 23, 1916 – July 12, 2006) was a Swiss-reared German actor. Kreuger once was the third-most-requested male actor at 20th Century Fox. He starred with, among others, Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart. Life and career Kreuger w ...

as Tony Jardine *

Cathy Downs Catherine N. Downs (March 3, 1926 – December 8, 1976) was an American film actress. Biography Downs was born in Port Jefferson, New York. She was the daughter of James Nelson Downs and Edna Elizabeth Newman. A model for the Walter Thornton ...

as Mari Cathcart *

Reed Hadley Reed Hadley (born Reed Herring, June 25, 1911 – December 11, 1974) was an American film, television and radio actor. Early life Hadley was born in Petrolia, Texas, to Bert Herring, an oil well driller, and his wife Minnie. Hadley had one ...

as Police Lt Frank Reeves *

Constance Collier Constance Collier (born Laura Constance Hardie; 22 January 1878 – 25 April 1955) was an English stage and film actress and acting coach. She wrote hit plays and films with Ivor Novello and she was the first person to be treated with insu ...

as Mrs. Kingsley *

Eddie Heywood Edward Heywood Jr. (December 4, 1915 – January 3, 1989) was an American jazz pianist particularly active in the 1940s and 1950s. Biography Heywood was born in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. His father, Eddie Heywood Sr., was also a jazz m ...

and His Orchestra

Production

Fox paid $40,000 for the rights to Leo Rosten's story prior to its publication in ''Good Housekeeping''. Rosten published the story under the pen name Leonard Q. Ross. The film's locations and settings including office buildings in Manhattan, the

Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. "B ...

and the

Third Avenue El The IRT Third Avenue Line, commonly known as the Third Avenue Elevated, Third Avenue El, or Bronx El, was an elevated railway in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City. Originally operated by the New York Elevated Railway, an independent railwa ...

. "The El is a presence throughout the movie, its cross ties, stanchions and stairways acting as a shadowy geometric spider web, and its perpetual racket contributing to the paranoia of Stevens's private detective, whose office window is feet from the tracks." The arcade sequence was filmed in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

Ida Lupino Ida Lupino (4 February 1918Recorded in ''Births Mar 1918'' Camberwell Vol. 1d, p. 1019 (Free BMD). Transcribed as "Lupine" in the official births index – 3 August 1995) was an English-American actress, singer, director, writer, and producer. T ...

was initially cast as Kathleen, but had to withdraw because of scheduling conflicts, and

Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...

was originally slated for the role of Galt. Studio production head

Darryl F. Zanuck Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of ...

borrowed Lucille Ball from MGM to play Kathleen. At the time, Ball was trying to break from MGM and had an "unsettled" personal life. A Henry Hathaway biographer observes: "Early into the shoot, it was obvious to Hathaway that Ball was not concentrating on her job. After she flubbed her lines one time too many, Hathaway embarrassed her before her peers by ordering her to leave the set and actually read the script." It turned out to be one of her best dramatic performances. According to Hathaway, Ball subsequently apologized for her behavior. Hathaway described Webb as an "angel, but he never really was a good actor. He was a character. He was marvelous because he was so elegant." Hathaway said that ''The Dark Corner'' was "not a successful film. It was dead. Mark Stevens never quite cut it. Too arrogant, cocksure."

Critical response

''The Dark Corner'' has a score of 100% at ''

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

'', indicating overall critical praise of the movie. ''

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...

'' rates it three out of five stars, and calls it "a grade-A example of '

.'" At the time of its release in March 1946, ''New York Times'' critic

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

called ''The Dark Corner'' "a tough-fibered, exciting entertainment" and praised Hathaway's direction. He said that Stevens was "convincingly hard-boiled as the baffled gumshoe" and said that "he has a rare combination of talent and personality which, if properly developed, will place him in the forefront of leading men in short order." He also praised the performances of Webb, Bendix and Ball, but said that if Webb "doesn't change his style soon, his admirers are likely to grow impatient." Also in 1946, ''Baltimore Sun'' critic Donald Kirkley said the film "is very good indeed for this sort of uninhibited whodunit." He said that the film was "sparked by a most engaging performance by Lucille Ball" and "a very fine, hard-boiled portrayal of a tough guy by William Bendix." Stevens only "gets by" in the film, Kirkley said, and called him "a road edition of

Dick Powell Richard Ewing Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963) was an American actor, musician, producer, director, and studio head. Though he came to stardom as a musical comedy performer, he showed versatility, and successfully transformed into ...

." He criticized the script, saying that the Webb character's motivation is unclear, and that overall it often "speeds into high gear, but just as often relaxes into spells of relative inertness and tedium."

Box office

The film took in $1 million at the box office, less than the $1.2 million cost of production.

Legacy

''The Dark Corner'' was overshadowed by Hathaway's other

semidocumentary A semidocumentary is a form of book, film, or television program presenting a fictional story that incorporates many factual details or actual events, or which is presented in a manner similar to a documentary. Characteristics Stylistically, it ...

and noir films, such as ''Kiss of Death'' and ''

The House on 92nd Street ''The House on 92nd Street'' is a 1945 black-and-white American spy film directed by Henry Hathaway. The movie, shot mostly in New York City, was released shortly after the end of World War II. ''The House on 92nd Street'' was made with the full c ...

''. but has gained a reputation as a "sleeper" and "unsung classic" of the film noir genre. The film is "rich in bottomless shadowplay, a persuasive feathering of

second unit Second unit is a discrete team of filmmakers tasked with filming shots or sequences of a production, separate from the main or "first" unit. The second unit will often shoot simultaneously with the other unit or units, allowing the filming stag ...

New York

location In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ...

work and

sound stage A sound stage (also written soundstage) is a soundproof, large structure, building, or room with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical film-making and television productions, usually located on a secured movie or ...

mock-ups with the odd Los Angeles location doubling for Manhattan and a screenplay rife with pulpy zingers." Bradford Galt's comment "There goes my last lead. I'm all dead inside. I'm backed up in a dark corner, and I don't know who's hitting me" has been described as a "prime example of existential anguish" that typifies film noir.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dark Corner, The 1946 films 1940s crime thriller films American crime thriller films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films American detective films Film noir Films based on short fiction Films scored by Cyril J. Mockridge Films set in New York City 20th Century Fox films Films directed by Henry Hathaway 1940s American films