Rent The Dark Corner (1946)
3.6 of 5 from 66 ratings
1h 35min
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- Synopsis:
Lucille Ball has a change of pace role as the loyal secretary of a private eye in the brooding film noir about a man being set up for a murder rap. Framed by his partner years ago, hard-boiled detective Bradford Galt served a two year stretch for manslaughter. Now trying to start over, he spends his time serving his clients and romancing his new secretary, Kathleen. But everything changes with the appearance of a sinister man in a white suit who's apparently working for Galt's ex-partner, Tony Jardine. When Jardine is killed, the police blame Galt. It's another frame, but if Galt can't prove he's innocent, this time he's headed for death row. A suspenseful, stylishly filmed story fuelled by crackling dialogue, an excellent performance from Clifton Webb, and Henry Hathaway's skilful direction, here is a riveting tale of one man's desperate battle to escape a private hell called The Dark Corner. - Actors:
- Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix, Mark Stevens, Kurt Kreuger, Reed Hadley, Constance Collier, Cathy Downs, Eddie Heywood, Colleen Alpaugh, Charles Cane, Ellen Corby, Peter Cusanelli, Ralph Dunn, John Elliott, Mary Field, Alice Fleming, John Goldsworthy, Eugene Goncz, Vincent Graeff
- Directors:
- Henry Hathaway
- Producers:
- Fred Kohlmar
- Writers:
- Jay Dratler, Bernard C. Schoenfeld, Leo Rosten
- Studio:
- 20th Century Fox
- Genres:
- Drama, Thrillers
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Reviews (1) of The Dark Corner
The Man in a White Suit - The Dark Corner review by CH
“I'm going to play it by the book, I'm not even going to trip over a comma.” So private investigator (Mark Stevens) informs a police detective (Reed Hadley) after relocating from San Francisco to a rundown New York office with the sound and sight of the elevated railroad a few yards away. Oh, and between times, he has been in stir, stitched up by former business partner, a suave Kurt Kreuger.
He is, evidently, used to the rough and tumble of his trade. In adding to this, The Dark Corner (1946) plays by the noir book, with many commas along the way. Here are such noir tropes as shadows, staircases, wet streets, venetian blinds, outstretched nylons – and a jazz band (a chance to see Eddie Heywood).
What one might not expect to be part of these captivating chapters is Lucille Ball. First seen at desk with the word private in reverse on her side of the glazed office door, she is the newly-hired secretary to Stevens with scant knowledge of what his work involves.
She is set to learn far more as the elements of the plot cohere and her fast typing is outpaced by her talking: wisecracks are as much in Manhattan's water supply as its gin joints. Stevens's erstwhile partner has not gone away but is entangled with the wife of a Fifth Avenue art dealer so elegantly sinister that Clifton Webb was best placed to play the rôle. He and Lucy do not get to share a scene; that would be too heady a cocktail, especially one with an ingredient which is William Bendix: outsize, he sports a white suit which makes him an even more obvious tail as Stevens goes about the next job: saving his own life.
All this is accomplished with style, even if the film could have lost some of its running time to regain the spirit of its inspiration: a story by Leo Rosten which had appeared in Good Housekeeping. Goodness knows who plays a briefly-glimpsed taxi driver but he taught me more than any of his cohorts have done: the phrase “to take a brodie”, which, I find, means to endure a fall.
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