Dangerous Corner

This is an intriquing mystery of a bond theft and a suicide (?) that is discussed by a group of people (connected with both) over dinner. There are sooo many flashbacks and plot twists/changes, that it becomes quite confusing as to "what's what"! The ending leaves you with a feeling of "that's IT?!?!",

& I'd recommend that you see it SEVERAL times before everything "sinks in"!

Definitely based on a play, "Dangerous Corner" from 1934 is a dated melodrama starring Conrad Nagel, Melvyn Douglas, Virginia Bruce, Betty Furness, and Ian Keith.

The story begins with the suicide of Martin Chatfield; eventually, the film goes into flashback about what really happened on the night he died. The film has an odd, twist ending.

The premise is "let sleeping dogs lie," except during most of the film, they don't, with the various people who knew and worked with Martin revealing feelings and actions that are often painful. I imagine this worked very well on the stage. It's a film about the upper class, as plays were before the "working man" plays of Odets.

Conrad Nagel, who had been a matinée idol in the silent era, stars here. Melvyn Douglas is very young and gives a good performance, and Virginia Bruce is absolutely beautiful. The acting as can be expected is a little on the melodramatic side as was the style then.

The problem with this story as a film is that it is very static and all talk with no action.

Certainly worth seeing for the young Douglas, Bruce, and the small role played by Ian Keith who was so fabulous in "Nightmare Alley."

Plot— elite members of a publishing house gather for a celebratory evening only to find out one of their staff has apparently committed suicide. In the emotional aftermath, a number of hidden truths emerge.

There are elements of a mystery in the story, but overall, the film amounts to considerably more. The narrative appears fairly conventional until the upshot. Then the threads that have accumulated are exposed in an unexpected manner, and we're left with considerable food for thought. As a lesson in "sleeping dogs" the film succeeds brilliantly; as movie however, the narrative requires real patience. There's no action and darn few scene changes. Instead, the cast stands around in evening clothes and talks and talks-- it is, after all, a filmed stage play. At least a few interesting personal embarrassments get revealed as the story moves on, but how interesting you find the characters themselves is, I think, a matter of taste. Except for actor Keith's overdone Martin, the acting helps by being nicely accomplished.

Anyway, as a dramatized lesson in social truths, the movie rates highly. As a form of sheer entertainment, however, the movie's average, at best. My advice is to exercise patience because the upshot does furnish timely food for thought.

Virginia Bruce was a vision of blonde loveliness, who started off at Paramount in bit parts (lady in waiting to Jeanette MacDonald in "The Love Parade", one of the chorus girls in "Safety in Numbers") When she married John Gilbert, strangely her career took off (he was at the end of his career and sadly almost at the end of his life). "Dangerous Corner" was made around this time and paired her with Melvyn Douglas.

This is an interesting "what if" film from an intriguing play by J.B. Priestley. The action takes place one night at a dinner party, a year after the suicide of one of the partners in a publishing firm and the theft of some bonds. Gordon (Henry Wadsworth) is tuning the radio when a fuse goes and a game of tell the truth goes horribly wrong.

I found it a fascinating film definitely helped by a superior cast. Not only Virginia Bruce and Melvyn Douglas but Conrad Nagel, with his beautiful speaking voice (he was a founding member of the Academy of Motion Pictures). Erin O'Brien Moore was an underrated actress from the stage who was very memorable as Humphrey Bogart's wife in "Black Legion" (1937). Betty Furness was also good as the sweet young wife, whose life wasn't as happy as everyone thought.

Recommended.

A very young Melvyn Douglas gives quite a solid performance in this screen drama adapted from a successful stage play. The film's origins are not at all disguised, and even the nice trick ending looks like the type of thing one would expect in theatre. There are a number of curious ideas that are spread throughout the film, especially in terms of distorting the truth, however there's relatively little action, with events told through dialogue, which makes it a bit overly talkative and a tad confusing. It is also inappropriately slow to build up and melodramatic, although never poorly done. It is hard to know what to make of the film, but by the end I did not feel like much had happened, and therefore I can only half-heartedly recommend it, although Douglas fans are sure to delight at seeing him here so young.