The Dark Corner

"The Dark Corner" turned up the other night on cable. This is a film that should be seen more often. For one, we get great views of the New York of 40s. Most of the action was photographed, brilliantly, one must add, by Joe MacDonald with the old 3rd. Avenue El as a background. Henry Hathaway's direction was inspired.

Brad Galt, the gumshoe at the center of the story, has come to New York to get away from an unsavory past in San Francisco. He was on the right track in establishing the detective agency he runs, helped by his attractive gal Friday, Kathleen. Trouble seems to find Brad, no matter where he goes. When the apish Fred Foss appears, dressed in a white suit, we know we're in for a rough ride.

Brad is being framed, but he has no clue, except to think, Jardine, the suave lawyer, is responsible for it. Little does he know there are higher ups that want to pin a murder on Galt. With the help of his kind secretary, Kathleen, this pair embark in a voyage of discovery where a few surprises await them.

"The Dark Corner" is a fine example of a film noir, enhanced by the background shots of Manhattan. Mark Stevens, as Brad, makes a good attempt to portray Brad Galt, the man who wants to play it straight after his run in with the law. The biggest surprise of the film was the wonderful Lucille Ball playing the secretary. Ms. Ball was an accomplished actress who was basically seen in comedy, but as this film shows, she could play anything.

Clifton Webb turns up as Cathcart, the art gallery owner. There is a great scene at the vault where some art pieces are kept, after taking a few clients to see the new Raffael (that looks it could have been painted on velvet), Cathcart sees the shadows of his wife, and his partner in crime, Jardine, in a passionate embrace as both kiss. The other great moment in the film also involves the art gallery. When Brad, who has finally arrived at the gallery late, asks the assistant how much would the Donatello statue would cost, and she answers "Forty Thousand". After that, he asks her how much would the pedestal would cost! Obviously, he couldn't afford either the work of art, or where it rested! In minor roles, William Bendix makes an impression in playing the evil Fred Foss. Kurt Kreuger is seen as Jardine and Cathy Downs plays the deceiving wife, Mari.

"The Dark Corner" is a film that will not disappoint the viewer, thanks to Henry Hathaway's direction and the work of this cast, but especially watch out for Ms. Ball, she does amazing work!

This is a perfect little film noir, it's everything a film noir is supposed to be. Lucille Ball is great (I echo the sentiments of the person who said she should have done more of this type of film.) She's not a femme fatale, she's a completely innocent heroine; perhaps a little unusual in film noir, but it works. The use of light and dark, some terrific camera angles, and a somewhat confusing plot make this a superb example of this genre. One wonders why this film is not better known; it should be.

On paper, a run-of-the-mill film noir, with familiar plot exposition and stock characters but executed well enough to make the whole an above-average thriller. The story has all the pulp-fiction hallmarks you would want, including a smooth womanising playboy who lives dangerously as he cuckolds an older wealthy businessman by having an affair with his young, pretty wife, a tough-talking private eye assisted by his sassy, attractive secretary and a tough "heavy" to give us the obligatory fight scenes too. Okay, so the main characters appear to be facsimiles of A-movie prototypes, with Clifton Webb not quite as venal as Claude Rains, Mark Stevens not quite as hard-boiled as Alan Ladd and Lucille Ball not quite as alluring as Lauren Bacall but they commit so well to their characters that a fairly preposterous narrative becomes gripping and involving throughout. Much interest of course will come from perusing the young and surprisingly attractive Lucille Ball in an early role, before her looks became slightly hawkish in her later years and of course she developed that voice! In a high-class acting ensemble, she just about takes the plaudits. Seasoned director Hathaway further elevates matters with some choice flourishes of his own, with effective use of trademark noir devices as reflecting shots in mirrors, dark interiors and obligatory interplay of shadow and light, particularly a scene where the adulterous couple are caught out by the husband in silhouette. The dialogue again isn't quite up to Chandler standard and modern-day viewers aware of "Austin Powers" will smile at the innocent, occasional use of the word "shagging" throughout, but the actors bite into their words with conviction as the twisting plot reaches its satisfactory "loose ends all-tied-up" conclusion. As a devotee of film noir, I was pleasantly surprised and not a little pleased to discover this little known gem hiding away in the early hours of extra-terrestrial TV.

Sometimes it seems like it's impossible to avoid being framed for murder. I think we've all had that experience, haven't we? That certainly is Bradford Galt's (Mark Stevens) problem in "The Dark Corner." I should say, it is ONE of his problems. That, along with being constantly annoyed by the cops and assorted bad guys. It's just one of the hazards that come with being a private eye. If you don't believe that, just ask Humphrey Bogart. Among others!

But there can be benefits, too. And in this case, one of the benefits is having the beautiful Kathleen (Lucille Ball) for your ... uh ... private secretary. Furthermore, it can be doubly beneficial when you and your "private secretary" become romantically involved. This role -- Kathleen -- is, I think, one of Lucy's very best from her lengthy pre-"I Love Lucy" movie career. She's beautiful (oh, I said that), she's charming, she's bright (quite un-Lucylike) and, perhaps most important for a private snoop, she helps her man Brad extricate himself from more than one tight spot. And, she's beautiful!

As for those aforementioned annoying bad guys, we have William Bendix and Clifton Webb on hand to annoy His Snoopness. The former THINKS he's a lot tougher than he really is. Better had he known that a tough guy gets much further being the other way around. As for the latter, he, apparently, didn't learn his lesson in "Laura" two years earlier. Too bad. For him.

One of the mildly amusing aspects to this film is Brad's use, perhaps as many as half a dozen times, of the word "shagged." Thanks to "Austin Powers," we now have a new 21st century meaning for that word. But in 1946, in THIS movie, it meant something completely different. And neither meaning has anything to do with rugs. Ahhh, language.

I also find it interesting that the star of this movie (Mark Stevens) took fourth billing. True, although he was both a known and a competent actor, he was never a star of the magnitude of, say, the aforementioned H.B. Which makes me wonder if Henry Hathaway (the director) and Fred Kohlmar (the producer) had a big-name star in mind for the main role but were unable to land same. Thus, did they have to "settle for" Stevens? It would be interesting to learn the background of the casting of this movie and how Stevens came to get the main role and why he was given just fourth billing.

Even so, "The Dark Corner," WITH Mark Stevens, is still one of the better film noirs of the 1940s. And watch out the next time somebody tries to frame you for murder. Maybe it won't be a movie!

Mark Stevens a couple years earlier had played a sweet-voiced singer (small role in "Rhapsody in Blue," 1943-45). So when Fox Studio in '46 cast Stevens (4th in name order) as the hard-boiled private detective, they probably hoped Dame Fortune would smile on Stevens the way she did on Dick Powell (former sweet-voiced singer) when he was cast against type as the hard-boiled private detective in "Murder My Sweet" (RKO '44). Not to speak of minor actor Alan Ladd, who had been cast (only 4th in order) as the hard-boiled anti-hero in "This Gun for Hire" (Para. '42) -- and became a super-star overnight. Evidently the 3d time was not the charm, and Mark Stevens didn't strike it rich, the way Dick Powell and Alan Ladd had done... Speaking more positively, I would like to credit what to me is one of the best scenes in the film, combining high drama with plausible psychology. Detective Stevens, totally desperate to find the true culprit before the police catch him, tries a shot in the dark. He visits the "Cascara Gallery," with which he's totally unfamiliar (he's never been there). Awaiting gallery owner Clifton Webb in the latter's office, Stevens encounters a young woman (Cathy Downs), unknown to him, who turns out to be Webb's wife. From this point on, the desperate Stevens must improvise (think on his feet), trying to get the truth out of Downs. With believable uncertainty and hesitation (plus audience suspense), he does improvise, in a way that is dramatically quite satisfying. It's as if director Hathaway went back to the film pioneer D. W. Griffith (celebrated for "photographing thought"), and did the same thing in this one brief scene. Watch this part of "Dark Corner" and judge for yourself. -- Steven P Hill, Cinema Studies, University of Illinois.