classicsoncall Sometimes a good noir film will sneak up on you when you're not expecting it. The presence of Lucille Ball is a tempting inducement to catch this flick with it's questionable characters and compelling story line that forces one to pay attention or you'll miss out on why Bradford Galt (Mark Stevens) wound up on the wrong side of so many precarious situations. I thought secretary Kathleen Stewart had her boss pegged pretty well when she told him, "You should have William Powell for a secretary".As a product of it's times, I couldn't help wonder what most passersby on the street would do today if they saw someone run down by a vehicle in broad daylight. Probably pull out the camera phone and post the video on youtube. Either that or just walk right over the body if it's in the way. Lucky for Galt it was 1946. Speaking of which, recall right after Galt had the scuffle with Jardine (Kurt Kreuger) (featuring a great backward tumble over a desk and right into a chair!), Kathleen notes that his jacket was torn, but it was ALREADY torn from hitting the pavement to get away from Foss's/Stauffer's (William Bendix) car. How did she miss it the first time? Something else curious caught my eye as well. How about that newspaper ad touting the Cathcart Galleries exhibition - it was by Invitation Only. Why then would it be mentioned in the paper? OK, here's one more. After the William Bendix character worked over both Jardine and Galt in Jardine's apartment, Kathleen Stewart arrives and in helping Galt straighten up a bit, she places a lighted lamp back on a table, but when Foss/Stauffer ransacked the place and left, the room was dark with no lights on anywhere.None of these little inconsistencies really bother me, it's just that it's fun to pick up on them when they show up in a picture. They all take a back seat in this instance though to the story's mystery, masterfully filmed with what most would consider a great example of glorious black and white cinematography. I had to groan however when Stauffer placed himself right in front of that wide open window when he met Hardy Cathcart (Clifton Webb) for his payoff. If you didn't see that one coming, a few more films might be in order.I caught this picture on one of the cable stations and perhaps the real puzzler was why the Donatello statue had the breasts obscured. You know, the one Galt told the museum staffer to wrap up. I mean really, it's now more than a half century later and you're bound to see more suggestive material on most any other channel. On that score I have to agree with William Bendix, that was a real busto-crusto.

merrywater Clifton Webb made a late, but unforgettable, debut in Laura. This flick is a sequel, complete with a big painted picture of Laura's successor.All in all, this isn't a bad movie. However, if you have seen the original, so to speak, well, then it doesn't match it. Webb is still the murderer, although by means of hired help, and it's a pity that he got only but a few scenes. Instead the attention is fixed on another Bogart/Bacall, Ladd/Lake couple: Lucille Ball and Mark Stevens who do a fine job though.There is some suspense: a cab chase for instance. The motive for Webb's pinning a murder on the P.I./protagonist is not entirely clear to me, but clear enough as this is not a masterpiece by any kind. At least the plot is more intelligible than in The Big Sleep...

Michael_Elliott Dark Corner, The (1946) *** (out of 4) Noir about private eye Bradford Galt (Mark Stevens) who has a mysterious past, which might be catching up with him after he begins to be followed by a man in white (William Bendix). Soon Galt is attacked in his apartment and when he wakes up another man is dead and he has the murder weapon in hand. Along with the help of his secretary (Lucille Ball) they must try and figure out who was behind the set-up and the reasons for it. Years before finally seeing this film I had been hearing nothing but good things about it and there's no question that the movie has a lot of very good things going for it but I'd probably stop short of calling it a complete classic. More on the issues later but the film contains everything a good noir should have and that's snappy dialogue, a good hero to root for, great use of shadows and of course the twists and turns. I thought the dialogue was the best thing about the film as it seems like each scene was trying to top the one it followed just by having the characters throwing around the witty dialogue, which features every cliché from "behind the 8-ball" to "clean as a peeled egg" and many more. The dialogue is extremely sharp and just bounces from one character to the next and this can be seen right from the start when a detective comes into the office and throws a few rounds with Ball's character. The performances are another plus with Stevens making for a good hero and someone that we can care about as we work our way through the mystery. He isn't really known for noir, which might be one reason this film isn't better known but he handles all the material nicely. It's always fun seeing Ball doing something that is the complete opposite of her Lucy character. Here she gets to play for some sex appeal and does a nice job with it and handles the dialogue extremely well. The real star here is Bendix who is terrific as the mysterious guy. He brings a lot of fun to the role and manages to be very believable in the role as does Clifton Webb who chews up each scene he's in. As expected, the film has some wonderful cinematography and some great lighting. Just check out the sequence where Stevens forces Bendix to give up information in his office. The entire room is lit by a single light and it looks great. The one issue I had with the film was a pretty major one and that's the actually story. It never really grabbed my attention and held it too strongly as I thought there were some weak moments. With that said, there's still plenty to enjoy here and fans of noir will certainly want to check it out.

Alex da Silva Brad (Mark Stevens) tries to work out why Fred Foss (William Bendix) is following him. He does this with the help of his secretary Kathleen (Lucille Ball). The story involves a former acquaintance of Brad's, Anthony Jardine (Kurt Kreuger), an art-collector, Hardy (Clifton Webb) and his girlfriend, Mari (Cathy Downs). Brad is framed for murder....This film is confusing. We are never given the explanation as to why anyone would want to go after Brad in the first place. The betrayal that motivates the murder doesn't take place till half-way through the film, so what on earth is the first half of the film about! Lucille Ball has no role of any substance and Mark Stevens is just not hard-looking enough to carry off a hard-man role. It's laughable when he threatens Bendix and Kreuger at different stages in the film - no way, mate, they'd both kill you! Webb is always dependable to deliver cutting lines but Downs is pathetic in a femme-fatale role - she doesn't cut it. As for the dialogue - ??! Every cliché that you could ever imagine. Expect lines from the cheesy like "I can be framed easier than Whistler's mother" and "One thing led to another, and he led with his right" to the stupid "I'm clean as a peeled egg...." It's endless. You go 2 ways with this. 1 - you take it as a joke and laugh all the way through the film; 2 - you listen to the dialogue and try and watch the film as if it is a serious noir/crime thriller film. I did the latter and it doesn't work. Finally, the plot - it's complicated because we never have a coherent story, yet every scene is predictable, eg, Hardy's meeting with Foss, and the denouement (soooo obvious!). The film also tags on a predictable clichéd happy ending. This is NOT a good film.