The Dark Corner (Fox Film Noir)

The Dark Corner (Fox Film Noir)
by Henry Hathaway

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DVD details

Actor: Clifton Webb, Kurt Kreuger, Lucille Ball, Mark Stevens, William Bendix
Director: Henry Hathaway
Brand: BALL,LUCILLE
Cinematographer: Joseph MacDonald
Editor: J. Watson Webb Jr.
Producer: Fred Kohlmar
Writer: Bernard C. Schoenfeld
Writer: Jay Dratler
Writer: Leo Rosten
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 99 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-12-06
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox

DVD Reviews of The Dark Corner (Fox Film Noir)

DVD Review: Reminiscent of Laura and Maltase Falcon
Summary: 5 Stars

Bradford Galt (Mark Stevens), private eye has a secret past that he moves to New York to escape and set up a new life. Police Lt Frank Reeves (Reed Hadley) is aware of his past and keeps tabs on him. Looks like his past is catching up. Why?

And his secretary Kathleen Stewart (Lucille Ball) insists on helping him get out of trouble as they both get in deeper and deeper.

The story is a lot darker than most film noir and starts off slowly. It take time to review to the audience the plot so it is not so much a twisting plot as it is an unrevealed plat. The main character is not as much as snot but more of a pansy. He thinks he is more of the victim in the story and says so. Clifton Webb is almost the same character as in Laura.

I like all the small things like that of the theater cashier listing to Kathleen talking about begging Bradford to take her to his apartment. You also need to pay attention to what looks like frivolous details as the details become a major part of the plot later. Watch the ink stained suit and the lucky horse shoe key chain.

The voice commentary is almost if not better than the film it's self. We are told may things that are obvious in the film but no obvious as to how it relates to other films. After listening to the commentary you need to watch the film again with what you learned and with the knowledge of the first time through.

DVD Review: Classic
Summary: 5 Stars

This movie is GREAT. I admit up front to being total bias. I love Lucy. I love Lucille Ball, the actress. She is so perfect in this story (which I originally heard her perform on a mystery radio disc set I have). I had no idea she played the same role with most of the same cast in a movie version until it was shown on TCM one night ... and I missed it! So I order it and it is worth every penny. I long for the days when movies and their stars had class. All of these character have class. Which makes this, what was probably referred to as one of Lucille's "B-movies" and A+++ in my opinion.
I rate it two thumbs way up... Peace, Kristen :)

DVD Review: Decent Noir Overall, But Weak Ending
Summary: 3 Stars

This was a so-so film noir that could have been very good had it not had a an ending that was so weak.

The cast was solid, however, playing interesting characters. It featured Mark Stevens, Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix, Kurt Krueger and Constance Collier.

Ball was the most interesting to view simply because most of us remember her as "Lucy" on TV and in 1946, she was as alluring as I've ever seen her look. I would like to have seen her in a few more film noirs. Collier had a classic beauty, but she's an actress who is unfamiliar to me, unfortunately. I believe her career was nearing at end at this time.

The story actually moves pretty well with just a few short lulls. Now that it's out on DVD, perhaps the number of people who are aware of this relatively-unknown film noir will increase.

DVD Review: next time, I'm watching it alone
Summary: 4 Stars

It's a 1940s film noir about a hard-boiled PI Galt (Mark Stevens) and his devoted and gutsy secretary Kathleen (Lucille Ball).

Galt's an ex-con who'd been set up by his former partner, Jardine, but he's (mostly) put it behind him. Except that it looks like Jardine isn't done with him.

As it turns out, someone's trying to provoke Galt into killing Jardine, and when that doesn't work, they up the ante. Through it all, Kathleen is not only right there by his side believing in him, but also coming up with smart suggestions when he's ready to give up.

Galt is a little more human than most 40s hard-boiled movie detectives--he shows emotions and doubts more than others I've seen. Whether that's due to the actor, the director, or the script, though, I couldn't say.

Even though the movie was made 5 years before I Love Lucy's debut, Lucille Ball's character was the star. She was smart and practical, and she was feminine without being fragile. And no, she wasn't funny--it wasn't a comedic role, and she still played it very well. Get over it.

It's not the best film noir I've ever seen--though I enjoyed the PI and his secretary very much, the other story, about Jardine, Jardine's lover, her husband, and his henchman, was a little confusing, and it took me until nearly the end of the movie before I figured out what the heck they were doing, and why we cared.

Of course, part of my confusion could have come from watching it over two nights, with 3 males, who consider fight scenes the only parts of movies that you need to be absolutely quiet for. Grrrrr. (And please, if someone can explain the logic of why it's perfectly okay to talk while characters are discussing the plot, but you must be silent during fight scenes when there's nothing to hear, I'd be really grateful--this is a question that's bugged me for years.)

DVD Review: Fun Film Noir!
Summary: 5 Stars

Good performances and a good film noir movie for Mark Stevens and Lucille Ball. Has a great cast!

Description of The Dark Corner (Fox Film Noir)

Lucille Ball has a change of pace role as the loyal secretary of a private eye in this brooding film noir about a man being set up for a murder rap. Framed by his partner years ago, hard-boiled detective Bradford Galt (Mark Stevens) 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 (Lucille Ball). But everything changes with the appearance of a sinister man in a whit suit (William Bendix) 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.

The Dark Corner can't seriously be proposed as a great film noir, but it's one that people cherish. For one thing, it's unique in having Lucille Ball--who has absolutely no "splainin'" to do--as the smart, resourceful, devoted secretary of beleaguered private eye Mark Stevens. Lucy actually rates top billing, with Clifton up-to-his-old-Laura-tricks Webb and William vicious-brute-in-a-white-suit Bendix also getting their names above that of the hero in the credits. In this, there's a certain justice; they all deliver the goods, whereas Stevens seems a tad lightweight as the hardnose, Phil Marlowe type cracking wise and punching his way through the mean streets. His character comes burdened with more backstory than usual for movie detectives; this time, the case the private eye has to solve is his own. The intriguingly convoluted screenplay (by Jay Dratler, who co-wrote Laura, and Bernard Schoenfeld, from a story by Leo Rosten) takes hold like a vise and sustains the tension even though, by rights, its credibility should be shrinking with each passing reel. Henry Hathaway's direction is crisp, and the cinematography by Joe MacDonald (who would next shoot John Ford's My Darling Clementine) is both pungent and gorgeous. With Cathy Downs, Kurt Kreuger, and Reed Hadley, who plays a police detective here but more often supplied the voiceover on Fox's semidocumentary thrillers and Anthony Mann's T-Men. --Richard T. Jameson

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