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.

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...

The Dark Corner, from 1946, was good, but, definitely, not great Film Noir. With its intriguing and nicely paced storyline, its well-defined characters, and striking camera-work, things all added up to a fairly nice, little slice of 1940's Crime/Drama.I really liked actor Mark Stevens who played the P.I., Brad Galt. Stevens put in a likable and believable performance.But, on the other hand, Lucille Ball, as Kathleen, the loyal, love-struck secretary, wearing shoulder pads to rival those of any football player's, was clearly out of her league in a serious, dramatic role.Kathleen literally throws herself at her boss, Brad Galt, who she's only been working for just a short time. Ball's role was this film's one major sour note.Kathleen's annoying, one-track minded determination to get Brad to the altar, bordered on being downright fanatic. It was enough to scare any man (in his right mind) off. It's no wonder that she had no other boyfriends. I felt really sorry for Brad at the end of the film, heading off with Kathleen to City Hall - Destination: Marriage.This film contains a really hilarious mistake that wasn't edited out - When bad-guy, Fred Foss gets up from the floor after his scuffle with Galt in the apartment, his toupee is clearly seen standing up and you can see his bald-spot before he puts on his hat.

Few actors can sweat with creepy menace as much as William Bendix, the sleazy thug hired by an enemy of lead detective, Bradford Galt, played by Mark Stevens a perfect week-kneed noir hero at the mercy of his past. Add effete Clifton Webb, an art dealer with plenty of attitude and his svelte young wife who has other ideas than being good to her husband--and there's also pre-Lucy Lucille Ball, odd as a supportive secretary--but because of fast-paced, well-modulated direction and especially a cinematographer who could capture the shadowy streets and shuttered, barren offices at night, The Dark Corner, where our nervous hero huddles after numerous brushes with those who would do him ill, is a nice little noir thriller