The Dark Corner

"I feel all dead inside. I'm backed up in a dark corner, and I don't know who's hitting me." This has the noir themes down. Solid, but nothing extraordinary.

Noir as fuck. Lucille Ball plays it sassy in an agreeable way. Mark Stevens is decent as the hero, quick-witted and likeable (though a bit whiny). But once again the real stars are villains: William Bendix as the heavy who's smarter than he looks and Clifton Webb as the prissy schemer. The movie is constructed well and gets all the genre affectations right, but I'd have to say the story is slightly lacking and doesn't stand out from the pack. Still fun to watch though.

A particularly dark and violent film noir. The script is very sharp, full of metaphorical dialogue and tough guy talk. My only major complaint is Mark Stevens, who plays a lackluster and uncharismatic private eye, and as a result the movie sometimes feels very flat and dry. Surprisingly, Lucille Ball carries many scenes in a notable dramatic role, with Clifton Webb playing the sinister upperclassmen, picking up where he left off in Laura.

Unexpectedly gripping film noir is wonderfully directed by Hathaway, as a marriage of Hawks and Hitchcock stylistics. Hilarious, quoteable lines abound ("For six bits, you'd put your own mother on a meat hook"), and a wonderful cast make the most of the sparkling screenplay. Ball is excellent in a rare 'straight' role, but film belongs to Webb, who is terrific as the dapper, witty art collector. Love that revelation which takes place only in shadow! Belongs in the ranks of the best noirs.

The actual plotting is a little manufactured, and nowhere is that more evident than in the ending which hand waves everything into a neat resolution. Even so, it's an fun ride and that's worth something. William Bendix is good as usual, Clifton Webb is as good here as in Laura and the two leads have a nice chemistry that overcomes the limitations of their acting skills. Strong dialogue, seedy locations and good photography. There's nothing really special here but it does everything very well.

This one has a hard edge and plays it straight which I don't mind. Hathaway's a good director, but there's little to elevate the film above a decent b-picture.

loved lucille ball in a very rare dramatic role, stevens and webb are good as well. definitely worth seeing this interesting noir (if you can find it)

A movie that takes itself a bit too seriously--especially in Mark Stevens' case. He reads all of these B-movie lines like he's Mickey Spillane, and most of the drollery is lost. Lucy is arguably also a bit too earnest to make the material stand up. Fortunately the same cannot be said for Clifton Webb ("How I detest the dawn! The grass looks like it was left out all night"). I think my favorite character of all though was Lt Reeves; he drops by once in a while like some low-key Lee Van Cleef.

While not one of the great Noir films this is still a competent little number.It was nice seeing Lucille Ball playing a straight character.With her grace and charm she adds much to this film.

"No less than other noir classics, The Dark Corner is full of sadistic bits of business." - Fernando F. Croce

The narrative captivates and the performances are decent. Nothing special, but there are nice touches of humour and cinematic cues that improved the experience.

A fine piece of noir with some quality character development. The weakest was probable the lead guy, Mark Stevens, who Lucille Ball is trying to help, but both William Bendix & Clifton Webb more than makes up for the male presence. The was sort of like a slow chess game. Well through-out moves, but you have to have a little patience with this one. The Dark Corner (1946) had me engaged.

This had the potential to be better. It was moving along pretty airtight, but frayed away in the end by what seemed to me like Galt making some really wild guesses and them all working quite conveniently and rapidly in his favor. I don't like it when characters make breakthroughs based on wild guesses, as opposed to cleverly derived facts - to me, that's poor storytelling.

It's hard to call to mind a more ideal vintage distillation of film noir with all its stylistic technique and plot tropes intact. It's sharp, lean, tough and brilliantly cast. In particular, it's quite a trip to see Lucy take what could've been a dull tag-along dame role and make it just as interesting as the hard-boiled anti-hero.