The Dark Corner (1946) 2.57/5 (1)

Mark Stevens stars as a private dick picked as a fall-guy by Clifton Webb’s ruthless art dealer when he decides to knock of the man stepping out with his wife. Leo Rosten’s cracking story is every bit on the level of the genre’s classics but a litany of rewrites and imported screenwriters does it no justice as the dialogue struggles dismally for the lyrical wit and cynicism of the hardboiled greats. Stevens too turns in a typically flat performance and while Lucille Ball adds personality, her lines are just as weak as the rest. The villains fare a little better with William Bendix giving us another memorable version of his rough-house henchman and Webb, though not spitting nearly as much venom as his Waldo Lydecker, is fittingly acidic. Henry Hathaway brings his modest touch to the movie’s directing and, while not proving memorable, the movie remains a wholly decent picture to look at.

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