The Dark Corner

Bradford Galt, an ex-convict working as a private investigator, realises he is being followed. Who is following him, and why they might want him dead, is unclear. His secretary Kathleen Stewart decides to walk into the dark her boss has fallen into. Henry Hathaway's film uses the standard noir stock, then departs from it in one place: Kathleen is not a helper, she drives the solution. Lucille Ball plays her sharp-tongued and durable, which comes as a surprise to anyone who knows her only from comedy. Clifton Webb, as an art collector, is the coldest figure on screen, with William Bendix as the tail. It opened on 8 May 1946 and runs 99 minutes. It did no business at the time and came to be counted among the genre's exemplary films. Who it's for: Anyone who likes 1940s noir, shadowed New York, and wants to see Lucille Ball outside her usual register. Who it's not for: The male lead is thin, and genre regulars may see the solution coming.