Lucille Ball in Henry Hathaway's "The Dark Corner" (1946) - a Grade A example of film-noir

After New York Police Lieutenant Frank Reeves (Reed Hadley) warns private investigator Bradford Galt (Mark Stevens) that Reeves's California friends have asked him to keep an eye on him.
Brad invites his secretary, Kathleen Stewart (Lucille Ball), to dinner. When they notice a man in a white suit following them, Brad puts Kathleen in a cab, instructing her to park by his office and follow the man after he meets with him. Brad then surprises the man in a dark corner and forces him at gunpoint into revealing that his client is attorney Anthony Jardine (Kurt Kreuger). When the man spills ink on Brad's desk, Brad wipes it on the man's suit and sends him out, keeping his wallet. Kathleen tries to follow in her cab, but "White Suit" loses them.
Meanwhile, at a party celebrating the anniversary of elderly rich art dealer Hardy Cathcart (Clifton Webb) and his young, attractive wife Mari (Cathy Downs), Jardine returns to Lucy Wilding (Molly Lamont), an older, married woman, the love letters he once wrote to her, having received a Van Gogh painting as blackmail from her.
The next evening, White Suit tries to run Brad down in his car. A newsboy tells Brad the partial license plate number, and as Kathleen and Brad wait at a neighborhood café for the police to trace the plate, he tells her about Jardine: In San Francisco, Jardine, who preyed on wealthy women by seducing and then blackmailing them, was his partner in a law firm. When Brad caught Jardine stealing the firm's money, Jardine knocked him out, plied him with scotch, and put him behind the wheel, after which he hit a truck, killing the driver. Brad received a two-year sentence for manslaughter, but was released early for good behavior. As Brad relates his story, White Suit parks his car in front of the Cathcart Gallery, and Jardine drives off in it.
The next day, at an exhibition, Cathcart escorts some guests to his downstairs vault to show them the Raphael that he recently bought. After the others go back upstairs, Cathcart overhears Mari and Jardine plan to leave that night, and sees their shadows as they kiss. Cathcart then finds White Suit, the man he hired to follow Brad, waiting to report that Brad roughed up Jardine but failed to kill him as Cathcart had hoped. After Brad sends Kathleen to a movie, he returns to his apartment, where White Suit, who has slipped in through a window, anesthetizes him with ether.
White Suit kills Jardine with a fireplace poker, then puts the poker in Brad's hand and departs. The next day Brad finally tracks down the white suit and goes to the address of its owner, but discovers that the man, whose real name is Stouffer (William Bendix), has just left with his suitcases. A girl, however, overheard Stouffer telephoning Cathcart and gives Brad the address.
At his dentist's building, Cathcart pushes Stouffer out a high-rise window, and Brad arrives just in time to witness his death. After the police find Jardine's body, they go to Brad's office to arrest him.
Brad meets Mari at the Cathcart Galler. After he tells her that Jardine is dead, she faints. Entering the room, Cathcart orders Brad into the vault at gunpoint, but Mari, now revived, shoots her husband, then throws the gun down in disgust. Afterward, Reeves makes an appointment to meet Brad the next day, and Kathleen says it will have to wait until the afternoon, as they have a date to get married at city hall in the morning.
A 1946 American Black & White crime film-noir directed by Henry Hathaway, produced by Fred Kohlmar, screenplay by Jay Dratler and Bernard C. Schoenfeld, based on Leo Rosten's serial story in Good Housekeeping "The Dark Corner" (1945), cinematography by Joseph MacDonald, starring Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix, Mark Stevens, Kurt Kreuger, Cathy Downs, Reed Hadley, Constance Collier, and Eddie Heywood & His Orchestra.
The film's locations included office buildings in Manhattan, the streets of the Bowery and the Third Avenue El. The arcade sequence was filmed in Santa Monica, California.
Studio production head Darryl F. Zanuck borrowed Lucille Ball from MGM to play Kathleen. At the time, Ball was trying to break from MGM and had an "unsettled" personal life. Early into the shoot, it was obvious that Ball was not concentrating on her job. After she flubbed her lines one time too many, Hathaway embarrassed her before her peers by ordering her to leave the set and actually read the script. However, some regard the role as one of Ball's finer dramatic performances. According to Hathaway, Ball subsequently apologized for her behavior.
In a contemporary review The New York Times, critic Thomas M. Pryor wrote, "tough-fibered, exciting entertainment... When a talented director and a resourceful company of players meet up with a solid story, say one such as (this) then movie-going becomes a particular pleasure. ... Henry Hathaway has drawn superior performances from most of the cast. ... His fine craftsmanship is very evident throughout."

[@90FF1]

These hard boiled PI's always get the hot babes. Good story. And yes, I love Lucy. Thank you

[@RetiredSchoolCook]

🥰Thank you 👍Great movie 🥰 Great cast 👍

[@bizzybee852]

Henry Hathaway was a great director. And I always enjoy watching Clifton Webb in any movie. Even when playing comedy Clifton Webb always maintain that air of dignity, which makes him all the more humorous. Lucille Ball was also a much better dramatic actress than she received credit for being.

[@leeanncornell8305]

So true!

[@leeanncornell8305]

Love this movie. Hard to find. ❤❤❤😊😊😊

[@chrisperrien7055]

Chick was way too gorgeous.😎