A year before Henry Hathaway directed Kiss of Death (launching Richard Widmark into stardom), he backed Mark Stevens into The Dark Corner. Stevens plays hapless private eye Bradford Galt, a man framed for murder in this grim, mean little noir. Driven by strong casting, including Lucille Ball and Clifton Webb (Laura), The Dark Corner explores just what the title suggests: the darkest corners of the human psyche, the aspects that can steer a man to murder. The title also reflects the insane amount of darkness visually in the film. The whole shindig is one dark affair, dig?
Clifton Webb
Laura (1944)
Buckshot will do nasty things to a person’s face. Just ask Laura. It could make them unrecognizable, sparking a murder investigation of the wrong body. Such is the surface plot of Otto Preminger’s celebrated noir Laura. Originally intended to be a play based on Vera Caspary’s novel of the same name, Laura is a classic choking with malice and trickery, played out with slick grace. It’s a murder mystery like no other – one in which every single person (besides the detective) could be the culprit. This means it doesn’t really matter who it is. Does that make sense? Aw hell, just enjoy the ride.