The Dark Corner

Fine noir thriller, superbly paced by Hathaway, equally superbly shot by Joe MacDonald, and benefiting from the Fox trademark (at this time) of location shooting. Stevens is the private eye just released from jail after being framed for murder, only to find a sinister thug tailing him and gradually driving him into a nightmare which ends with him wanted for murder all over again. Although Webb's suave villain is carried over virtually intact from Laura (complete with the manic possessiveness about beautiful women), The Dark Corner manages its own note of individuality by casting the vulnerable Stevens as a tough Sam Spade whose façade is systematically cracked ('I'm backed up in a dark corner and I don't know who's hitting me') until his devoted, wisecracking secretary (Ball) has to mother him through. Terrific performances, not least from Bendix as the thug in a white suit, Downs as the dark angel of the piece, and Kreuger as a Teutonic snake.