James Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Thelma Ritter debate “Rear Window” ethics

Rear Window (1954) is an American mystery thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, and Thelma Ritter. The script was by John Michael Hayes, the cinematography was by Robert Burks, and the music was by Franz Waxman.

A favorite with both the public and critics, Rear Window’s reputation only seems to grow with each passing year. 

L.B. “Jeff” Jefferies (James Stewart) is confined to a wheelchair after breaking his leg while photographing a racetrack accident. While recuperating in his Greenwich Village apartment, Jeff suspects that his neighbor across the courtyard, Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) murdered his invalid wife. At first, his girlfriend Lisa Freemont (Kelly) and home-care nurse Stella (Ritter) think he’s imagining things, but soon both begin suspecting there may be some truth to his suspicions.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window is a master class in filmmaking; its technique and storytelling are timeless.

Grace Kelly

Alfred Hitchcock (1899 – 1980) was an English film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is one of the most influential filmmakers of the 20th century. Hitchcock directed over 50 feature films, many of which are classics that have been honored and studied for years. Some of Hitchcock’s classic films include The 39 Steps (1939), Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Notorious (1946), Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), and Psycho (1960).

James Stewart (1908 - 1997) was an American actor whose career spanned almost five decades and 80 films. Stewart often portrayed the ideal of the average American who was decent and honest. Stewart signed a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer where he appeared in a variety of supporting roles in B and A pictures. It wasn’t until he was loaned out to Columbia Pictures to costar in Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take It With You (1938) that his home studio began to notice. Still, his best roles were on loan to other studios including Mr. Smith Goes to Washinton (1939) at Columbia again and Destry Rides Again (1939) at Universal. M-G-M eventually cast him in The Philadelphia Story (1940) where he won the Academy Award for Best Actor which cemented his reputation as a leading man and star. From there he went on to make The Shop Around the Corner (1940) and The Mortal Storm (1940). After serving in the United States Army from 1941 to 1945, Stewart returned to Hollywood where he continued as a popular leading man. During the 1950s, Steward made two films with director Alfred Hitchcock, considered two of the director’s best films: Rear Window (1954) and Vertigo (1958). Vertigo was voted the greatest film ever made by Sight & Sound in 2012.

Grace Kelly (1929 – 1982) was an American film actress who after a fairly brief Hollywood career became the Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in 1956. Kelly appeared in theater productions in New York City and on live television during the early 1950s. For her role in Mogambo (1953), Kelly was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. She lost the Oscar but became a major star with lead roles in five films released in 1954: Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, The Country Girl, Green Fire, and The Bridges of Toko-Ri. She would make only three more movies—To Catch a Thief, The Swan (1955), and High Society (1956)—before retiring from films.

James Stewart (1908 - 1997) was an American actor whose career spanned almost five decades and 80 films. Stewart often portrayed the ideal of the average American who was decent and honest. Stewart signed a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer where he appeared in various supporting roles in B and A pictures. It wasn’t until he was loaned out to Columbia Pictures to costar in Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take It With You (1938) that his home studio began to notice. Still, his best roles were on loan to other studios including Mr. Smith Goes to Washinton (1939) at Columbia again and Destry Rides Again (1939) at Universal. M-G-M eventually cast him in The Philadelphia Story (1940) where he won the Academy Award for Best Actor which cemented his reputation as a leading man and star. From there he went on to make The Shop Around the Corner (1940) and The Mortal Storm (1940). After serving in the United States Army from 1941 to 1945, Stewart returned to Hollywood where he continued as a popular leading man. During the 1950s, Steward made two films with director Alfred Hitchcock, considered two of the director’s best films: Rear Window (1954) and Vertigo (1958). Vertigo was voted the greatest film ever made by Sight & Sound in 2012.

Wendell Corey (1914 – 1968) was an American film and stage actor. After appearing in the hit Broadway play Dream Girl (1945), Corey was spotted by producer Wallis who put him under contract at Paramount. He started out in supporting roles, but he was elevated to leading man with The File on Thelma Jordon. As film roles diminished, Corey turned to television where he made guest appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Untouchables, Perry Mason, and The Wild Wild West.

Thelma Ritter (1902 - 1969) was an American actress best known for her portrayal of working-class characters. She was nominated six times in the Best Supporting Actress category, more than any other actress in the category. Ritter won the Best Actress in a Musical Tony Award in 1958 for New Girl in Town. She made her unbilled screen debut in Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and a character actress was born. Ritter quickly became a favorite of studio chief Daryl F. Zanuck who cast her in A Letter to Three Wives (1949), All About Eve (1950), The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951), With a Song in My Heart (1952), and Titanic (1953). Perhaps her most famous role was as James Stewart's nurse in Rear Window (1954). Ritter was a good friend of director George Seaton, who cast her in her first film role in Miracle on 34th Street. It was only fitting that Ritter's last film What's So Bad About Feeling Good (1968), was also directed by Seaton.

Thelma Ritter and James Stewart

Rear Window trivia

• The entire movie was shot on one set. It was the largest set piece built on the Paramount lot up to that time.
• The actors in the apartments other than Jeff’s (Stewart’s) all wore earpieces so Hitchcock could direct them remotely.
• All of the apartments in Thorwald’s building had electricity and running water and could be lived in.
• Of the four films Steward made with Hitchcock, Rear Window was his personal favorite.

Click HERE to watch the movie on YouTube.

Rear Window trivia

• The entire movie was shot on one set. It was the largest set piece built on the Paramount lot up to that time.
• The actors in the apartments other than Jeff’s (Stewart’s) all wore earpieces so Hitchcock could direct them remotely.
• All of the apartments in Thorwald’s building had electricity and running water and could be lived in.
• Of the four films Steward made with Hitchcock, Rear Window was his personal favorite.

 

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Discussion questions

1. Do you think that Lisa and Jeff’s relationship was believable?
2. Have you ever “observed” your neighbors the way Jeff’s character did?
3. Do you think Hitchcock was commenting on our voyeuristic society?
4. What do you think Hitchcock would have thought of today’s reality TV?
5. Hitchcock tells so much of the story with the camera; do you have a favorite scene or visual image?
6. What did you think of the performances?
7. Of all of Hitchcock’s films, Read Window’s reputation seems to get better with age. Why do you think that is?

 

 

 

 

 

Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in Frank Capra’s “It Happened One Night”

It Happened One Night (1934) is an American romantic comedy directed by Frank Capra and starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. The supporting cast includes Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns, and Alan Hale. The film was produced by Capra and Columbia Pictures studio head Harry Cohn. The script was written by Robert Riskin. The cinematography was by Joseph Walker (The Awful Truth, It’s a Wonderful Life, Born Yesterday).

Heiress Ellen “Ellie” Andrews (Colbert) has eloped with King Westley (Jameson Thomas), a fortune-hunting pilot, against her rich industrialist father Alexander Andrews’s (Walter Connolly) wishes. Ellie’s father wants to have the wedding annulled but Ellie has other plans. Ellie runs away from her father and takes a bus to New York City to reunite with Wesley. On the bus, Ellie meets Peter Warne (Gable), a newspaper reporter who just lost his job. When he realizes that he’s traveling with the runaway heiress, Warne makes a deal with Ellie that he will keep quiet and not expose her identity if she gives him an exclusive on her love story with Wesley. If she doesn’t, Peter will tell her father where she is.

As the two traveling companions evade her father and his detectives, they fall in love.

Will Peter and Ellie be able to sustain their love, or will Ellie’s father and King Wesley have something to say about it?

 

Frank Capra (1897 - 1991) was an American film director, producer, and writer. During the 1930s and 1940s, Capra’s films were among the most popular and awarded films. By 1938, Capra has won three Best Director Academy Awards. Born in Italy, Capra immigrated to the United States with his family when he was five years old. By sheer determination and his self-described cockiness, Capra talked his way into the movie business. He found a great home at “Poverty Row” studio, Columbia Pictures. At Columbia he had a major success with It Happened One Night (1934), which swept all the major categories at the Academy Awards that year. This helped turn Columbia Pictures from a Poverty Row studio into a major one. Other Capra successes include You Can’t Take It with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).

Clark Gable (1901 – 1960) was an American film actor. Gable was one of the most consistent box office stars in the history of movies. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the landmark romantic comedy It Happened One Night (1934) directed by Frank Capra. As “The King” of Hollywood, Gable starred alongside some of the biggest female stars of their day including Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, Lana Turner, Norma Shearer, and Ava Gardner. Gable received two additional Best Actor nominations for Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Gone With the Wind (1939), one of the biggest money-makers of all time. Gables third wife was the legendary Carole Lombard. Gable married Lombard in 1939 and ended with her tragic death in a plane crash in 1942. Other Gable films include San Francisco (1937), Test Pilot (1938), Boom Town (1940), Honky Tonk (1941), Command Decision (1948), Teacher’s Pet (1958), It Started in Naples (1960), and The Misfits (1961), his last film before his death at 59.

Claudette Colbert (1903 -1996) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Ellie Andrews in Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934). For her role in that film, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was nominated two other times in that category. Colbert got her start in the theater where she played a variety of ingenue roles. In 1928, she signed a contract with Paramount Pictures where she quickly made a succession of movies. Her breakout role came in 1932 in The Sign of the Cross (1932) starring Fredric March and Charles Laughton. In 1934, she made three films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: Imitation of Life, Cleopatra, and the eventual winner, It Happened One Night. No one had been able to match that record. Other popular films include I Met Him in Paris (1937), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), Midnight (1939), The Palm Beach Story (1942), Since You Went Away (1944), and The Egg and I (1947).

 

It Happened One Night trivia

• Both Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert didn’t want to make the film. Gable was on loan to Columbia Pictures, which was considered a punishment by the star. Columbia was a minor studio, part of  “poverty row.” Colbert had worked with Frank Capra on a silent film, which wasn’t a pleasant or successful experience.
• At first, Colbert refused to show her leg in the hitchhiking scene. When she saw the body double’s leg, she changed her mind saying, “That’s not my leg!”
• It was the first film to win the top five Academy Award categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. The other films to win the Oscar “grand slam” are One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
• Constance Bennett and Myrna Loy turned down the script. Colbert only agreed to do the picture because Capra agreed to double her salary and not be required to work for more than four weeks. Bette Davis wanted the role of Ellie, but Warner Bros. wouldn’t loan her to Columbia. Miriam Hopkins, Margaret Sullivan, and Carole Lombard also turned down the role.
• Robert Montgomery and Fredric March both turned down the role of Peter Warne.                             

Click here to watch the film on YouTube.

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Discussion questions

1. Some critics consider the film a screwball comedy. Would you put it in that category?
2. This film basically wrote the template for all romantic comedy films that came after it. Do you know any modern romantic comedies that owe a debt to It Happened One Night?
3. What did you think of the chemistry between Gable and Colbert? Was it believable?
4. Did you have a favorite scene or line of dialogue?
5. Considered one of the best films ever made, do you think its reputation is well deserved?

Happy Thanksgiving from Jeanne Crain, Paul Brinkman and the Classic Movie Man

I want to believe that Jeanne actually made that turkey. Jeanne Crain and her husband Paul Brinkman, an Errol Flynn look-alike if there ever was one.

 

Charles Boyer and Ann Blyth discover “A Woman’s Vengeance”

A Woman’s Vengeance (1948) is an American film noir mystery directed by Zoltan Korda and starring Charles Boyer, Ann Blyth, and Jessica Tandy. The supporting cast includes Cedric Hardwicke and Mildred Natwick. The screenplay was written by Aldous Huxley which was based on his novelette The Gioconda Smile. The cinematography was by Russel Metty and the music was by Miklos Rozsa.

Henry Maurier’s (Boyer) marriage is not a happy one. His wife Emily (Rachel Kempson) is not in good health. Henry and Emily’s marriage is in name only. Henry is carrying on an affair with Doris Mead (Ann Blyth) who is much younger than he is. Meanwhile, another woman, Janet Spence (Tandy) is in love with Henry. When Emily dies suddenly, Henry quickly marries Doris.

Henry is accused of poisoning his wife and is put on trial for murder. Will the trial reveal that Henry poisoned his wife so he could marry Doris or did someone else have a motive to murder Emily?

Charles Boyer and Ann Blyth

Zolton Korda (1895 – 1961) was a Hungarian-born motion picture screenwriter, director, and producer. Along with his brothers Alexander and Vincent, he made films in Hungary and London before moving to Hollywood where they continued to make movies. Some of the films that Korda directed include The Four Feathers (1939), The Jungle Book (1942), The Macomber Affair (1947), and Cry, the Beloved Country (1951).

Charles Boyer (1899 - 1978) was a French-American stage and film actor. Boyer was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award four times. He became a major movie star in the late 1930s in films like The Garden of Allah (1936), Algiers (1938), and Love Affair (1939). He starred as the evil husband of Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight (1944). Boyer starred opposite most of the top female stars of the period including Claudette Colbert, Marlene Dietrich, Irene Dunne, Jean Arthur, Greta Garbo, Bette Davis, Joan Fontaine, Katharine Hepburn, and Olivia de Havilland. As he grew older, Boyer played supporting roles in film and also starred on Broadway in Kind Sir (1953 - 1954) and The Marriage-Go-Round (1958 - 1960)

Ann Blyth (1928 - ) is a retired American actress and singer. She is most famous for her role as Veda in Mildred Pierce (1945) where she played Joan Crawford’s ungrateful daughter. For her role in that film, Blyth was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Blyth’s first acting role was in Lillian Hellman’s Watch on the Rhine on Broadway. While on tour with the play, Blyth was offered a contract with Universal Studios. At Universal, Blyth starred alongside Donald O’Connor and Peggy Ann Ryan in a series of teen musicals. In 1952, Blyth was signed by M-G-M where she starred opposite Steward Granger, Robert Taylor, Howard Keel, Van Johnson, and Mario Lanza.

Jessica Tandy (1909 – 1994) was an English actress who had a long and successful career on the stage and screen. Tandy created the role of Blanche Du Bois in the original Broadway production of A Streetcar of Desire. She won a Tony Award for Best Actress for her performance in the Tennessee Williams classic. Tandy had supporting roles in films starting in 1944 supporting stars like Gregory Peck, Greer Garson, Gene Tierney, and Linda Darnell. In the 1980, her film career picked up. She won a Best Actress Academy Award for Driving Miss Daisy. At 80-years-old, Tandy became the oldest Oscar-winning actress.

 

To watch the film on YouTube, click here.

 

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Discussion questions

1. Would you classify this movie as a film noir? Why or why not?
2. What did you think of the relationship between Boyer and Blyth? Was it believable? At the time of filming, Boyer was 49 and Blyth was 20.
3. Jessica Tandy has a pivotal role in the film. What did you think of her performance?
4. Did you suspect that someone other than Henry had a motive to kill Emily?
5. Were you surprised by the film’s conclusion?
6. Did this film remind you of any other film?

 

 

John Mills is “The October Man”

The October Man (1947) is a British mystery film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring John Mills and Joan Greenwood. The screenplay was written by novelist Eric Ambler who also served as producer.

Jim Ackland (Mills) sustains a brain injury in a bus accident and a young girl in his care is killed. The guilt, combined with the brain injury has Jim filled with guilt. His guilt led him to attempt suicide twice while he was in recovery.

Once out of the hospital, Jim gets a job as a chemist and lives in a boarding house with an assortment of interesting characters, to say the least. He meets a young woman, Jenny Carden (Joan Greenwood) the sister of a work colleague, and the relationship becomes serious.

One of the rooming house residents, Molly Newman (Kay Walsh) asks Jim if she can borrow 30 pounds, a considerable sum. Jim writes her a check and she is found murdered the next day.

Because of Jim’s hospitalization for a brain injury, he immediately becomes the prime suspect. Jenny tries to convince Jim that he couldn’t have murdered Molly, but Jim isn’t so sure. He wonders if he might have murdered her in some kind of trance.

Is Jim a murderer? Or is there another murderer out there who could murder again?

Roy Ward Baker (1916 – 2010) was an English film director. When Baker was 17, he worked in menial jobs in the British film industry. He rose through the ranks and was appointed assistant director to Alfred Hitchcock on The Lady Vanishes. He served in the Army during World War II, where one of his superiors was novelist Eric Ambler. Ambler gave Baker his first big break with The October Man (1947).

John Mills (1908 - 2005) was an English actor who made over 100 films in the United States and in Great Britain. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Ryan’s Daughter (1970). Mills worked on the stage in London in the Noel Coward revue Words and Music (1932). He made his film debut in the U.K. in 1932 and appeared with Ida Lupino in The Ghost Camera (1933). He had a supporting role in Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939) starring Robert Donat. Mills starred as Pip in Great Expectations (1946) to great acclaim and popular box office success. Mills continued acting into the 2000s.

Joan Greenwood (1921 – 1987) was an English actress. She had a successful film and stage career in her native country. She may be most famous for her role as Sibella in Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949). Other films she starred in include The Man in the White Suit (1951), Stage Struck (1958) co-starring Henry Fonda, and Tom Jones (1963).

The October Man trivia

• The little girl on the bus with Jim Ackland is Juliet Mills, John Mills’s real-life daughter.
• This was the first feature-length movie by Roy Ward Baker who may be best known for directing A Night to Remember (1958).
• Roy Ward Baker directed John Mill in six movies. This was the first.
• Roy Ward Baker was the assistant director on Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes (1938).
• He directed several films in America including Don’t Bother to Knock (1952) starring Richard Widmark and Marilyn Monroe.

To watch the film on YouTube, click here.

 

 

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Discussion questions

1. What did you think of John Mill’s performance? Was he believable as a man who had doubts about his own sanity?
2. When the murderer was revealed, were you surprised or did you guess who it was?
3. If you were Jenny, would you have been convinced that Jim was innocent?
4. As a first-time feature-length director, were you impressed with Baker’s skill?
5. Did this film remind you of any others you’ve seen?
6. Knowing that he worked with Hitchcock, do you see any similarities with the Master of Suspense?

 

 

William Holden and Gloria Swanson are prisoners of Sunset Boulevard

Sunset Boulevard (1950) is an American film noir directed by Billy Wilder and starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson, and Eric von Stroheim. The screenplay was written by Charles Brackett, Wilder, and D. M. Marshman Jr. The supporting cast includes Nancy Olson, Fred Clark, and Jack Webb. The cinematography was by John F. Seitz and the music was by Franz Waxman.

Holden stars as Joe Gillis, a down-on-his-luck screenwriter who by a set of strange circumstances is drawn into the orbit of Norma Desmond (Swanson) a retired silent film star set on a return (don’t you dare say comeback) to the screen.

Norma hires Joe to work on her screenplay of Salome, the picture she believes will put her back on top. For the money, Joe takes the work on but knows it’s not going to go anywhere. Norma is convinced that the picture is sure to be a hit and that Cecil B. DeMille will direct it. DeMille worked with Norma during her reign as the queen of the silent screen.

Joe still dreams of getting his screenplay ideas sold and finds himself involved with Betty Schaefer (Olson), a script reader working at the Paramount Studio. Joe keeps his relationship with Norma a secret and finds himself falling in love with Betty, who just so happens to be engaged to Artie Green (Webb), an assistant director who is working on location. All the while, Norma has fallen in love with Joe and becomes more and more dependent on him.

How will this all end? Will Norma make a successful return to the screen? Will Joe and Betty find happiness together? Or will Norma’s hold on Joe destroy everything?

Billy Wilder (1906 - 2002) was an Austrian-born American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He won six Academy Awards for his writing and direction and was nominated twenty-one times over a career that spanned five decades. Wilder started his career as a writer, penning the screenplays for Ninotchka (1939), Ball of Fire (1942), Double Indemnity (1945), The Lost Weekend (1946), Sunset Boulevard (1951)  Boulevard (1951), Sabrina (1955), Some Like it Hot (1960), and The Apartment (1961). As a director, he won Academy Awards for directing The Lost Weekend (1946) and The Apartment (1961). Wilder directed fourteen different actors in Oscar-nominated roles. He is considered one of the most versatile directors from Hollywood’s Classical period.

William Holden (1918 - 1981) was an American actor and major movie star. He was one of the most bankable stars of the 1950s. Holden starred in some of the most popular and beloved films of all time including Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina, Picnic (1955), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and Stalag 17 for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Holden became a star with his very first role in Golden Boy (1939). He had lead roles in other popular films like Our Town (1940), and  I Wanted Wings (1941). World War II interrupted his career. Holden was a first lieutenant in the United States Army Air Force. After the war, he made some popular but forgettable films. It wasn’t after he collaborated with director Wilder on Sunset Boulevard that Holden’s popularity and stature in Hollywood grew to superstar status.

Gloria Swanson (1899 – 1983) was an American actress who was a major star during the silent era. Swanson, a Chicago native, got her start in film at Essanay Studios where silent film star Francis X Bushman was under contract. Also employed by Essanay were Charlie Chaplin and Wallace Beery. Swanson married Beery in 1916. He was the first of here six husbands. Swanson, Chaplin, and Beery eventually moved to Hollywood where their careers flourished. Swanson was nominated for three Best Actress Oscars. The first two were for silent films and the third was for Sunset Boulevard. Swanson made the transition to sound, but her career stalled and her star power faded.

Sunset Boulevard trivia

• Norma Desmond was based on the several stars from the silent era including Mary Pickford, Mae Murray, and Clara Bow.
• Montgomery Clift was originally cast as Joe Gillis but left the broke his contract two weeks before production.
• Gloria Swanson was asked to do a screen test which she didn’t want to do. Her friend the director George Cukor told her to do ten screen tests if necessary.
• After a private screening of the film, Barbara Stanwyck knelt in front of Swanson and kissed the hem of her dress.
• Willian Holden and Billy Wilder became close friends during the production of Sunset Boulevard.
• Nancy Olson wore her own clothes in the film because Wilder wanted her to be herself on film.

 

To watch the film on YouTube click here.

 

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Discussion question

1. Sunset Boulevard is considered one of the greatest films of all time. Do you think its reputation as such is well deserved?
2. The film lost the Best Picture Academy Award to All About Eve. Sunset Boulevard is about the film industry and All About Eve is about the theater. Which film holds up the best in 2023?
3. William Holden wasn’t even in Billy Wilder’s top five choices for the role of Joe Gillis. What do you think of his performance?
4. Gloria Swanson had hoped her performance and Oscar nomination would revive her movie career but it didn’t. What did you think of her performance?
5. Do you have a favorite scene or line of dialogue (the film is filled with great lines)?
6. Can you see any other actress from Swanson’s era in the role of Norma Desmond?
7. Is Hollywood the same today as it was in 1950? Does Hollywood treat women better today?
8. Bill Wilder was a director working in Hollywood. Was he exempting himself from the criticism? Was he any different than Cecil B. DeMille?

Lucille Ball and Mark Stevens find themselves in “The Dark Corner”

The Dark Corner (1946) is an American film noir directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix, and Mark Stevens. The screenplay was by Jay Dratler and Bernard Schoenfeld. The cinematography was by Joseph  (Joe) MacDonald (My Darling Clementine, Yellow Sky, How to Marry a Millionaire, and The Sand Pebbles). The music was by Cyril Mockridge.

Private investigator Bradford Galt (Stevens) has recently moved from San Francisco to New York City to leave a troubled past behind. Galt blames his former partner Tony Jardine (Kurt Kreuger) for all his troubles but is unaware of Jardine’s criminal involvement with Hardy Cathcart (Webb) an art gallery owner. And why is a man in a white suit following Galt?

With the help of secretary Kathleen Stewart (Ball), Galt sets out to discover the truth and clear his name.

Lucille Ball and Mark Stevens

Henry Hathaway (1898 – 1985) was an American film director and producer. Hathaway started working in silent films in 1925 as an assistant to established directors like Victor Fleming and Josef von Sternberg. His first solo directorial effort was Heritage of the Desert (1932) starring Randolph Scott. Hathaway, along with Scott, would be known for western movies. Besides Scott, Hathaway directed Gary Cooper in several films, including The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) which earned him his only Best Director Academy Award nomination. In 1940, Hathaway began working at Fox where he directed Tyrone Power in Johnny Apollo and Brigham Young (both 1940), Gene Tierney in China Girl (1942), Don Ameche and Dana Andrews in Wing and a Prayer (1944), and Call Northside 777 (1948) starring James Stewart and Richard Conte. After leaving Fox, he was one of three directors who worked on the western epic How the West Was Won (1962). He directed Steve McQueen in Nevada Smith (1966), directed John Wayne in True Grit (1968) which won Wayne his one and only Best Actor Academy Award.

Lucille Ball (1911 – 1989) was an American actress. Ball started her career as a model and later appeared in films while under contract to RKO Radio Pictures during the 1930s and 1940s. At RKO, she starred in B-pictures and had supporting roles in A-pictures like Stage Door (1937) co-starring Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers. Ball left RKO for M-G-M in the mid-40s but major stardom eluded her. Ball had a hit radio show, My Favorite Husband. CBS wanted her to develop the show for television but Ball insisted on having her real-life husband Desi Arnaz co-star with her. The studio wanted her to star with her radio husband, Richard Denning, but Ball held out for Arnaz and I Love Lucy was born. During her television career, Ball was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times. Ball’s reputation as one of the world’s great comedians has never been disputed.

Clifton Webb (1889 - 1966) was an American stage and film actor. Webb was a successful Broadway star and had made several silent films before he appeared in Laura (1944). As the acerbic Waldo Lydecker, Webb established himself as a character actor and eventually a leading actor in films like Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), Dreamboat (1952), and Titanic (1953). Working exclusively for Twentieth Century-Fox, Webb's last film was Satan Never Sleeps (1962) co-starring William Holden and directed by Leo McCarey.

William Bendix (1906 – 1964) an American film, radio, and television actor. Bendix usually played rough guys, gangsters, and blue-collar characters. In 1942, he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in the World War II drama Wake Island. As a youngster, Bendix was a bat boy at Yankee Stadium. He was fired for buying Babe Ruth a hot dog and soda before the game. Bendix starred in several classic films noir, including The Glass Key (1942) and Blue Dahlia (1946). Perhaps his greatest role was as Chester A. Riley a role he played on radio and television to great success.

Mark Stevens (1916 – 1994) was an American actor and director. Stevens starred in films and was also a successful actor in the early days of television. In 1943, he was signed to a contract at Warner Bros. as Stephen Richards. At Warner’s, he had small parts, often uncredited in A-pictures like Destination Tokyo (1943), and Rhapsody in Blue (1945). When his contract was up at Warner Bros., he was signed by Fox where Darryl Zanuck changed his name to Mark Stevens. At Fox, he reached leading-man status starring opposite June Haver in I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now (1947) and with Haver once again in Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949). Both films with Haver were big hits. He also starred in The Street With No Name (1948) where he was billed over Richard Widmark. He played Olivia de Havilland’s loyal husband in The Snake Pit (1948) and Dancing in the Dark (1949) with William Powell and Betsy Drake. Later in his career he directed himself in several movies and worked in television on shows like Magnum P.I. and Murder She Wrote.

The Dark Corner trivia

• The studio hoped that this film would be as successful as Laura, but although it was well received by the critics, it wasn’t a commercial success.
• Lucille Ball was borrowed from M-G-M for the role of Kathleen Stewart when Ida Lupino became unavailable.
• Ball clashed with director Henry Hathaway who was critical of her performance.
• The cast is a who’s who of 1950s television with Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy-1951), William Bendix (The Life of Riley­-1953), Reed Hadley (Racket Squad-1950 and Public Defender-1954), Mark Stevens (Big Town-1950).
• Alfred Newman’s theme music “Street Scene” was used once again. “Street Scene” was used in more Fox films than any other musical theme.

To watch the film on YouTube click here.

To join the discussion on November 6, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation along with a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions

1. What did you think of Lucille Ball’s performance as a film noir dame?
2. The critics loved this movie but audiences didn’t. Why do you think this movie didn’t hit gold at the box office?
3. Were Ball and Mark Stevens believable as an on-screen couple?
4. What about Cliffton Webb? Was his character Waldo Liedecker 2.0?
5. Did you have a favorite scene or piece of dialogue?
6. Did anything about the film surprise you?