The Dark Corner is a 1946 American crime film noir directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix and Mark Stevens. The film was not a commercial success but has since been described as a "Grade A example of film noir." Plot Private investigator Bradford Galt has moved from San Francisco to New York to escape a troubled past. He blames his former partner Tony Jardine for his problems. Complicating matters, he is being hounded by New York Police Lieutenant Frank Reeves and finds that he is being followed by a thug in a white suit. After a little rough "persuasion", the thug admits he has been hired by Jardine. Or was he? Galt suspects Jardine is trying to frame him for a murder. But it turns out that Jardine is just part of a wider-ranging conspiracy involving a wealthy art gallery owner, Hardy Cathcart. With the help of his sharp-witted secretary Kathleen (Lucille Ball), Galt is able to overcome all these obstacles and clear himself. Cast Lucille Ball as Kathleen Stewart Clifton Webb as Hardy Cathcart William Bendix as Stauffer aka Fred Foss Mark Stevens as Bradford Galt Kurt Kreuger as Tony Jardine Cathy Downs as Mari Cathcart Reed Hadley as Police Lt Frank Reeves Constance Collier as Mrs. Kingsley Eddie Heywood and His Orchestra Production Fox paid $40,000 for the rights to Leo Rosten's story prior to its publication in Good Housekeeping. Rosten published the story under the pen name Leonard Q. Ross. The film's locations and settings including office buildings in Manhattan, the Bowery and the Third Avenue El. "The El is a presence throughout the movie, its cross ties, stanchions and stairways acting as a shadowy geometric spider web, and its perpetual racket contributing to the paranoia of Stevens's private detective, whose office window is feet from the tracks." The arcade sequence was filmed in Santa Monica, California. Ida Lupino was initially cast as Kathleen, but had to withdraw because of scheduling conflicts, and Fred MacMurray was originally slated for the role of Galt. 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. A Henry Hathaway biographer observes: "Early into the shoot, it was obvious to Hathaway that Ball was not concentrating on her job. After she flubbed her lines one