time too many, Hathaway embarrassed her before her peers by ordering her to leave the set and actually read the script." It turned out to be one of her best dramatic performances. According to Hathaway, Ball subsequently apologized for her behavior. Hathaway described Webb as an "angel, but he never really was a good actor. He was a character. He was marvelous because he was so elegant." Hathaway said that The Dark Corner was "not a successful film. It was dead. Mark Stevens never quite cut it. Too arrogant, cocksure." Critical response The Dark Corner has a score of 100% at Rotten Tomatoes, indicating overall critical praise of the movie. AllMovie rates it three out of five stars, and calls it "a grade-A example of 'film noir.'" At the time of its release in March 1946, New York Times critic Bosley Crowther called The Dark Corner "a tough-fibered, exciting entertainment" and praised Hathaway's direction. He said that Stevens was "convincingly hard-boiled as the baffled gumshoe" and said that "he has a rare combination of talent and personality which, if properly developed, will place him in the forefront of leading men in short order." He also praised the performances of Webb, Bendix and Ball, but said that if Webb "doesn't change his style soon, his admirers are likely to grow impatient." Also in 1946, Baltimore Sun critic Donald Kirkley said the film "is very good indeed for this sort of uninhibited whodunit." He said that the film was "sparked by a most engaging performance by Lucille Ball" and "a very fine, hard-boiled portrayal of a tough guy by William Bendix." Stevens only "gets by" in the film, Kirkley said, and called him "a road edition of Dick Powell." He criticized the script, saying that the Webb character's motivation is unclear, and that overall it often "speeds into high gear, but just as often relaxes into spells of relative inertness and tedium." Box office The film took in $1 million at the box office, less than the $1.2 million cost of production. Legacy The Dark Corner was overshadowed by Hathaway's other semidocumentary and noir films, such as Kiss of Death and The House on 92nd Street. but has gained a reputation as a "sleeper" and "unsung classic" of the film noir genre. The film is "rich in bottomless shadowplay, a persuasive feathering of second unit New York location work and sound stage