Movie review - "The Dark Corner" (1946) **1/2

Not one of the better known film noirs despite ticking many boxes: a tormented hero, tough dialogue, superb photography, seedy underbelly, a plot involving sex/murder/double-cross, etc. Maybe this is because one of the stars is Lucille Ball - slightly odd then and even odder now; she's fine but it is a little weird to see her in a noir. Its reputation also may have been hurt by coming across at times as a son of Laura - like that film it was made by 20th Century Fox, has Clifton Webb as a snob driven to murder by passion, has painting of a woman central to the plot, and a rugged tough detective her (played by Mark Stevens, a poor man's Dana Andrews). The film has some striking visual flourishes and a decent plot with two good twists, but its dragged out a bit too long - it needed to have 20 minutes cut out of it, or else be re-strucctured or something.