The Dark Corner Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball was a natural blonde but dyed her hair red, the colour she kept for the rest of her life.

Lucille Ball was born Lucille Desiree Ball in Jamestown, New York, U.S.A., in 1911. She started her acting career on Broadway under the stage name of Diane Belmont. In the 1930s and '40s she played many small movie roles as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures. She played so many roles in B-movies that she was dubbed the "Queen of the Bs".

Her most famous role was that of Lucille Esmeralda McGillicuddy Ricardo in the TV show "I Love Lucy". It originally ran from 1951 to 1957. She starred in the show with her real life husband Desi Arnaz as her husband Enrique Alberto Fernando y de Acha Ricardo III. Together they had set up their own production company Desilu Productions in 1950, which among other TV shows produced "The Untouchables", starring Robert Stack as Elliot Ness.

Answer: Mark Stevens

Mark Stevens portrays private investigator Bradford Galt who is trying to start a new life after being falsely imprisoned for two years for manslaughter.

Mark Stevens was born Richard William Stevens in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., in 1916. After his parents divorced he lived with his maternal grandparents in England before moving to Canada. After moving to Hollywood he became a contract player for Warner Bros. in 1943. He was billed as Stephen Richards and was paid $100 per week.

On moving to 20th Century Fox, Darryl F. Zanuck changed his name to Mark Stevens. He starred in such movies as "Within These Walls" (1945) with Thomas Mitchell and "The Dark Corner" (1946) with Lucille Ball. His best role may have been in the movie "The Street With No Name". He played under cover FBI agent Gene Cordell with top billing over Richard Widmark as evil gang leader Alec Stiles.

Answer: Ink

When Galt first confronts Stauffer in the street he strong arms him up to his office. There he makes him empty his pockets, asks him some questions and roughs him up to get the answers. After the roughing up, Stauffer knocks over some ink on Galt's desk while collecting his things. Galt gets some of the ink on his hands but wipes it off on the shoulder and lapel of Stauffer's white suit jacket.

Later when Galt and Kathleen want to find Stauffer again they go to the address that Galt found on Stauffer while searching him. They find a Fred Foss living there but not Stauffer. Later they have the idea that Stauffer would have taken his white suit to a dry cleaners to have the ink removed and would have given his correct address. They then search for the dry cleaner who cleaned the suit but when they find it and Galt goes to the address, he finds that Stauffer has already left.

Answer: Clifton Webb

Clifton Webb plays sophisticated art gallery owner Hardy Cathcart, who is married to the much younger and unfaithful Mari.

Clifton Webb was born Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A., in 1889. By his late teens this actor/dancer/singer had become a professional ballroom dancer. He made his Broadway debut in "The Purple Road" at the Liberty Theatre in 1913. His mother whom he lived with until her death in 1960 was also in the cast. Between 1913 and 1947 Clifton Webb (who sang with a tenor voice) appeared in 23 Broadway productions.

While appearing on Broadway and in London he also made a number of silent movies. In 1944 in his mid-fifties and many years after appearing in silent movies, he made his first talkie when chosen by director Otto Preminger for the movie "Laura". He played Waldo Lydecker opposite Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Answer: A poker

After getting into Galt's apartment Stauffer waits in the darkness for Galt to arrive. He then overpowers him with chloroform. Stauffer then lays in wait for Jardine, who has somehow been lured there by Hardy Cathcart.

As soon as Jardine enters the apartment Stauffer clubs him with a poker and kills him. He then places the poker in the hand of the still unconscious Galt in order to frame him for the murder of Jardine. Stauffer then leaves the way he entered, through the window.

Answer: The milkman

Bradford Galt is asleep, and Kathleen Stewart is just about to pour some coffee at breakfast time when there is a knock on the door. Galt wakes up and Kathleen goes to the door but before opening it asks, "Who is it?" and the reply comes, "Milkman Miss Stewart, 85 cents please."

When the milkman hands Kathleen her milk he picks up her daily paper and tucks it under her arm. Galt takes the paper and searches through it but finds no mention of his dead ex-partner. Apparently the body has not been found yet.

My favourite quote from Bradford Galt is when he says these lines to his secretary Kathleen Stewart after failing to find Stauffer at a phoney address. "There goes my last lead, I feel all dead inside. I'm backed up in a dark corner and I don't know who's hitting me."

Answer: He is pushed out of a window.

Hardy Cathcart arranges to meet Stauffer in the Grant building to pay him for his services. When they meet, Cathcart makes sure Stauffer has carried out his mission and as he goes to pay him, pushes him out of a window. Stauffer dies on impact with the street 30 floors below.

My favourite quote from Stauffer (William Bendix) is when Stauffer is on the phone to Bradford Galt from the office of Hardy Cathcart, who whispers to Stauffer, "Tell him you need two hundred dollars to leave town." Stauffer says to Galt, "I need two yards, powder money."

Answer: A taxi cab

While standing in the crowd gathered around the body of Stauffer, private detective Bradford Galt overhears a cab driver talking to a cop. The cab driver is telling the cop how he brought Stauffer here and that he still has Stauffer's bags in the cab.

Galt takes the cab to get his hands on Stauffer's bags and escapes the pursuing police car by driving into the taxi's home garage amongst many other cabs. He and his secretary later search the bags for any information as to who Stauffer is and who he may be working for.

Answer: Mari Cathcart

Mari Cathcart (played by Cathy Downs) had fainted in her husband's office and on wakening hears her husband and Galt taking about the murder of her lover, Anthony Jardine. She follows the sound of the voices and shoots her husband Hardy Cathcart from the staircase leading down to the vault in the basement of his art gallery.

The whole convoluted plot of this movie revolves around Mari Cathcart's affair with lawyer Anthony Jardine. Jardine is the ex-business partner of Bradford Galt, who he framed for manslaughter for which Galt served two years in prison. Mari's husband, Hardy Cathcart, employs a thug named Stauffer to try and make Galt believe that Jardine is about to frame him again. The aim of which is to get Galt to kill Jardine, thus solving the problem of Hardy Cathcart's wife's affair.

Answer: New York

"The Dark Corner" is set in the city of New York although some of the buildings in the movie have fictitious names.

The Grant Building mentioned in the movie is actually the 60-floor office tower at 500 Fifth Avenue, which is located between West 42nd and 43rd Streets in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S.A. Built in 1929-31, it is adjacent to Bryant Park and next door to the Salmon Tower Building.

In the movie, Hardy Cathcart meets the hired killer Stauffer (to pay him off) in the Grant Building and after pushing him out of the window to his death calmly walks up the stairs to the 31st floor for a dental appointment. There is actually a dentist on the 31st floor of the real building at 500 Fifth Avenue New York City, New York, U.S.A.

My favourite quote from the movie is by Hardy Cathcart (Clifton Webb): "How I detest the dawn, the grass always looks like it's been left out all night."