Dangerous Corner
Tags: flashback

Plot synopsis:
Robert Chatfield is having dinner with his wife, Freda, and four of their friends: Charles Stanton, his business partner; Ann Peel, who works at their company; and Robert's sister, Betty, and her husband, Gordon, who is another partner in the firm. As the dinner winds down, the subject of Robert's brother's suicide the prior year comes up. Robert's brother, Martin, had died from a gunshot wound, which an investigation had ruled a suicide, brought on by his guilt over stealing some bonds from their company, of which he was also a partner. But now, during their dinner conversation, certain comments made by his companions don't add up in Robert's mind.
As he begins to question them, Freda confesses that she had been secretly in love with Martin, and Ann reveals that she has been holding a torch for Robert for years. It was this unspoken love which caused Ann to not speak honestly at the hearing into Martin's death, for she thought that it might have been Robert, not Martin, who stole the bonds. Betty announces that she has been in love with Charles, who then confesses to having stolen the bonds, in order to satisfy a debt owed by Betty, even though he has been in love with Ann.
Ann then confesses that Martin did not commit suicide as everyone thought, but that she accidentally shot him. Unable to deal with the guilt of all the confessions, Robert leaves the room and shoots himself. After a moment, time returns to the moment that the conversation started after dinner, but this time Charles begins by declaring his love for Ann and asking for her hand in marriage, who accepts.

Review: Virginia Bruce was a vision of blonde loveliness, who started off at Paramount in bit parts (lady in waiting to Jeanette MacDonald in "The Love Parade", one of the chorus girls in "Safety in Numbers") When she married John Gilbert, strangely her career took off (he was at the end of his career and sadly almost at the end of his life).
"Dangerous Corner" was made around this time and paired her with Melvyn Douglas.This is an interesting "what if" film from an intriguing play by J.B. Priestley.
The action takes place one night at a dinner party, a year after the suicide of one of the partners in a publishing firm and the theft of some bonds.
Gordon (Henry Wadsworth) is tuning the radio when a fuse goes and a game of tell the truth goes horribly wrong.I found it a fascinating film definitely helped by a superior cast.
Not only Virginia Bruce and Melvyn Douglas but Conrad Nagel, with his beautiful speaking voice (he was a founding member of the Academy of Motion Pictures).
Betty Furness was also good as the sweet young wife, whose life wasn't as happy as everyone thought.Recommended..
"Dangerous Corner" is a filmed stage play and is a fascinating character study of a group of people with skeletons cascading out of their respective closets.
Please note that 'on the surface' is the operative term in this engrossing film.All concerned turn in good performances and the dialogue ranges from clichéd to the profound to the philosophic, and you can't leave the room or else you'll lose the thread of the story - remember, it's only 65 minutes long and with a lot of plot squeezed in.This is a timeless parable about human frailty and appetites and layered relationships.
They think like us, exhibit our own doubts and weaknesses but all are in evening clothes and smoke and drink at all hours, all of which gives the proceedings a surreal feel, that we are eavesdropping on a living museum scene.
You think of how alien such a lifestyle seems today."Dangerous Corner" turned up on TCM the other morning and is not available in any format.
This film is full of surprises, twists and turns.
The whodunit theme has the added plus of making the viewer think about big issues like, "what is truth?"  The Dangerous Corner is taken when the main characters "spill their guts out" -- telling secrets and hidden feelings that lead only to conflict, hurt and despair.
The film supports the theory, "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie" -- purporting that the mind can only come up with meager "small truths".
Wonderful Virginia Bruce is on hand to admire, along with dapper Melvyn Douglas, Conrad Nagel and hammy Ian Keith.
I've watched this film many times and had great conversations with friends afterwards.
Clearly this script could not have been filmed without the invention of cigarettes - they are central to almost every scene and crucial to the turn of the plot itself.The plot is strong and rather typical of J B Priestly in that much of the drama consists of revelations and contradictions.
Plot— elite members of a publishing house gather for a celebratory evening only to find out one of their staff has apparently committed suicide.
In the emotional aftermath, a number of hidden truths emerge.There are elements of a mystery in the story, but overall, the film amounts to considerably more.
As a lesson in "sleeping dogs" the film succeeds brilliantly; as movie however, the narrative requires real patience.
Instead, the cast stands around in evening clothes and talks and talks-- it is, after all, a filmed stage play.
Except for actor Keith's overdone Martin, the acting helps by being nicely accomplished.Anyway, as a dramatized lesson in social truths, the movie rates highly.
Watch this movie from 1934 (from a 1932 English play by J.B. Priestley)to see how early the English-speaking elite began to smash up their values, with a direct path to the mayhem and anomie of the 1960s/70s, and now the politically correct straightjackets of the early 21st century.
Watch it to see what we need to recover...Priestley is of the GB Shaw school - tradition and the wisdom of our ancestors is out the window, with no one knowing at the time what great new world awaits us.
This is an intriquing mystery of a bond theft and a suicide (?) that is discussed by a group of people (connected with both) over dinner.
The ending leaves you with a feeling of "that's IT?!?!",& I'd recommend that you see it SEVERAL times before everything "sinks in"!.
A very young Melvyn Douglas gives quite a solid performance in this screen drama adapted from a successful stage play.
The film's origins are not at all disguised, and even the nice trick ending looks like the type of thing one would expect in theatre.
There are a number of curious ideas that are spread throughout the film, especially in terms of distorting the truth, however there's relatively little action, with events told through dialogue, which makes it a bit overly talkative and a tad confusing.
It is hard to know what to make of the film, but by the end I did not feel like much had happened, and therefore I can only half-heartedly recommend it, although Douglas fans are sure to delight at seeing him here so young..
Definitely based on a play, "Dangerous Corner" from 1934 is a dated melodrama starring Conrad Nagel, Melvyn Douglas, Virginia Bruce, Betty Furness, and Ian Keith.
The story begins with the suicide of Martin Chatfield; eventually, the film goes into flashback about what really happened on the night he died.
The film has an odd, twist ending.The premise is "let sleeping dogs lie," except during most of the film, they don't, with the various people who knew and worked with Martin revealing feelings and actions that are often painful.
It's a film about the upper class, as plays were before the "working man" plays of Odets.Conrad Nagel, who had been a matinée idol in the silent era, stars here.
Melvyn Douglas is very young and gives a good performance, and Virginia Bruce is absolutely beautiful.
The acting as can be expected is a little on the melodramatic side as was the style then.The problem with this story as a film is that it is very static and all talk with no action.Certainly worth seeing for the young Douglas, Bruce, and the small role played by Ian Keith who was so fabulous in "Nightmare Alley.".
B. Priestley's talkathon stage whodunit (or "howdunit") to the screen with a handsome cast and slightly expanded environment (from a single large room to three different rooms and a patio).
The play suggested that the little dishonesties of everyday social life are preferable to unabashed truth telling, which if unhindered would cause mayhem and suffering.
The problem with the original play was that it was populated by an after- dinner gathering of undistinguished characters (partners in a publishing firm and their spouses) conversing endlessly about whether one of their colleagues stole a sum of money before committing suicide one year previously.
The concept and execution are mildly interesting at best, rather like a Noel Coward drawing room play minus the wit and humor.
At his best, Priestley wrote beautifully about ordinary people but was also fascinated by paranormal theories of Time.
He plays with Time a bit here too, in ways I won't detail, in order to explore what might have happened had certain people kept their mouths shut.
Conrad Nagel and Virginia Bruce, previously paired in "Kongo," try their best, as do Erin O'Brien Moore, Doris Lloyd, Betty Furness and others, but the results are never more than mild.
Ian Keith, who plays the dead man in flashback, has the most colorful role but the production code enforcement which took effect the year this film was made cannot refer to his drug addiction, so he comes off as just wacky..
I passed by the bond theft and supposed suicide which were a spin of accusations,(secret loves are disclosed; sham marriages revealed; questions about who shot Martin fly everywhere) preferring to ponder on the character of Maude Mockeridge, famous author.
(She reminded me of Joan Hickson as Miss Marple, though in a more glamorous tone).In the opening scene: Ann (a partner in a publishing business) is about to host a breakfast interview on her apartment balcony for romance author Maud Mockeridge.
They discuss her new book "Ecstasy" and a possible contract.Later that morning Ann joins the publishing group and joyfully announces that she has secured a three year contact with Miss Mockeridge.
Six months later "Emma The Passionate" and in one year "Sleeping Dog".The twist at the end?
When you watch "Dangerous Corner", you can't help but see that it was originally a play...and the screenwriter did a poor job translating it to the big screen.
The film is very talky, poorly paced and is above all...dull.
You would think a film beginning with a suicide would be exciting...well, you'd be wrong.
What follows is a very mannered film where slowly various skeletons come tumbling out of the various characters' closets.
What makes it all worse is come very bad and thoroughly unbelievable dialog...dialog that no real human beings EVERY spoke in real life...ever.See this mystery film if you'd like.
Largely of interest only as a historical piece, a document of movies made from the factory mill of drawing room stage plays of the period.
It's part domestic drama, part detective movie, with supposedly sophisticated repartee with drinks, mild references to sex, affairs, marriage and relationships, with some high-minded talk about truth and - perhaps self-referentially - plot devices holding it all together.
Except for a few slight flourishes, it's little more than a filmed play, with full shots interspersed with a few two- and three-shots.
That said, the performances are expertly delivered, with Melvyn Douglas particularly good and charismatic as the single-man charmer who is after the leading lady, well played by Virginia Bruce.
It goes down fairly easily, and the 'smart' lines, many expertly delivered as slight aphorisms by Doris Lloyd - playing a writer and so a kind of bemused commentator and proxy for the author on the unfolding drama.
It manages to retain a realistic depiction of human behavior without actually breaking the code.The film has to do with five young people working at a publishing concern.
Ann (Virginia Bruce) is "burning the publishing business at both ends" and has a frustrated and long term suitor in the person of Charles (Melvyn Douglas).
One of the members of the firm (Conrad Nagel as Chatfield) has forgotten his anniversary, and the other guys help him out by arranging a party at the office for the couple.
Charles opens the safe and declares that the bond is missing.
Everyone at the party denies knowing what happened to the money and all four men who worked in the office had keys to the safe.
Only Martin is not at the office that day, and Charles drives out to talk with him about the matter the next morning.
Everyone thus assumes Martin stole the money.A year passes and the young people running the publishing concern along with their wives are having another party.
The conversation then turns to Martin and the events of the year before.
Confession follows confession as a true picture of what really happened comes together and friendships and marriages are smashed.
What really happened is that there actually was a spare tube for the radio and the festivities continued unabated by probing conversation.What is interesting is that all that is being admitted here is that the conversation never took place - that doesn't mean that the dirty dark secrets in the alternate chain of events weren't necessarily real, it just means whatever secrets there are pertaining to the events of the year before remain unspoken.
The movie raises the interesting question - if knowing the absolute truth does no good and only serves to break everyone's spirit and faith in what they hold fast to in life, does it serve a purpose in having it known?
It's an interesting question that is left as open as the resolution of this film.
Two "Movie Different Than Original Play" Plot Points.
That's because Hollywood left out what the original play revealed: Gordon was in love with Martin.Knowing that fact helps you understand why Betty was unhappy, and unhappy in a way that someone might hide from friends and family (particularly in that era).Leaving that plot point out doesn't ruin the movie, it just leaves Gordon standing around a lot at the end.Also, the play ends as soon as you get past the point where Gordon gets the radio going -- the secrets will not be unraveled after all, but you're left with the sense that these "happy" people have merely avoided what will eventually all come out with devastating results.
****SPOILERS**** It's just a typical day at the office with Ann and Charles, Virgina Bruce & Melvyn Douglas, horsing around with each other as the guy running the place, a big time New York publishing firm, Robert, Conrad Nagel, is hard at work in his business of getting clients with interesting and money making manuscripts to have him put their work on the market.
This sets off a panic between those responsible for keeping McIntyre's money in a safe place with among the four who have the key to the safe Charles Robert Godon,Henry Wodsworth, and Martin, Ian Keith, it's Martin who's not accounted for at the office.
With Charles driving over to Martin's place to see if he's holding something back from him Robert & Gordon he's found lying on the floor shot to death with a bullet in his chest!It's now a year later with Martin's death ruled a suicide by a court of inquiry everyone who was around on that fateful day including Gordon's 18 year old wife Betty, Betty Furness, get together for a nighttime tea party to talk over events of the day.
With no music to relax and dance too all the people at the party start to run off their mouths about the only person not there Martin and what they did on the day of his death one year ago when he killed himself!
And it's that loose talk that brings out the real truth of Martin's death that everyone at the party had kept hidden from both the court of inquiry as well as themselves!****SPOILERS**** The film "Dangerous Corner" brings out how people when not occupied with the trivial things in life can really put their minds to work and come up with thought-provoking ides and insights in their lives and the lives of others!
Martin was dead and buried for a year with no one wanting to go beyond the fact that he killed himself when it was about to be discovered that he stole McIntyre's Bond.
As the truth started coming out among those at the party the truth was far more different then what was publicly known about the dead Martin.
And that truth would have never came to see the light of day, even though the events took place at night, if Gordon somehow found a new tube for the radio to keep the music playing and keep his as well as everyone else at the party occupied with it!
*****MAJOR SPOILER**** It's then when you think that it's all over with the films sad and depressing ending you unexpectedly find out that there's another side to it!
And then like radio commentator Paul Harvey used to say "Now here's the rest of the Story"..
It's a little surprising to see that "Dangerous Corner" was released in late 1934, because it has the kind of openness, honesty and cynicism about love and marriage (and crime) that is usually associated with pre-code movies.
Then again, if the IMDb trivia is true, there were even more daring elements in the play (like homosexuality and drug addiction) that were taken out of the film (and it probably is true - after all, Gordon is the one character whose "secret" we never learn and Martin acts too bizarrely to be merely "drunk").
Many people will probably see themselves in this movie - and then prefer not to talk about that!
Copyright 17 October 1934 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. No recorded New York opening.
Are the publisher's wife and his associates involved?NOTES: The highly acclaimed Priestley play opened in the West End at the Lyric on 17 May 1932, running a most satisfactory 151 performances.
Not unexpectedly, the play did even better on Broadway - at this time, British shows were all the rage on the New York stage, often to the exclusion of native talent - opening at the Empire on 27 October 1932 for a set engagement of 210 performances.
Naturally, such a huge success was eagerly snapped up by Hollywood, but by the time the film appeared, interest in the play had lapsed to such an extent that RKO was unable to secure a New York showcase, despite the film's top-drawer cast of popular players.
Early in his career, he hit upon the device of playing around with Time.
What do you think?In Dangerous Corner, the action hinges on a valve.
In the first, he tells what happened to our merry group of partying characters when the radio was silenced and they were forced to sit around and tell a few home truths to each other concerning their relationship and dealings with a former partner of their publishing firm who committed suicide.
In the second version of the same story, a replacement valve is available, the radio sparks back into life and the actors are silenced.
Ho-hum.Beyond two prologue scenes, the adapters have done nothing to open out the play.
Melvyn Douglas is charmingly gallant, while Virginia Bruce - despite odd make-up, presumably designed to make her look older - and Betty Furness furnish "soul".