Dark Passage (1947)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I love Bogey and Becall, but this is, by far, their weakest collaboration. The whole film felt disjointed to me. None of the characters' motivations made much sense and the "mystery" of the plot was too thin and uninterested.Bogart is Vincent, wrongly convicted of murdering his wife. He's recently escaped and needs to prove his innocence. Bacall is Irene, a woman who helps him for the very thinnest of reasons. Agnes Moorehead (Bewitched) is Madge, a former lover of Vincent's who is also a friend of Irene's. Bob (Bruce Bennett) is a current "friend" of Irene's although its not really clear just how friendly they are. Clifton Young is a creepy guy named Baker who tries to capitalize on Vincent's predicament. Finally, Rory Mallison is Vincent's only real friend, George.Most of the scenes are through Vincent's eyes so you never see what Vincent looks like. He decides to get plastic surgery to change his appearance and, lo and behold, he looks like Humphrey Bogart. The plot device was poorly handled, but it was better than its use in Lady in the Lake. As I said earlier, the plot was very weak. I never got a feel that Irene's reasons for helping Vincent made a lot of sense. The search for the real killer was not very interesting and its ultimate reveal was anti-climatic. Bob is a throw away character who seems present just to give you another character to think about as the killer. Madge is over-the-top and unconvincing as someone Vincent would be interested in. Baker is an interesting guy, but he too is such a dolt, that his plans are pretty dumb. Mallison is good as Vincent's friend, George, and I wish they could have had more scenes together as Bogart and Mallison had some good chemistry, but it wasn't developed so you never really felt their comaraderie. Lastly, the fact that Vincent, Irene, and Madge all run in the same circles, but Vincent and Irene did not know each other was a bit too coincidental for my taste. It actually would have advanced the plot, in my opinion, if they did know each other prior to the events of the film. There was absolutely zero chemistry between Bogart and Bacall in this movie. Odd, since they were married at the time and would be so good together a year later in Key Largo. I'm gonna put this on the director Delmer Daves because the movie felt completely awkward from start to finish. As a lover of film noir, this was a disappointing entry in the genre.

Bogie doesn't make his first appearance until half-way through "Dark Passage" though we hear his voice from the outset. He's an escaped prisoner and we see things through his eyes. He's doing life for the murder of his wife but he's innocent. He's picked up on the road by Lauren Bacall who knows who he is and who wants to help him. One reason we don't actually see Bogie is, for reasons of the plot, he has to have his face remodelled and it's only after the bandages come off we get to see those famously craggy features.The director of this immensely stylish and underrated noir was Delmer Daves and David Goodis wrote the original novel. The initial trick of everything being seen though Bogart's eyes, (in other words, him 'being' the camera), does get a little tiresome but it's got a strong narrative and any movie that gives Agnes Moorehead a good, meaty role worthy of her talent is always welcome.The weak link is Bacall who, after her stunning debut in "To Have and Have Not" never did anything as good again. Here she has to address the camera a good deal but never looks comfortable doing it. On the plus side it's very stylishly photographed by Sidney Hickox making very good use of the San Francisco locations and there's two terrific supporting turns from TomD'Andrea as a friendly cabbie and Clifton Young as the guy who first picks Bogie up on the road but isn't all he seems. It remains an unjustly neglected picture.

A star vehicle for Bogart and Bacall, the third among their total four collaborations, DARK PASSAGE is produced in the apex of film-noir fad, Bogart plays Vincent Parry, a convict who has been accused of murdering his wife, is bent on finding the real killer after stowing away on a supply truck out of San Quentin prison in the opening scenes. A conspicuous gambit is from the word go, directer Delmer Daves has been obstinately taking a first-person perspective of the narrative, accompanied by Bogart's voice-over narrating his inner thoughts, but never puts Vincent's visage in front of the camera, not until well over an hour into the movie, would we see Bogart's weather-beaten face for the first time, simply because, before that point, Vincent doesn't have a face like Bogart's! It is a novel move to tap into the facing-changing gimmick, although the film ineptly takes oceanic artistic license to justify/simplify the whole enterprise, from the Good Samaritan cabbie ( D'Andrea), surely is a chatty loner, who implausibly proposes the idea to Vincent after recognizing him, a wife-murder on the lam, not even for a monetary gain, to a shaggy-dog looking doctor (Stevenson)'s seemingly dubious business, until the pitch-perfect debut of a brand new face without any traceable marks left (an in-joke is to make Vincent look older than his real age, at the expense of Bogart's senescent bearing and his May-December marriage with Bacall), it might be able to pull the wool over the eyes of audience at that time, but viewed as this day, unintentionally it looks more like droll derision to the orthopaedic progression than anything scintillating. Flimsy on reasoning and far-fetched in pigeonholing a grand scheme into a meagre group of players (perusing the not-so-long cast list, a film connoisseur could winnow out who would be most adequate to assume the role of final revelation without any trouble), in fact, the film's whodunit convolution undeservedly concedes the spotlight to the mawkish romance between Vincent and Irene Jansen (Bacall), that's the selling point! The latter, a strong-willed rich gal, incorrigibly falls for a presumed wife-murderer, her undoubted certitude of the former's innocence is thinly based on preconceived notion and if taking out of the context of the two stars' personal intimacy, their liaison doesn't make sense in either way, but as usual, the girl's motivation bears the brunt of character underdevelopment, since Bogart's Vincent at least evokes a dew-eyed veneer of passivity in all the pandemonium which can allure those soft-hearted.On the plus side, Ms. Moorehead is fiercely catty and menacing to a fault, Daves makes impressive uses of San Francisco's film-genic topography and its art deco trimmings, together with DP Sidney Hickox's sharply expressive deep-focus shots, on top of a cock and bull escapist tale tempered by a soupçon of schmaltz and a big chunk of wishfulness.

To enjoy this movie you have to completely deaden your disbelief monitor. I mean the story is idiotic however it does move along and keep your interest and it is fun to believe it possible. One of my main interests was the scenery of 40s San Francisco when the US was still as Trump would say a great country.Bacall is 24 when this was made and Bogart 49. I got tired of viewing the glowing pans of her face and anorexic body. Bogart is much more watchable and down to earth. I knew the score it became popular in and of itself.It gets a star for the noir quality... The bad guy gets away in a sense...usually this doesn't happen by Hollywood's code.As an aside I have used Netflix but Amazon Prime offers a lot better selection...and comes free with the prime membership. It will shut down Netflix for me...(who knows but the competition helps)..RECOMMEND