The Dark Past (1948)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

"The Dark Past" is a remake of the 1939 picture "Blind Alley" which starred Chester Morris and Ralph Bellamy. In this newer version, William Holden and Lee J. Cobb play these roles.The film begins with a prison break. Al Walker (Holden) is the leader of the band of thugs and he murders the Warden (who they've taken hostage) just for kicks. He decides the gang will NOT hold up in one of the empty vacation homes nearby but one with people in it. This way, he figures, the cops won't suspect where they are hiding. The home happens to be filled with quite a few people, as Dr. Collins and his family are hosting a dinner party. Soon, all of them are prisoners and hoping that the gang doesn't kill them. As for Dr. Collins, he is a psychiatrist and plays a mental game of cat and mouse with Walker.In many ways, this film is reminiscent of "Suddenly" and "The Desperate Hours"---both films about families being held hostage by killers. All of these are very good films and what sets this film apart is the psychiatrist angle. I enjoyed the film, though as a trained psychotherapist I should point out that Dr. Collins' approach is very Freudian...and rarely used today by therapists. Dream interpretation and mother blaming are rarely discussed in therapy today. And, folks like Walker are NOT cured so quickly and easily!! Ridiculous, sure...but still entertaining.While I rarely say this, I think this film is actually a bit better than the original. Much of this is due to William Holden's more realistic and less sensationalistic performance.

THE DARK PAST is notable only for giving WILLIAM HOLDEN a chance to get away momentarily from the "Smiling Jim" kind of roles audiences were used to seeing him play throughout most of his early career.It's a film that came along at a time when Hollywood was discovering psychiatric themes (SPELLBOUND, THE SNAKE PIT), but it's minor league compared to those two breakthrough films.The script is a simplistic tale of a killer whose demons are exposed by a pipe-smoking psychologist (LEE J. COBB in a good performance), who explains to the hot-headed killer why he's motivated to kill. Seems there's a Freudian explanation involving a mother complex and a much hated father figure. What seems even more improbable than Cobb's one dimensional analysis is the fact that Holden, a hot-tempered guy who calls everything he can't understand "screwy", would even listen to Cobb for a single moment.Nor is NINA FOCH the best choice to play a gun moll, but she does the chore nicely enough to be forgiven in a role that would have been more suitable for someone like Gloria Grahame. Foch is attractive as the moll who is trying to understand Holden's situation while at the same time keeping Cobb's house guests under tight control.ELLEN CORBY is mind-numbingly silly as a whimpering housemaid bound in the cellar but all the other supporting roles are nicely handled.It's just that the material seems basically hokey by today's standards. Mercifully, the film runs a brief 75 minutes under Rudolph Mate's direction.Summing up: Holden gives it his all as a mentally unhinged killer, but it's an uphill battle against a mediocre script and simplistic solutions. Dated elements hold it back.

I agree with most of the other reviewers: it's dated, but I enjoyed watching it late at night on TCM when the rest of TV is junk.It was interesting to see Lee J. Cobb do a laid-back role (Dr. Collins), when he usually plays a much darker character. Handsome and much younger William Holden ("Al" somebody) played the psycho, escaped convict-with-a-problem. How convenient he barges into psychiatrist "Dr. Collins'" weekend lodge-party and gets healed. During this process, we get the idea "Al" may have wanted to do sexier things with "mom" while dad is away. Nina Foch, as his mob-gal, plays a very smoothe lady, but her hand is always in her pocket, on her gun. No doubt, she'd rather have her hand in "Al's" pocket....the usual gimmicks are used in this movie as all of its genre do. Although it's a ho-hummer, I enjoyed it.Actually I have a ulterior motive in writing this: paired with it, a movie called "Suddenly" with Frank Sinatra and (somebody) Hayden. Frankie-Boy had just won an Oscar for "From Here to Eternity", and became an overnight acting-sensation; Hayden was an established actor. You will not find this film on IMDb: almost the same plot at "Past", except Sinatra is going to assassinate a US president, whose train is stopping in the tiny town of "Suddenly". It is based on Eisenhower's trips to Palm Springs (pre-US-1 'copters). After the film was edited, Sinatra was horrified to discover that Lee Harvey Oswald had seen it just before the JFK assassination. He demanded it be shelved, and won....big star, he was; most of his scenes were shot in one take. Therefore, if you ever run-across it, look at it - you'll be seeing an "old" movie become a "new". It's fairly done by rote, but interesting and gives us a notion of all the hullabaloo that happens when a US prez comes to town, in earlier times (usually by train). One of Sinatra's lines is: "They taught me to do it (kill), and I liked it". I say that a lot about teaching young soldiers to become instant killers.....gotta give this movie an 8.......

Holden had a great eye for a good script and always chose interesting three-dimensional characters and interesting situations. Other than this one, that is. Terribly dated and talky psychological drama that goes nowhere slow. One can only think Holden was forced to work on this picture, which hits you over the head with salvo after salvo of predictable psuedo-psychological double talk and laughable explorations into "hidden traumatic childhood incidents" intended to sensitively explicate present behavior in painfully simplistic terms. There is much unintentional laughter, but this is not a fun or funny movie. The great Lee J. Cobb is particularly wasted in a do-nothing part. Do yourself a favor and go rent BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI or SUNSET BOULEVARD or STALAG 17 and put this psychobabble snoozefest back on the shelf.