The Dark Past (1948)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Rudolph Maté

Writers:

Michael Blankfort (writer)
Albert Duffy (writer)

Release Date:

25 April 1949 (Sweden)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir

Tagline:

SENSATIONAL SUSPENSE DRAMA! (original print media ad - all caps)

Plot:

Crazed killer takes psychologist hostage.

Plot Keywords:

Dream | Hostage | Psychologist | Killer | Leitmotif

Cast

William Holden	...	Al Walker
Nina Foch	...	Betty
Lee J. Cobb	...	Dr. Andrew Collins
Adele Jergens	...	Laura Stevens
Stephen Dunne	...	Owen Talbot
Lois Maxwell	...	Ruth Collins
Berry Kroeger	...	Mike
Steven Geray	...	Prof. Fred Linder
Wilton Graff	...	Frank Stevens
Robert Osterloh	...	Pete
Kathryn Card	...	Nora

Also Known As:

Hearsay (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #13240) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Movie Connections:

Remake of Blind Alley (1939)

Soundtrack:

Air

Dated psychological drama with simplistic solution...

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.