Dark Passage (1947)

A man convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison and works with a woman to try and prove his innocence.

Director:

Delmer Daves

Writers:

Delmer Daves (screen play by), David Goodis (from the novel by)

Stars:

Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bruce Bennett

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Humphrey Bogart	...	Vincent Parry
Lauren Bacall	...	Irene Jansen
Bruce Bennett	...	Bob
Agnes Moorehead	...	Madge Rapf
Tom D'Andrea	...	Cabby - Sam
Clifton Young	...	Baker
Douglas Kennedy	...	Detective
Rory Mallinson	...	George Fellsinger
Houseley Stevenson	...	Dr. Walter Coley
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Alvin	...	Blackie (scenes deleted)

Storyline

Bogart plays a man convicted of murdering his wife who escapes from prison in order to prove his innocence. Bogart finds that his features are too well known, and is forced to seek some illicit backroom plastic surgery. The entire pre-knife part of the film is shot from a Bogart's-eye-view, with us seeing the fugitive for the first time as he starts to recuperate from the operation in the apartment of a sympathetic young artist (played by Bacall) for whom he soon finds affection. But what he's really after is revenge.

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Plot Keywords:

fugitive | miscarriage of justice | murder | plastic surgery | subjective camera | 

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Taglines:

Two Of A Kind ! Tough . . . Torrid . . . Terrific !

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Genres:

Film-Noir | Thriller

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 September 1947 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dark Passage

Filming Locations:

The Malloch Apartment Building - 1360 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$9,693

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Warner Brothers studio head Jack L. Warner was not pleased to discover that the face of one of his biggest stars, Humphrey Bogart, is not seen for the first half of the movie. But the time Warner knew this, the film was too far along to be changed.

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Goofs

At the start of the film when you see a truck driving with a bunch of barrels; there is a solo barrel placed on the edge of the tailgate. But on the following cut as the truck passes a curve; that solo barrel is not seen. Then on the next cut after that, the barrel reappears.

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Quotes

Bob: Just pick up the sofa and throw it at her. That'll make her catch on.

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Connections

Referenced in Hamlet (2000)

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Soundtracks

Someone to Watch Over Me
(uncredited)
Music by George Gershwin
Played on the phonograph when Parry comes downstairs

User Reviews

Agnes Moorehead steals the show!

Even if she has only two or three scenes she steals them all.And it speaks volumes when the stars are Bogart and Bacall.

This is my favorite B/B among the four films they made together."The big sleep" has a plot I've never understood -Hawks used to say it was the same to him-,"to have and to have not" fails to excite me (Bogart a resistant and Gaulliste at that!"Key Largo",on the other hand, is a close second to Daves' movie .

Not that the subjective viewpoint/camera was that much new.Robert Montgomery filmed his hero the same way in 1946 ("Lady in the lake" ,and we only saw his reflection in the mirrors).Hitchcock knew the technique as well and he used it with virtuosity during short sequences.But Daves who is best remembered for his westerns ("broken arrow") pulls it off effortlessly.The depth of field gives a dreamlike atmosphere to the first sequences with Bacall and the surgeon -dream which becomes nightmare during the operation when Bogart sees in his bad dream all the characters involved in the story- There are plot holes of course,particularly Madge 's character .Parry is in Irene's house and presto here she comes.It takes all Agnes Moorehead's talent to give this woman substance.

The first third is Bogartless,as an user points out.But he could add that the last third is almost Bacallless too.

Only the ending,which I will not reveal of course ,is not worthy of a film noir!Maybe the producers imposed it.