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:

IN DANGER AS VIOLENT AS THEIR LOVE!!! (one-sheet poster)

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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:

Das unbekannte Gesicht

Filming Locations:

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

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 Bros. paid $25,000 for the rights to the David Goodis novel, which was serialized in The Saturday Evening Post from July 20-September 7, 1946.

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Goofs

The blackmailer advises Parry to escape to Mexico via a small border town called Benton, Arizona. The correct name is Benson.

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Quotes

Madge Rapf: I've cried myself to sleep at night because of you. She's got you now. She wants you very badly doesn't she? She's willing to run away with you and keep on running and ruin everything for herself. But she wouldn't care because she'd be with you and that's what she wants. Well she doesn't have you now. She'll never have you. Nobody will ever have you! And that's the way I want it! You're nothing but an escaped convict. Nobody knows what you wrote down. They'll believe me! They'll believe me!

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Connections

Featured in Pretty Little Liars: Hot for Teacher (2014)

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Soundtracks

Avalon
(uncredited)
Music by Vincent Rose
(based on "E lucevan le stelle" in the opera "Tosca" by Giacomo Puccini)
Played on the car radio at the beginning

User Reviews

Solid, If Offbeat, Crime/Noir Feature

While the least-known and, really, the least impressive of the Bogart/Bacall features, this is still a solid, if rather offbeat, movie that combines a film-noir atmosphere with a gimmick that is meant to drive most of the story. The gimmick works moderately well, though it is really just a diverting sideline to the main drama and acting, which are what really make the movie work.

The premise is interesting enough, at least for a while, and it is interesting to see just how long they can go without showing the face of Bogart's character. They might have stretched it out just a bit too long, since there is more than enough in the rest of the plot to make any further use of the device unnecessary. Bacall and Bogart work together well from the beginning. In itself, the pairing works almost as well here as in their three better-known movies together - it's just that here there is a less for them to work with.

The two stars do get plenty of help from Agnes Moorehead, who plays her role with relish. Tom D'Andrea and Bruce Bennett help out when they get the chance. Delmer Daves also creates a generally believable atmosphere to serve as the background to the story, and to help get it past the less plausible stretches. Overall, while hardly up to the high standard of the other Bogart/Bacall pairings, "Dark Passage" is a solid if unspectacular feature that is worth seeing if you like the stars and/or the genre.