Dark Passage (1947) User Reviews (188)

The Softer Side of Bogart and Bacall

[dtb · 8/10 · 9 June 2005]

The absorbing documentary featurette on the DVD edition of the 1947 mystery DARK PASSAGE (DP) suggests that Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall's participation in the star-studded Committee for the First Amendment, intended to defend colleagues called before the HUAC, might have been the reason that DP wasn't as big a hit as the real/reel-life couple's earlier screen collaborations. However, I suspect that audiences past and present may have found DP harder to cozy up to because, instead of the cool, insolent, wisecracking Bogart & Bacall of TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT and THE BIG SLEEP, this film version of David Goodis' novel THE DARK ROAD presents a more melancholy, vulnerable Bogart & Bacall -- which is not at all a bad thing, just unexpected from this star team at that time. That Bogart & Bacall chemistry is still there, but it's sweeter here, as if they'd decided to let down their collective guard and allow tenderness to take over. Instead of the cocksure Bogart character we all know and love, DP protagonist Vincent Parry is wary, fearful, fumbling in his attempts to clear himself of his wife's murder and elude the cops like he escapes from prison in the film's opening scenes. His only allies include the mysterious Irene Jansen (Bacall), who followed his case during his trial and ends up in a position to help hide him while he proves his innocence, and Sam (Tom D'Andrea), a kindly, lonesome cabbie who steers Parry to a back-alley plastic surgeon (Houseley Stevenson) to get a new face to help him fly under the law's radar.

1947 was The Year of the Subjective Camera, with DP's first hour shot from Bogart's point of view and Robert Montgomery's film adaptation of Raymond Chandler's LADY IN THE LAKE (which I've discussed elsewhere on the IMDb) using the technique throughout. Unlike LADY..., DP's plastic surgery gimmick provides a good plot reason for the audience not to initially see Bogart's face, though we frequently hear that unmistakable Bogart voice to make up for it. We also get to see the lovely Bacall and lots of spellbinding character actors in lieu of Bogie. There isn't an uninteresting face or a bad performance in the bunch, with standout performances from the leads, D'Andrea, Stevenson (wise, kindly, and vaguely sinister all at once), Rory Mallinson as Parry's musician friend, the ever-dependable Bruce Bennett, cheap hood Clifton Young (with an oily grin and a cleft chin that looks like it got lost on the way to Cary Grant's face), and especially the magnificent Agnes Moorehead as Madge Rapf, the kind of woman who won't join any club that'll have her as a member, a stylish dame who spreads stress and misery wherever she goes. Sticking her nose into everyone's business, Madge manages to lure people to her and push them away at the same time, and if she can't have you, she'll make damn sure nobody else canhave you, even if that means murder. With her delivery dripping honey one minute and venom the next (especially in her climactic scene with Bogart), the quicksilver Moorehead's commanding presence and her unconventional, undeniably striking good looks ensure that you can't take your eyes off her whenever she's on screen.

If you're looking for a tight mystery plot, look elsewhere. While DP has many suspenseful moments, it's primarily a character study and a mood piece about loneliness, redemption, and starting over, with a strong undercurrent of postwar paranoia, all underscored beautifully by Franz Waxman's stirring music (with contributions by an uncredited Max Steiner). The bus station scene is a touching example of this. But the reactions of people who meet Parry with his post-op face and new name, "Allan Linnell," are so suspicious I wondered if writer/director Delmer Daves (who cameos as the photo of Irene's doomed dad. His real-life kids have bit parts, too) was indicating that Parry was really projecting his own paranoia onto the people around him. His new name in particular makes people look at him like he just dropped in from the planet Neptune: "Linnell? That's a very unusual name." What's so freakin' unusual about it?! What, it's not blandly Anglo-Saxon enough? I wonder if John Linnell of They Might Be Giants fame ever had to field such questions...but I digress... :-)

Even when DP drops the subjective camera style so we can see Bogart in all his glory, the visuals are striking thanks to Sid Hickox's moody black-and-white photography (although with the emphasis on Madge's love of all things orange, I can imagine a partly-colorized version a la SIN CITY, with everything black-and-white except Madge's orange clothes and belongings... :-) and some innovative visual techniques. I particularly liked the use of the glass floor when Bogart discovers a dead body -- a tip of the hat to Alfred Hitchcock's THE LODGER, perhaps? Speaking of Hitchcock, DP and Hitch's 1958 classic VERTIGO might make an interesting double feature since they share themes of loss, loneliness, new identities and fresh starts as well as a San Francisco setting. If you want to see a softer side of Bogart & Bacall, DP is well worth watching. You may also enjoy the DVD's other fun extras, like the original theatrical trailer (for me, the hyperbole of that era's movie trailers is part of their charm) and SLICK HARE, one of the Bugs Bunny cartoons affectionately lampooning Bogart (rumor has it that Bogart liked to pal around with the animators at Warner Bros.' "Termite Terrace" and he actually did his own voice work for SLICK HARE and 8-BALL BUNNY).

You're too marvelous, too marvelous for words....

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 22 May 2005]

"Dark Passage" offers a different take on the San Francisco noir genre. This is a movie in which we get to know about the story that unfolds in front of us told in narrative style by the hero, who is never seen until about one hour into the picture. Delmer Daves, adapting the David Goodis novel has created something seldom seen in this type of films, in which, the hero's presence is required at all times.

The film has a great style, as it offers a view of the San Francisco of the 1940s in ways that hadn't been seen before. The director was lucky to be able to open up the book in excellent ways to keep the viewer hooked from the start. The 'moderne' style of that era is seen in glorious detail, especially Irene's apartment, where much of the action takes place. The effect of the glassed enclosed elevator makes a dramatic contribution to the look of this movie.

The story of an innocent man, falsely condemned to prison for killing his own wife, parallels other movies. What's unusual here is that the presence of this convict is seen in another light with his own slant in to what really happened to the dead woman. There are other elements in the film that make it appealing. as the relationship between the escaped man, Vincent Parry, and the woman who rescues him, Irene Jansen.

Sidney Hickox's stylish cinematography is one of the best assets of the film. The crisp images that one sees of the city, or the surrounding areas, add to the enjoyment of watching the mystery unfold. The mood is set by the swing music of the time as Frank Waxman's score is heard. Richard Whiting contributes the great song one hears in the background.

The film is dominated by Humphrey Bogart, which says a lot about his power as an actor, and as a personality. When one considers he is actually not seen completely until after an hour into the movie, it speaks volumes of how the actor and the director were able to pull it through. The Irene Jansen of Lauren Bacall is another of the things that work in the film. Ms. Bacall's radiant beauty dominates every scene she is in. This actress had such a style that no matter what she is doing, she pulls our attention to her. The camera loved Ms. Bacall.

The other best thing going for the film is the strong performances Mr. Daves has obtained from his cast. Agnes Moorehead makes a phenomenal appearance as the evil Madge Rapf. Her last scene with Mr. Bogart stands as one of the best moments in a film noir of the era. Ms. Moorehead's expressions as she is confronted with the facts, keep on changing as she absorbs everything being thrown at her. Clifton Young who plays Baker, the opportunistic would be criminal, is also effective, as he adds a layer of intrigue with an angle we didn't figure out existed. His fight with Parry at the bottom of the Golden Gate bridge is beautifully choreographed. Finally, the kind cab driver Sam, who helps Parry assume a new identity, as played by Tom D'Andrea is one of the highlights of the film, as well as the plastic surgeon, portrayed by Houseley Stevenson.

This film, while not perfect, shows how well Delmer Dave's gamble paid in his conception for the film.

"When I get excited about something I give it everything I have, I'm funny that way."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 2 April 2006]

Mysterious strangers keep popping up at just the right time to aid Vincent Parry (Humphrey Bogart), convicted for the murder of his wife and on the lam from San Quentin. Watching this film requires a healthy dose of detachment from reality as the situations presented all feel like contrivances to keep the story moving along. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy the film as a noirish thriller, but when unbelievable elements get in the way they have to be acknowledged.

The first half of the movie is told in a first person narrative style that has the viewer looking through Parry's eyes, a device necessary to avoid showing the face we'll recognize later as Bogey's own. I've got to admit that after repeated viewings, the film's style has me subconsciously recalling Christopher Walken's turn as The Continental on 'Saturday Night Live', and with it an involuntary chuckle. The feeling reaches it's crescendo with the appearance of Dr. Coley (Houseley Stevenson), the back alley surgeon who performs Parry's transformation. Where else can you get your face changed at three in the morning, and arranged no less by a cab driver on a first name basis with the doc? Why haven't we seen Stevenson in more mad scientist films of the era, he looks perfect for the job.

Bogey's third team up with the Mrs., Lauren Bacall, is probably the one that most dramatizes the differences in their age. One almost questions what Irene Jansen sees in Parry, other than her belief in the innocence of his wife's murder; her father was framed the same way. Jansen's obsession with Parry's case has her giving him shelter during the post op. Did you wonder as I did why Bacall's character might have had a man's razor in her bathroom?

Consider if you will how inept the authorities were in tracking down their man. Parry really shouldn't have been so hard to find, like Clint Eastwood, he leaves dead bodies wherever he goes. If you pause your video player and proceed frame by frame, you'll notice how the detective who accompanies Parry out of the diner doesn't really get hit by a car, he actually jumps into the side of it as Vincent makes his getaway. I wonder why the scene was left that way, a retake or better editing job would have made it more believable.

The one superb casting decision was Agnes Moorehead as the vile scorned woman Madge, a former flame of Parry who epitomizes the description of a match made in hell. Wasn't she great? That look on her face when Vincent slowly turns the knife on his identity should be acting school required viewing. But come on, didn't she know the window was there? OK, maybe it was a suicide, but she should have needed a hammer to break it!

The movie's final curtain lowers in a café in Peru, but not the one in Indiana - Bogey and Bacall in a clinch, just the way they were meant to be. One good reason for Bogey to keep talking to himself.

That guy Baker was a "Little Rascal."

[copper1963 · 9/10 · 13 May 2006]

Sadly, or perhaps not, most condemned prisoners do not have a dame, a dude, and a plastic surgeon around to break their falls when they escape. But when Bogart busts out of the big house, San Quentin, the Good Samaritans start popping up like dandelions. His method of escape is to throw himself down a steep incline in a steel barrel. The cameraman rides tandem and becomes his eyes and point-of-view. Bogart hitches a ride with a nosy fellow I've seen before in the movies. He has deep-set eyes and a divot in his chin. Bogart quickly dispatches the mug to dreamland and ventures out into an uncertain landscape of creeps and coppers. Instead, Bogart catches a break: he discovers he has a groupie played by Lauren Bacall. She is out painting landscapes when she hears the bulletin over the radio. She knows everything about his case. She even sat in the courtroom during his trial. She felt he got a raw deal. The dude he meets is a close friend who plays the horn. He allows Bogart safe haven to rest. Incredibly, Bogart steps into the cab of yet another sympathetic character. The cabbie guides him to a doctor who wields a wild scalpel. Bogart's ex-flame also knows Bacall--and is a royal pain in the neck. The coincidences pile up higher than The Golden Gate Bridge. Bogie and Bacall may have more well known films on their resumes, but this one will keep a big fat smile on your face.

Supporting Actors Outshine Two Stars

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 9 March 2006]

Watching a "feature" on the DVD the other day after viewing this movie, it was interesting to hear that "Dark Passage" was never a popular film despite the headliners being Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

That was because studio head Jack Warner was displeased that Bogart's face wasn't shown for the first half of the film and so he didn't give the movie much publicity. The fact Bogey's face didn't appear for quite a while apparently didn't settle well with the public, either.

That was their loss: this is a fine film. The stars of it, really - the actors who put the spark in the story - aren't Bogey and Bacall anyway but the supporting actors. I can't recall a movie where the supporting cast was so good, so entertaining, as in this film.

Before naming them, let me preface by saying Bogart and Bacall still give good performances and Bacall still had a face in those early days that was mesmerizing BUT the people who make this movie click are:

Tom D'Andrea as the cab driver; Houseley Stevenson as the strange and extremely interesting plastic surgeon; Clifton Young as the blackmailer; Tory Mallison as Bogart's old best friend and Agnes Moorhead as the villainous snoop. These people are fantastic.

As an escaped convict on the run, we only see what Bogart sees until plastic surgery turns him into the familiar face we recognize. That sort of thing - seeing only what one character sees, using the camera as his eyes, was done in another noir, "Lady In The Lake," but not done as successfully as in this film. Here, it works as we meet these other weird characters as Bogart sees them. Actually, every character including Bacall's, is a bit odd. The script doesn't always make sense, either, to be honest, but it's fun to play along.

It was a simple but effective story with some neat twists along the way and pretty good suspense here and there, too. I think it's a very underrated film noir and very glad the long-awaited DVD gave it a nice transfer. This is another example of a classic film that looks far better on DVD than it ever did on tape. I hadn't realized how well-photographed this movie was until I saw it on disc.

Saving Face

[Ben_Cheshire · 18 July 2004]

Bogey is an escaped prisoner. Bacall helps him stay escaped. To maintain his anonymity he has a face-change operation.

It is a gimmick film, but the gimmick doesn't just serve its own purpose - it highlights a theme of faces, and what faces tell you about the person beneath.

You can tell when something is being explored onscreen for the first time - its done more thoroughly and more excitedly than it ever will again. Think back to that first film about the phenomenon of email (Disclosure) or the internet (The Net), or what about the first film exploring chronology-changes (Citizen Kane) or hide-the-protagonist (The Third Man), or the excitement of acting (Streetcar Named Desire). That initial excitement is never really matched again - after that it becomes just another device, or a reference. The thing here is partly first-person narration (this came out the same year as Lady in the Lake), but wholly plastic surgery, the idea of changing your appearance.

First-person narration is actually quite rare in cinema. Lady in the Lake is one of the only examples where they stick with it for an entire picture, resorting to gimmicks like having Robert Montgomery looking in a mirror. Its used to great effect in the first half of Dark Passage, in order to hide Bogart's face. It was partly mechanical. Its a face-change movie. Instead of starting with Bogart and changing his face to a different actor, they wanted to pretend he looked like a different person (which we only see in a few photographs), and then after the operation he just looks like Bogart. But what the device of hiding his face does is create suspense, and focus on the issue of faces, which is a recurring theme throughout.

And it works to the positive for this film: what's the best way to hide someone's face? Put us behind their eyes! You never see your own face unless you're looking in the mirror. So until his operation, we see through Bogey's eyes - and the result is quite cinematic. It really frees up the movie, unshackling it from the static trappings of most studio pictures of this era. Instead of us just looking on from the edge of a set, which ends up looking like a stage, we're really taken into the action - its marvellous!

And, to save the best till last - Bacall absolutely burns up the screen in this. She sets the celluloid on fire. Any single shot of her in this movie is magic. Just being onscreen and being magic, its the definition of the X-factor.

9/10. What a star-vehicle for Bogey. This was his Third Man. And Bacall is sensational!

Totally unconvincing star thriller which succeeds because of its professionalism

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 7/10 · 6 April 2005]

Bogart's third teaming with Lauren Bacall was in "Dark Passage," a murder-mystery film which depended upon contrivances rather than good scripting to see it through…

The film opened with the use of a subjective camera (MGM used it throughout their "Lady in the Lake" that same year) with Bogart's off-camera narration establishing the plot as we watch our hero escape from prison with the intent of finding the real murderer of his wife, the crime for which he had been wrongfully jailed…

Once he meets up with Bacall and goes to a plastic surgeon, the subjective camera is forgotten as Bogart now utilizes his own face and carries on the investigation…

"Dark Passage" was energetically directed and written by Delmer Daves who used some atmospheric location shots in San Francisco to underscore his drama… The film included an unusual number of bizarre and eccentric characters, all competently played…

Agnes Moorehead essayed a superb1y schizoid characterization as a bitchy "friend" of Bogart and his dead wife… Bacall showed definite signs of improvement in her acting and Bogart was properly bitter, sour and nonplussed…

For all practical purposes, this film marked the conclusion of Bogart's famous "image" period… Now he was to forsake his romantic leading-man roles for acting assignments which he hoped would raise him to greater heights as a performer… He was to succeed, in many cases, magnificently

Dark Passage is a forgotten masterpiece

[terryduffy · 10/10 · 21 December 2004]

Dark Passage is a forgotten masterpiece and a personal favorite. Delmer Davies captures the 1940's magic of San Francisco from hill hugging wooden stairs to fog horns to shrouded atrium elevators to some of the best character acting I've ever seen. Tom D'Andrea and Housely Stephenson are wonderful as the so smart but so decent cabbie and the end of the dark ally plastic surgeon. Agnes Morehead is persistent annoyance morphed into utter villainy personified. She is nails scraped on a blackboard good and you can't take your eyes off her Madge. Becall and Bogie tie it together with fine understated grace. The flick ends and you want to go find that little beach front café in Peru.

Fascinating film noir

[jnyby83 · 7/10 · 15 November 2000]

Wow, we are really asked to believe a lot in this film. Typically movies can only get away with one or two unlikely plot elements, but somehow I still enjoyed 'Dark Passage' despite numerous key elements' implausibility.

The film opens to a shot of convicted felon Parry (Bogart) in a barrel in back of a truck headed down the road. He shakes the barrel, takes a nasty roll and staggers out. It's just the first of many doubt-inducing sequences.

The film, with its plot problems aside, is really an excellent film noir study. We are taken through most of the first half of the film from the first-person Parry (Bogart) view. I found this fascinating, despite wooden dialogue and continuous unrealistic steadiness of the camera. I think the base story of 'Dark Passage' is superb, with all its film noir elements. I especially like the first-person view, which then transforms through a surrealistic imagery scene of plastic surgery, into the normal third-person view.

One plot element I particularly take issue with is that, although Parry gets a new face, we are asked to believe that his distinctive Bogart voice cannot be recognised by the closest of his acquaintances. He makes no effort whatsoever to account for this, and this is given no thought in the slightest.

The film is one I would personally love to make - I would like to direct the thing myself, and revise the script a bit, make it more real in dialogue and plot primarily. This is a feeling I've not oft encountered, because I've almost always felt a director has done, even when he presents a wrong point of view, a better job than I could do. Due to my love for the story here I was torn - torn I tell you - in my selection of a vote for this film, but arrived at 7. I took off for the unrealistic factors, but made sure to preserve the respectability of the film. It is, incontestably, a classic - and in my opinion, just because a film is old doesn't mean it is. I respect this film.

This is so engrossing that the story line never gets in the way!

[AlsExGal · 9/10 · 27 July 2021]

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall would attract any film lover to this movie. Add Agnes Moorehead and a host of excellent character actors and this is an enthralling film noir. Granted, some of the plot is a bit far fetched. The idea that one could have facial plastic surgery and be fully recovered in twelve days is out there. But that's a minor point. There is daring cinematography considering that for the first half of the film, we never see Bogart's face. We see the world through his eyes and hear his voice but never see him. It's brilliant. And his image of Lauren Bacall had to be the way he really did see her. She is incredibly beautiful and remarkably moving in her role as the rescuer of Bogart's character.

I always enjoy Agnes Moorehead in any film, but I sometimes wish she had been given roles of kinder and better characters. However, as the "bad guy" in this movie, she is absolutely outstanding. She poured her heart and soul into her character. She is evil but also vulnerable. That's not an easy combination.

San Francisco is the perfect setting for this creepy tale with its hills, spectacular views, the waterfront and views of the Golden Gate Bridge (especially the scenes under the bridge). These are not tourist views. The film is black and white and the scenes are often seedy, gritty, dark, unforgiving. And they combine to absolutely make this film work. This is an extremely good movie. It's an excellent murder mystery and it is remarkably creative. It has to rank as one of the very best films noir ever made. And the ending would bring a smile to any fan of the great Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

Guilty of No Raincoat...

[Xstal · 6/10 · 13 August 2023]

You've escaped the penal system that confined, found sanctuary with a lass who's quite refined, a taxi driver does a favour, takes you to a face engraver, now it's time to find just who had you maligned. As the camera starts to take a point of view, it was behind the lens but now it points at you, an encounter from the start, takes advantage but you're smart, close to a bridge, you force a permanent eschew. As things progress you find you need to be more agile, then you discover panes of glass can be quite fragile (alarmingly so!), but the writings on the wall, a rendezvous, a curtain call, the lady enters from the street, with lots of style.

The Kindness of Strangers

[frankwiener · 9/10 · 1 September 2016]

In spite of the alleged plot holes identified by other reviewers, this still stands as my very favorite Bogey-Bacall feature. I realize that I am probably in the minority among their fans. The film is superbly directed by Delmer Daves ("3:10 to Yuma", "Pride of the Marines", "Destination Tokyo"), based on the original novel by David Goodis, and includes a very strong musical score by Franz Waxman.

What about those alleged plot holes? Considering Irene Jansen's (Lauren Bacall's) strong fixation on the plight of Vincent Parry (Humphrey Bogart), couldn't she have satisfied her need to be physically close to him by finding inspiration to paint in the hills that surrounded San Quentin while he was imprisoned there? At one point, she suggests that fate itself compelled her to that location on that day. And was her friendship to the villainous Madge Rapf (Agnes Moorhead) far too coincidental, or could she have deliberately sought out Madge's companionship only for the purpose of ultimate retribution against Madge after she framed the innocent Parry for the murder of his wife? I haven't yet read the book, but it may succeed in patching the holes that the screenplay failed to do.

Plot holes aside, I knew that I would love this movie from the moment that the barrel started swaying precariously from the back of the prison truck while the sirens of San Quentin blasted throughout the surrounding California countryside. Next, I am suddenly spinning down the mountain through the eyes of escapee Vincent. For the first thirty minutes of the movie, we only witness the action from first person point of view as Parry experiences it and narrates it.

From the very start, this movie never disappoints. At every moment, there is an unexpected turn of events and the introduction of a new and unique character of interest. There are so many fascinating and quirky elements, including personalities both large and small, that I don't know where to begin, so I'll start with the wonderful, dramatic score of Franz Waxman, prominently showcasing the classic Mercer-Whiting song of the era, "Too Marvelous for Words". Who can deliver us to the world of 1947 more authentically than icon Jo Stafford as she sings what would soon become Vincent's and Irene's very appealing theme song?

Clifton Young is well cast as Baker, the blackmailing weasel and small time thug, who curiously drives a jalopy that can't do more than 40 mph featuring, of all things, seat cushions made from a carnival tent. As we learn more about Baker, we fully understand Vincent's desire to "crack open his head full of figures".

Soon we are on board a very tense drive through a police dragnet, targeting Vincent, from one end of the Golden Gate Bridge to the other with Irene nervously behind the wheel and Vincent hidden in the back of a station wagon among her freshly painted oils. "Be careful not to get paint on your sleeve, officer," she warns a policeman as he pokes through her cargo and comes within inches of Vincent's hand. Fortunately for the sake of both Irene and Vincent, he heeds her advice, withdrawing just in the nick of time.

Once Irene and Vincent successfully dodge the police checkpoints, we are invited into Irene's intriguing, art deco building somewhere in the hills of San Francisco. It includes a glass elevator and a striking, etched panel of glass that lead to an apartment with an attractive, spiral staircase that ascends to a very cozy bedroom.

Tom d'Andrea as Sam, the gregarious and goodhearted cab driver, is another amusing element of the film, as is an unforgettable Housely Stevenson, who plays Dr. Coley, Vincent's de-certified plastic surgeon. Is the doctor the fiend that Vincent imagines him to be as he is sedated prior to the operation? "Got the money?" Dr. Coley asks during a fascinating nightmare sequence. A health insurance card is obviously of no use in this place.

Agnes Moorehead is genuinely detestable as Madge Rapf, whose unpleasant name matches her grating personality. The intensity of Madge's and Vincent's encounter at her apartment is another dramatic turning point, thanks to the unique talent of Bogart and Moorehead, two of the best in the business, as they go to battle with a tight script that matches their abilities. Madge's "moment of truth" and her subsequent exit from the scene without a stairway or an elevator must be seen to be fully appreciated. Could those shoes sailing through the bay breeze be bright orange too? Orange is, after all, Madge's favorite color.

In the end, the movie's unfaltering state of suspense and uncertainty leads to a splendidly elegant finale that, in my humble opinion, expresses unlike any other the everlasting love that Bogey and Bacall felt for each other in real life. Just too marvelous for words.

Dark Passage (1947) **1/2

[JoeKarlosi · 6/10 · 7 February 2005]

Vincent Parry is a San Quentin convict wrongly accused of murdering his wife, who escapes from prison and is taken in by a gorgeous Good Samaritan (that would be Lauren Bacall as Irene Jansen). She lets him hide out at her place for awhile, but eventually Vincent takes a ride with a very perceptive cab driver who recognizes him and also has a heart of gold; he pulls his cab over to the side and just happens to know this plastic surgeon friend who wouldn't mind putting his neck on the line to alter the face of a wanted fugitive. After the operation is completed and the bandages are unspooled, Vincent Parry turns into Humphrey Bogart, and he is now able to set out to discover who really murdered his wife.

I'm not one who usually can't suspend his disbelief when watching movies, but there are a lot of contrivances here, even for me! I think the director made a poor choice in spending the first 30 or 40 minutes without showing Bogie, and even more importantly by using a very grating "point of view" camera technique to substitute for the character of Parry for far too long. This subjective viewpoint, where the camera becomes the eyes of the convict, as people look and talk at him, hand him cigarettes and so forth, is extremely effective at first but quickly grows into overkill. I think this would have been a much more interesting film if another actor was utilized to portray the pre-surgery Bogart.

Everything just falls too neatly into place, and once Bogart has his face transformed, he doesn't really get involved in too much hard detective work on his own before easily stumbling onto the real killer's identity (you can't really blame him; it's quite obvious). One begins to wonder why he even bothered with the plastic surgery. Lauren Bacall is beautiful to look at, and I can watch her doing just about anything. But I think her rapport with Bogart this time out is kind of lightweight. The real surprise of the film for me was Agnes Moorehead, who turns in a delicious performance. This is a film worth watching for its stars and a generally intriguing premise; it's just unfortunate that it couldn't have worked out a little better. **1/2 out of ****

Coincidence City

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 9 November 2006]

The least known of the four Bogey and Bacall movies and deservedly so has to be Dark Passage. The other three have become classics to some' degree and this one hasn't.

There are just too many coincidences and too many plot holes for the good ship Dark Passage to float. Lauren Bacall just happens to be out painting when Bogart crashes out of San Quentin, she just happens to know some of the principals in the case that sent Bogart up in the first place, Bogart happens to get into a cab where a friendly helpful cab driver happens to know a good plastic surgeon. It's all too too unreal.

Yet Dark Passage does have its good moments. Bacall and Bogey are smoking up the screen as they did in To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, and later in Key Largo. Agnes Moorehead steals the film from both of them with an over the top performance which is a text book example of overacting. My guess is Agnes was simply trying to overcome a bad script.

Delmer Daves who is a fine director for outdoor films, westerns like Jubal and 3:10 to Yuma is also not the right director for Dark Passage. If Alfred Hitchcock had directed it with a better script, Dark Passage may very well have been the best instead of the worst of the Bogart Bacall teamings.

One character I really liked though was Clifton Young who first picks up Bogart on the road after the escape. Bogart slugs him when he catches wise, but later Young returns for some blackmail. He's a two bit punk, very much along the lines of Elisha Cook, Jr. in The Maltese Falcon and you really are happy when he meets his fate.

Dark Passage also helped the great Richard Whiting-Johnny Mercer standard, Too Marvelous for Words get a revival. Didn't cost the brothers Warner a dime as they owned the rights to the song, it having been introduced in the Ruby Keeler musical, Ready, Willing, and Able. Just like As Time Goes By got a revival from Casablanca.

But we remember Casablanca a whole lot more than Dark Passage.

Agnes Moorehead steals the show!

[dbdumonteil · 8/10 · 11 April 2005]

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.

many crashes in the dark passage

[andrabem · 8 April 2007]

In spite of the good cinematography, Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall, "Dark Passage" succumbs to a weak plot - too many coincidences and hitches.

Vincent Parry (Humphrey Bogart) runs away from the San Quentin State Prison. He's on the road to hitch a ride and he must be out of the area quickly before the police start searching for him. He is picked up by a woman (Lauren Bacall) who knows his name and more about him. She wants to help him. As he said: "I don't get you". We also don't understand it. Mystery! But it's all right, puzzles are welcome. My interest was raised.

But the script was written in order to keep up a continuous interest - characters are linked together without any concern for logic, people behave in a way that only a script-writer could imagine and so on. After a while the story ceased to interest me and I followed the images and Bogart & Bacall instead. That for me was good enough. Anyway the camera work is interesting, especially in the beginning when we see the action through the eyes of Vincent Parry.

If you don't care too much about logic the film will surely entertain you. But I think that after a very interesting beginning (let's say the first 30 minutes) the film goes a bit down. The story goes on with its own logic till the amazing happy ending. The producers wanted to satisfy the public and I think they reached their aim at the time. This was Hollywood after all.

stylish noir with Bogie and Bacall

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 5 August 2006]

Set in San Francisco, "Dark Passage" stars Humphrey Bogart as an escaped convict who was found guilty of killing his wife, and Lauren Bacall, as the woman who helps him. The Bogart character knows someone framed him for the murder and is desperate to get away from the police. To accomplish this, with the help of a chatty cab driver (Tom D'Andrea), he has his face changed by plastic surgery.

Though Bogart's distinctive voice is present throughout, the first part of the film uses the subjective camera, a la "Lady of the Lake." In "Lady of the Lake," the camera was at all sorts of odd angles and at one point, focused on a mirror where the viewer could see the face of Robert Montgomery. In this film, the camera is less obtrusive. Either that, or because it's an icon like Bogart, the viewer pictures him even though he's not on camera. After the plastic surgery, Bogart is revealed.

The plot is okay, but it's really an excuse for great chemistry between the two stars, a rich atmosphere, and some wonderful cinematography. The idea of loneliness is everywhere; it's in the bus station, it's in the isolated way that the Bacall character lives. And it's also about taking a chance and reaching out.

Bogart gives a strong and honest performance, putting his strong presence to good use as he dominates the film even when only his voice is used. Bacall is at the height of her sultry beauty, with her luxurious hair framing a perfect bone structure, pouty lips, and sensuous eyes. She is absolutely fantastic to look at and listen to, and she imbues the role with vulnerability as well as a feeling of cold isolation and the loneliness she feels.

The supercouple gets wonderful support from Tom D'Andrea, the Gillis of the Riley series I grew up with, Agnes Moorhead as a nasty friend of Bacall's, Bruce Bennett, and Houseley Stevenson as the excellent but borderline maniacal plastic surgeon. One almost expected thunder and lightning after he spoke.

Very entertaining, highly recommended, and I loved the ending.

As good as Goodis got

[spinnicks · 7/10 · 9 April 2005]

The first two movies teaming Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were based on novels by heavyweight authors Ernest Hemingway ("To Have and Have Not") and Raymond Chandler ("The Big Sleep"). This third match-up, from 1947, is a film-noir venture based on a novel called "Dark Passage" by a lesser-known American writer named David Goodis. A glance at the book shows that it is packed with noir ingredients: homicide, double-dealing, revenge, two mysterious women—one virtuous and one deadly—and another element that often turned up in crime fiction of the day, plastic surgery. Here the main character, Vincent Parry (Bogart), is a man who has been wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife. He escapes from San Quentin and is taken in tow by a beautiful woman named Irene Jansen (Bacall) who appears out of nowhere to give him shelter and help clear his name while he recovers from surgery intended to disguise his identity. Naturally they fall in love. Most of what happens during the film's 106 minutes is hooey, but it is entertaining hooey. The Warner Brothers production, with screenplay and direction by Delmer Daves, invites us to ignore the story's implausibility and enjoy an exciting ride. While some film critics have called "Dark Passage" a failure, I would be somewhat more charitable. The story is far-fetched, but many of its weaknesses are redeemed by the presence of the two stars. Bogart and Bacall work so well together that I wouldn't mind watching them do a dog-food commercial. There is a dog (substitute the B-word) in this movie—a character named Madge Rapf. She is played by Agnes Moorehead, who turns her supporting role into a tour-de-force. Bruce Bennett plays Bob, Irene's ex-boyfriend; and Tom D'Andrea, Clifton Young and Houseley Stevenson are admirable in small but important roles. A song called "Too Marvelous for Words" is heard throughout the film, but it doesn't function as well as the title song in "Laura" or—how could it?—"As Time Goes By" in "Casablanca." "Dark Passage" takes place mostly in San Francisco and is shot mainly at night, enabling art director Charles H. Clarke and cinematographer Tom Hickox to create a mood that is by turns menacing and hair-raising. At the end the setting switches abruptly to South America, where Vincent is again on the lam. A short scene reunites the lovers, and the screen glows with sentiment as a nightclub band plays "Too Marvelous for Words," but Goodis did not include this scene in his book. His novel ends with Vincent asking Irene to join him south of the border at a future date, and the reader is left wondering if she actually will. More about David Goodis: he belonged to that unhappy breed of writers who have early success and then descend into alcoholism or some other mode of self-destruction. After "Dark Passage"—his second novel—Goodis's life gradually deteriorated, but he published 16 more suspense novels before dying in 1967 at the age of 50. In 1960 his "Down There" was transformed by director François Truffaut into a film called "Shoot the Piano Player."

This is a GREAT MOVIE!!!

[inframan · 10/10 · 24 May 2000]

Bogart made three unforgettable landmark films: Maltese Falcon, Big Sleep, and Dark Passage. Of the three, Dark Passage is the least known, which is tragic, because it measures up to the other three and in many ways surpasses them for atmosphere, characterization and psychological mood. Based on a novel by David Goodis, who also wrote the novel that Shoot The Piano Player was based on, it hits top marks in rankings of films in the categories of Film Noir, Existentialism, Dostoyevskian outlook and Kafkan world-view. Filled with forever unforgettable scenes and quotable lines, heart-wrenching views of fog-bound 1940s San Francisco and characters who seem to be stand-ins for the all our own private inauspicious never-to-be famous or successful friends and acquaintances, it's a brilliant metaphor for that dying species: the "individual". Also, of all the Bogart/Bacall pairings, it was the softest, tenderest & most romantic. Movies like this should be on some kind of everybody's-required-viewing-list.

Intriguing, but flawed, Bogart-Bacall murder-drama

[grantss · 7/10 · 2 September 2015]

Intriguing, but flawed, Bogart-Bacall murder-drama.

A convicted murderer, Vincent Parry (played by Humphrey Bogart), breaks out of prison. He had been wrongfully convicted of the murder of his wife. Along the way he is helped by young woman, Irene Jansen (played by Lauren Bacall) who is convinced of his innocence. Soon he has to make a decision between leaving the city or staying around to find out who the real murderer is. And his troubles are just beginning...

Intriguing drama. From the word go, when all we see of Bogart's character is shadows or first-person views (why becomes apparent after a while), there is an air of mystery and suspense.

Not perfect though. The plot is not watertight. The chance meeting that sets up everything is just so implausible. Many other plot developments, including the climactic scene, are implausible and/or contrived.

Can't fault the acting though. Bogart and Bacall are great (as expected) and the supporting cast give solid performances.

"I was born lonely, I guess."

[utgard14 · 8/10 · 17 June 2015]

An escaped convict (Humphrey Bogart) undergoes plastic surgery and hides out with a pretty young woman (Lauren Bacall) while he tries to figure out who murdered his wife, the crime for which he was convicted. Excellent film noir written and directed by Delmer Daves with beautiful photography by Sid Hickox. It's the last film Bogie and Bacall did together and it's easily the most underrated of the four. Both are terrific here and have that same wonderful chemistry we all love, albeit with less sexy banter than their previous movies together. The real scene-stealer of the picture is Agnes Moorehead, who gets the juiciest role and one awesome scene in particular. Tom D'Andrea has a great bit as a talkative cabby and there are several other fine character actors in small roles.

The first forty minutes or so is filmed mostly from a first person point-of-view. We don't see Bogart's face until over an hour in, after his character has had plastic surgery. A pretty gutsy move at the time to have your big star, Humphrey Bogart, heard but not seen for such a large chunk of the movie. But it's so well-done and effective, it's probably my favorite portion of the film. Another favorite part is a little bit of business referring to a famous line of Bogie's from a past film. That sort of thing is commonplace today but wasn't then. It's a funny part in a terrific script by Daves. The movie does meander some, usually for little moments with side characters. While many of these scenes aren't necessarily needed they add something extra to the picture that I enjoyed. Definitely a must-see for Bogie fans.

Faithful adaptation of the David Goodis novel

[jrd_73 · 7/10 · 22 July 2015]

I watched Dark Passage about fifteen years ago and had not remembered much about it, but I recently became interested in the fiction of David Goodis. After reading the novel Dark Passage, I decided to give the film adaptation another chance. I was surprised by how faithful the film was to the Goodis source novel.

Either the Production Code or the studio insisted on a few changes. Bob and Madge are turned, rather illogically, into a bickering, engaged couple instead of an estranged, married one. I suppose someone did not like the idea of Lauren Bacall's character dating (albeit, casually) a married man. In addition, Vincent's hallucinations during his surgery have been altered, so they no longer provide a clue to the killer's identity (they should have been dropped altogether). Finally, the film adds a final passage to the Goodis story to provide a slightly more optimistic ending (similar to what Shawshank Redemption added to "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption").

Having acknowledged all of that, I am surprised by how much of Goodis's book remains. Goodis is a novelist of characters. Perhaps, then, I should not be surprised that the best scenes deal with supporting characters. The great scene between Vincent and the cabbie is almost verbatim from the book. Some might think that the scene stops the story, but it is a small, perfect sequence in both book and film (great playing between Bogart and Tom D'Andrea in that scene). The portrayal of Dr. Coley by Houseley Stevenson is dead on. The plastic surgeon may be world weary, but he has his own code of ethics. Finally, there is that great scene where Vincent with his new face calls on Madge Rapf (a perfect Agnes Moorehead). It's the one scene in the film that needed to be in color to highlight the orange motif, even if the dialogue is pure noir.

This last example also highlights the film's one, big weakness. I know this is a minority opinion, but, I don't particularly like Lauren Bacall. Despite the fact that she and Bogart were a couple, I believe that Bogart had more screen chemistry with Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca), Mary Astor (The Maltese Falcon), Gloria Grahame (In a Lonely Place), and Ida Lupino (High Sierra). Meanwhile, Bacall has always struck me as a rather cold presence. I simply do not know what this Vincent would see in this Irene. By contrast, that scene between Vincent and Madge, where he is pumping her for information as she is contemplating a pumping of a different kind, is smoldering with sexual tension. Of course, in Vincent's case the tension is an act, but there is still more heat with Madge (act or not) than in any of the scenes with Irene.

Lauren Bacall aside, Dark Passage is a good film. The film uses the San Francisco locations nicely. The film was daring in having Vincent's face being impossible to see for the first half (before he becomes Bogart). Lastly, there are those great characters brought to life by wonderful character actors.

Of the three David Goodis's novels I have read, Dark Passage is probably my least favorite, even though it is a good read with great parts. The film adaptation of Dark Passage is as good as the novel. How often can one say that?

Bogart, Bacall reunite in Delmer Daves' durable San Francisco noir

[bmacv · 8/10 · 11 December 2004]

Along with Jim Thompson, David Goodis stood in that second tier of hard-boiled writers whose work would generate several titles in the noir cycle and its aftermath: The Unfaithful, Nightfall, The Burglar, Street of No Return, and Dark Passage. In this last, Delmer Daves wrote the passably tight script (a few holes remain undarned), which he then directed, resulting in one of the more memorable San Francisco noirs.

We open on an oil barrel teetering around on the back of a truck. A pair of hands on the rim (from within) indicate that its occupant is trying to dislodge his container from its berth, which he does, as well he might, as he's an escapee from San Quentin, in for murdering his wife three years ago. We know from the iconic voice, with its wisp of an impediment, that it's Humphrey Bogart, but we don't get a glimpse of him for quite a while. Fired up by the dubious "subjective camera" technique of the Robert Montgomery's recently released The Lady in the Lake, Daves, too, casts the camera as his main character's eyes. Luckily, he's inconsistent in using this conceit, and once Bogart gets a face job, that's the end of it, and not a second too soon.

After hitching a ride with too inquisitive a driver (Clifton Young), whom he pummels into silence, Bogart is picked up by Lauren Bacall, who seems to know all about him and whisks him back to her moderne two-floor apartment in the city (the lighted elevator glides up and down a glass-brick column; the building, by the way, still stands). Bacall took an interest in his case since her own father was wrongly executed for murder (in the newspaper clipping she keeps, Daves' photograph does service for Dad). What's more, she travels in the same ritzy circles as did Bogart and his defunct wife, and do viperish Agnes Moorehead and coveted man-about-the-town Bruce Bennett.

Bacall sequesters Bogart as long as she can in her more than comfortable digs, what with a well-stocked liquor cabinet, home-cooked dinners by candlelight and Jo Stafford styling torchy numbers from the radio. But comes the time when Bogart must exchange his mug for a less recognizable one, and the movie must go down the mean streets of film noir. Young's distinctive convertible jalopy parked outside is the first clue that's something's amiss, but Bogart takes heart from good-hearted cabbie Tom D'Andrea, who not only drives him to the spartan rooms of his best friend, a jazz trumpeter (Rory Mallinson), but who just happens to know an unlicensed sawbones who specializes in $200 plastic surgeries. Bogart plans to stay with Mallinson for his week of recuperation, but finds him dead, bludgeoned with his own trumpet. Bandaged up like The Invisible Man, he makes his way back to Bacall's layout, determined to smoke out his wife's killer....

Despite jumping rather impulsively from one plot strand to the next, Dark Passage keeps up a not-so-slack pulse of tension. Daves works up a few evocative and suggestive sequences. Houseley Stevenson delivers toothsome little character study (sinister? Benevolent?) of the back-alley surgeon, and when Bogart strikes out on his own, wanting little more than eggs-over-easy at a diner, he's spotted by a police detective who comes on like a Gestapo agent – it's a neat way of expressing the vulnerability that Bogart thinks even his new visage can't disguise.

Dark Passage is far from flawless. In their third major screen pairing (Two Guys From Milwaukee is best overlooked), off-screen couple Bogart and Bacall fail to generate the playful erotic spark that Howard Hawks coaxed out of them in To Have And Have Not and The Big Sleep; granted, Dark Passage is plenty shy of playfulness. Worse, the various strands of the story often come across as episodic, unconnected; Daves (or Goodis) doesn't weave the tenuous but tough web of murky connections that a Raymond Chandler could. Still, as one of Daves' better efforts, it still holds up – and it's fascinating to watch that elevator slide up and down its crystal sheath.

Dark circumstances are (nearly) inescapable

[dngoldman · 7/10 · 31 July 2022]

The story of Vincent Parry (Humphrey Bogart) who escapes from prison and tries to prove he didn't kill his wife. Help comes in the shape of rich girl, Irene Jansen (Lauren Bacall) whose late father was also wrongly accused of murder . Bogey - falsely accused, keeps trying to escape. He can get out of prison, but seems to be running in quicksand the whole time. Every step forward leaders him deeper into the morass. The film grim view of humanity is compelling even if the too fast moving coincidences at the end feels forced.

Don't go out of your way for this Dark Passage

[oscarbreath · 4/10 · 11 April 2005]

I found this one a disappointment on just about every level. The Bacall-Bogart relationship in the film is just too odd to ever get comfortable with ... oh yeah, she's always secretly thought he was innocent and oh yeah, she just happens to be driving in the area that day, and on and on and on. The look of absolute love she has on her face in every closeup just comes from nowhere. And as others have noted, the coincidences in this film are too many to list, it's almost the only thing the story is based on. Every character seems to have Moorehead's number, but no one does anything about it ... and the way she meets her maker is just too crazy to believe.

Helpful tip for people driving near prisons ... don't ever pick up hitchers, especially when sirens are wailing! I really like noir, and I really like Bogart, but this film did zippo for me. My wife (who cares not much for either)was thoroughly unimpressed. Gimme the Big Sleep with all its inconsistencies anyday.