Review by mstomaso

A psychology professor (Lee J Cobb) plies his trade on a psychotic prison escapee (William Holden) whose gang has invaded his home during a dinner with friends. The cat and mouse battle of nerves takes place on the fearless and disaffected professor's battleground both in the physical and mental sense - taking place in his home and in the realm of the mind. Dr. Collins is doing more than stalling for time to keep his family and friends alive. He is manipulating the weak-minded criminal. Collins is offering the killer Al Walker an unlikely chance to change his ways and a very likely illusory opportunity to return to sanity. Meanwhile, the tension mounts... consistently... throughout the film.

In this Columbia noir, Director Rudolph Maté stays extremely close to the original production of Blind Alley (directed by Charles Vidor), with some scenes so closely developed that you could very easily lose them in the earlier film. Neither film is really typical of the noir genre. Both are dark, humorless, set pieces based on a very theatrical script and some very solid dramatic acting, particularly from Cobb and Holden. Nina Foch lends strong and sensitive support as the woman who loves Holden.

Of the two, The Dark Past is the more polished film, but given the dates of production neither that nor the darker values of Blind Alley should come as any surprise.

A very solid film, which, contrary to the opinions of some reviewers, has held its entertainment value very well.