- Dark Passage (film)
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Dark Passage
Theatrical release posterDirected by Delmer Daves Produced by Jerry Wald Screenplay by Delmer Daves Story by David Goodis Starring Humphrey Bogart
Lauren Bacall
Agnes MooreheadMusic by Franz Waxman Cinematography Sidney Hickox Distributed by Warner Bros. Release date(s) September 5, 1947 (United States) Running time 106 minutes Country United States Language English Dark Passage (1947) is a Warner Bros. film noir directed by Delmer Daves and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.[1][2] The film is based on the novel of the same name by David Goodis. It was the third of four films real-life couple Bacall and Bogart made together.[3]
The film is notable for its first third being shot entirely from the point of view of Bogart's character, Vincent Parry, his face never seen. The story follows Parry's attempts to hide from the law and clear his name of murder.
Contents
Plot
Vincent Parry, a man convicted of killing his wife, escapes from San Quentin prison by stowing away in a supply truck. He evades police and hitches a ride with a passing motorist named Baker. Parry's odd clothes and a news report on the radio about an escaped convict make Baker suspicious. When questioned, Parry beats him unconscious. Irene Jansen, who had been painting nearby, picks up Parry and smuggles him into San Francisco, offering him shelter in her apartment.
An acquaintance of Jansen, Madge, comes by Irene's apartment. Parry, without opening the door, tells her to go away. Madge was a former romantic interest of Parry's whom he had spurned. Out of spite she testified at his trial, providing a motive as to why he would have killed his wife. When she returns Irene explains that she had followed Parry's case with interest. Her own father had been falsely convicted of murder and ever since she had taken an interest in miscarriages of justice. She believes that Parry is innocent.
Parry goes out but is recognized by a cab driver, Sam. The man turns out to be sympathetic and gives Parry the name of a plastic surgeon who can change his appearance. Parry arranges to stay with a friend, George Fellsinger, during the recuperation from surgery. Dr. Coley performs the operation.
Parry, unable to speak, his face wrapped in bandages, returns to George's apartment only to find his friend murdered. He stumbles back to Irene's house, collapsing at her doorstep. Irene nurses him back to health.
Madge and a man named Bob, who is romantically interested in Irene, come by. Madge is worried that Parry will kill her for testifying against him and asks to stay with Irene for protection. Irene gets rid of Madge and deflects Bob by saying that she has already met someone to whom she is attracted. "Vincent Parry," she lies, as Parry hides in a bedroom. Bob takes it as a joke but accepts that Irene is interested in another man.
As he recuperates, Parry learns that he is now wanted for the murder of his friend George, his fingerprints having been found on the murder weapon, George's trumpet. After his bandages are removed, Parry reluctantly parts from Irene, declaring that she will be better off if she is not part of his life.
Parry decides to flee the city before trying to find out who really killed his wife. At a diner, a policeman becomes suspicious due to Parry's behavior. He asks for identification but Parry claims to have left it at his hotel. On the street, Parry darts in front of a moving car to escape.
At the hotel, Parry is surprised by Baker, who holds him at gunpoint. Baker has been following Parry since they first met. He now demands that Irene pay him $60,000 or he will turn Parry over to the law. Parry agrees but instead drives him to a secluded spot underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. There he disarms Baker and questions him, becoming convinced that Madge is behind the deaths of his wife and friend. The two men fight with Baker eventually falling to his death.
Parry heads to Madge's place. Knowing that she doesn't recognize him with this face, he pretends to be a friend of Bob's interested in courting her. Parry eventually reveals his true identity and accuses a terrified Madge of having killed his wife and George as well. Madge points out that without a confession, his accusations will be worthless. But while turning away from him, she accidentally falls through a window to her death.
Knowing that he cannot prove his innocence, and that he will likely be accused of Madge's murder on top of the others, Parry has no choice but to flee. He intends to get to Mexico and then South America. He phones Irene, revealing his plans. The next time he is seen, Parry is having a drink in a nightclub in Peru when he spots Irene across the dance floor. They embrace.
Cast
- Humphrey Bogart as Vincent Parry
- Lauren Bacall as Irene Jansen
- Bruce Bennett as Bob
- Agnes Moorehead as Madge Rapf
- Tom D'Andrea as Sam
- Clifton Young as Baker
- Douglas Kennedy as Detective in Diner
- Rory Mallinson as George Fellsinger
- Houseley Stevenson as Dr. Coley
Production
Robert Montgomery had made the film Lady in the Lake a year earlier, among the first major films to use a "subjective camera technique" in which the viewer sees the action through the protagonist's eyes. This technique began as early as 1931 by the director Rouben Mamoulian for the first five minutes of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Film critic Hal Erikson believes Dark Passage does a better job at using this point-of-view technique, writing, "The first hour or so of Dark Passage does the same thing — and the results are far more successful than anything seen in Montgomery's film."[4]
Franz Waxman's main title music for this movie is the same theme used in To Have and Have Not (1944).
Parts of the movie were filmed on location in San Francisco, California, including the cable car system. An error in the film has Bogart getting on an O'Farrell, Jones, and Hyde cable car but leaving a Powell Street car at Market Street, a trip which was not possible until ten years later when the two lines were combined into the Powell–Hyde line. The Powell St. car that Bogart rides {#520} is still in service today as #20, and carries a graffito on the interior of its roof: "H. Bogart rode this car – Movie Dark Passage 1947." The diner was "Harry's Wagon" at 1921 Post Street, a long-closed diner in the Fillmore District of San Francisco.
Critical reception
Film critic Bosley Crowther gave the film a mixed review and was not impressed by Bogart's performance but was by Bacall's work. He wrote, "When [Bogart] finally does come before the camera, he seems uncommonly chastened and reserved, a state in which Mr. Bogart does not appear at his theatrical best. However, the mood of his performance is compensated somewhat by that of Miss Bacall, who generates quite a lot of pressure as a sharp-eyed, knows-what-she-wants girl." He made the case that the best part of the film is "[t]he city of San Francisco, which is liberally and vividly employed as the realistic setting for the Warners' Dark Passage...For Writer-Director Delmar Daves has very smartly and effectively used the picturesque streets of that city and its stunning panoramas from the hills to give a dramatic backdrop to his rather incredible yarn. So, even though bored by the story—which, because of its sag, you may be—you can usually enjoy the scenery, which is as good as a travelogue."[5]
Currently, the film has a 93% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on eleven reviews.[6]
References
- ^ Variety film review; September 3, 1947, page 16.
- ^ Harrison's Reports film review; September 6, 1947, page 142.
- ^ The first two Bacall-Bogart films were To Have and Have Not (1944) and The Big Sleep (1946); the fourth would be Key Largo (1948).Dark Passage at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Erikson, Hal. Dark Passage at AllRovi.
- ^ Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, September 6, 1947. Last accessed: December 21, 2007.
- ^ Dark Passage at Rotten Tomatoes. Last accessed: October 22, 2010.
External links
- Dark Passage at the Internet Movie Database
- Dark Passage at the TCM Movie Database
- Dark Passage trailer at Spike TV
Films directed by Delmer Daves 1940s Destination Tokyo (1943) · The Very Thought of You (1944) · Hollywood Canteen (1944) · Pride of the Marines (1945) · The Red House (1947) · Dark Passage (1947) · To the Victor (1948) · A Kiss in the Dark (1949) · Task Force (1949)1950s Broken Arrow (1950) · Bird of Paradise (1951) · Return of the Texan (1952) · Treasure of the Golden Condor (1953) · Never Let Me Go (1953) · Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) · Drum Beat (1954) · Jubal (1956) · The Last Wagon (1956) · 3:10 to Yuma (1957) · Cowboy (1958) · Kings Go Forth (1958) · The Badlanders (1958) · The Hanging Tree (1959) · A Summer Place (1959)1960s Parrish (1961) · Susan Slade (1961) · Rome Adventure (1962) · Spencer's Mountain (1963) · Youngblood Hawke (1964) · The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (1965)Categories:- 1947 films
- English-language films
- 1940s thriller films
- American films
- American mystery films
- Film noir
- Films based on mystery novels
- Films directed by Delmer Daves
- Films set in San Francisco, California
- Films shot from the first-person perspective
- Warner Bros. films
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