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Pretty Good

Good movie but grossly overrated

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Movie Review: "Dark Passage" (1947)Warner Bros. presents Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in their third collaboration in a crime-drama with ingredients of mystery, while the leading man must act under heavy facial bandages to get supported by his wife into finding a new life from being an imprisoned convict for murder, when "Dark Passage" can only be enjoyed for the two Hollywood stars sake in an otherwise suspense-lacking attempt of stark-noir "hard-boiled" motion picture of the 1940s.© 2018 Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC

One of the worst noir movies I've ever seen. Annoying beginning SPOILER where you can't see Bogie's face for what seems like hours. Stupid plot, stupid plot developments, stupid stupid stupid. The only saving grace was Bacall in her prime, and Agnes Moorehead as vamp!. Don't waste your time.

A star vehicle for Bogart and Bacall, the third among their total four collaborations, DARK PASSAGE is produced in the apex of film-noir fad, Bogart plays Vincent Parry, a convict who has been accused of murdering his wife, is bent on finding the real killer after stowing away on a supply truck out of San Quentin prison in the opening scenes. A conspicuous gambit is from the word go, directer Delmer Daves has been obstinately taking a first-person perspective of the narrative, accompanied by Bogart's voice-over narrating his inner thoughts, but never puts Vincent's visage in front of the camera, not until well over an hour into the movie, would we see Bogart's weather-beaten face for the first time, simply because, before that point, Vincent doesn't have a face like Bogart's! It is a novel move to tap into the facing-changing gimmick, although the film ineptly takes oceanic artistic license to justify/simplify the whole enterprise, from the Good Samaritan cabbie ( D'Andrea), surely is a chatty loner, who implausibly proposes the idea to Vincent after recognizing him, a wife-murder on the lam, not even for a monetary gain, to a shaggy-dog looking doctor (Stevenson)'s seemingly dubious business, until the pitch-perfect debut of a brand new face without any traceable marks left (an in-joke is to make Vincent look older than his real age, at the expense of Bogart's senescent bearing and his May-December marriage with Bacall), it might be able to pull the wool over the eyes of audience at that time, but viewed as this day, unintentionally it looks more like droll derision to the orthopaedic progression than anything scintillating. Flimsy on reasoning and far-fetched in pigeonholing a grand scheme into a meagre group of players (perusing the not-so-long cast list, a film connoisseur could winnow out who would be most adequate to assume the role of final revelation without any trouble), in fact, the film's whodunit convolution undeservedly concedes the spotlight to the mawkish romance between Vincent and Irene Jansen (Bacall), that's the selling point! The latter, a strong-willed rich gal, incorrigibly falls for a presumed wife-murderer, her undoubted certitude of the former's innocence is thinly based on preconceived notion and if taking out of the context of the two stars' personal intimacy, their liaison doesn't make sense in either way, but as usual, the girl's motivation bears the brunt of character underdevelopment, since Bogart's Vincent at least evokes a dew-eyed veneer of passivity in all the pandemonium which can allure those soft-hearted.On the plus side, Ms. Moorehead is fiercely catty and menacing to a fault, Daves makes impressive uses of San Francisco's film-genic topography and its art deco trimmings, together with DP Sidney Hickox's sharply expressive deep-focus shots, on top of a cock and bull escapist tale tempered by a soupçon of schmaltz and a big chunk of wishfulness.

DARK PASSAGE is melodramatic romantic thriller, which in the first part we look through the eyes of the main character. The story has its drawbacks or rather continuous decline in the dynamics and struggles with a lack of tension. Set and Bogart performance elements of this film that I would call very good.The film is all developed separately. Nothing much is interwoven in the noir themes. The manhunt, romance and eventually obviously dismissal mysteries. Bogart's character is definitely stiff. It is interesting to hear his voice, and not see it. Unfortunately, he was in that part got the most space. The film which lacks action. Incidents are present, but quickly go limp. Climaxes almost non-existent.Humphrey Bogart as Vincent Parry, his appearance for the first time was not so impressive. The obvious failure. Bogart always bring a good performance, but I repeat, it was interesting to watch the movie from his perspective. Bogart's eye.Lauren Bacall as Irene Jansen won the space with the main actor. In scenes with Bogart she is pretty good. Simply work. If she focused it can be called a good chemistry.Agnes Moorehead as Madge Rapf is fast becoming the main villain, perhaps by mistake. It brings the most energy in the film and is quite intrusive character.Solid film in which experimentation and lost in some basic segments.