Sunday, 28 September 2025

Dark Passage (Delmer Daves, 1947)

After escaping from prison, Vincent (Humphrey Bogart) undergoes plastic surgery to change his features.


Assisted by a mysterious young woman, Irene (Lauren Bacall), Vincent tries to work out who framed him for his wife’s murder.



My local arthouse theatre has been playing a selection of Lauren Bacall movies. I caught The Fan, and I was also keen to check out this one. I had not heard great things about it, but of the less well-known Bogie-Bacall pairings, it sounded the most intriguing.

Bogart has so many great movies, but they have been written about so comprehensively I sometimes find it hard to not come away parroting the consensus. 

Sadly, I do not have much to say about Dark Passage. The best thing about it is the presence of its stars.

 It might be a perfect example of a star vehicle, in that it lives and dies on the chemistry between its leads.

Famously shot from the male lead’s perspective for the first half, the film is built around the gimmick of slowly revealing the character with his new face.

This delayed reveal is something that no movie would be able to accomplish today.

In that, the movie is a fascinating artefact of the former power of movie stars.

Unless the character is played by someone who has been a star for decades (Cruise, Jolie, Washington), I do not think this movie would be made.

The closest equivalent is Gemini Man where the gimmick is Will Smith versus himself.

The movie is a collection of contrivances - the plastic surgery, the fact that all the characters we meet know each other.

Most of the action is confined to one apartment. 

And sadly, most of the movie is characters explaining the plot for minutes.

It gets tedious.

The film is vaguely watchable but it was so forgettable I did not remember to write any notes until a couple days later.

Related 








If you are new to this blog, I also co-host a podcast on James Bond, The James Bond Cocktail Hour

You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.


If you enjoy something I wrote, and want to support my writing, here’s a link for tips!

No comments:

Post a Comment