Gary Dennis’ New York City Movie Place

Dark Passage was another constant in the Movie Place rotation of what was on the screen. It has a murder, a prison break out, a slightly insane back alley plastic surgeon, an incredibly villainous woman and a love story all rolled into one great 106 minute picture. It has everything one could possibly want in a movie, good clean sex and violence and a trippy surgery scene that Tim Burton seriously referenced in his 1989 Batman.

The plot is simple and one that has been used before and after but the fortunate combination of a good script, an interesting director/screenwriter and a legendary cast combine to make what is referred to as Hollywood magic. Humphrey Bogart plays Vincent Parry, a man convicted of murdering his wife who escapes from prison in order to prove his innocence. One of the things that make this picture special and a stand out over other pictures of it’s type is that the first third of this movie the camera is Vincent Parry. Other wise known as “point of view”, the camera is the character. Robert Montgomery wrote and directed himself in Raymond Chandler’s Lady In the Lake (which uses point of view through the entire picture) and although the picture was released a few months earlier than Dark Passage I will venture to say that the latter picture pulls off the gimmick of “P.O.V.” better. It uses this technique for just as long as it has to; up until Vincent finds the back alley plastic surgeon, who says that if he wanted to he could make a man look like a dog, makes Vincent look like Humphrey Bogart.

Lauren Bacall as always shines as the heroine – love interest of the picture. Only 22 years old when she made the picture and already a performing like an old pro. I have always said that she is of another world, no one looks like her, no one sounds like her. One afternoon in the store I was playing Key Largo and a bunch of high school students came in. The girls hung around the screen watching her. Finally one girl said “she looks so old”. I was a little surprised and said that Lauren Bacall was only 23 when she made the picture. What I told these kids is this: a star of her caliber does not look like a regular person, what you see as “old” is an intense air of confidence. There is a line in some song that I heard once that suits Ms. Bacall – you’re one in a million baby, you’ve gotta burn to shine. She doesn’t just burn, she smolders. Boys, when she rescues the recently escaped Vincent Parry, there will be a part of you that will want her to rescue you too. I think that I have gone on long enough about Ms. Bacall, but I am, as some of you know, prejudiced.

The always great Agnes Moorehead is the annoying and clingy Madge, friend to Irene (Lauren Bacall) and the lead prosecution witness against Vincent at his trial. She is responsible for his being sent to San Quentin. She is terrified and believes that Vincent is coming after her. Her annoying factor ultimately builds and morphs into spiteful villainy. Also on hand is Bruce Bennett as Bob, Irene’s current beau (but it ain’t going anywhere). Bruce Bennett was a solid performer who was great at playing heels (see Mildred Pierce) but also great as stand up guy who will do the right thing.

Delmar Daves directed some of my favorite movies of all time, the lurid and tawdry Summer Place, Parrish and Susan Slade as well as the testosterone injected Destination Tokyo, Demetrius and the Gladiator and The 3:10 to Yuma. Dark Passage is a lot of fun and safe for the kids.

September 16th at 8:00AM on Turner Classic Movies.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 10th, 2007 at 2:18 am and is filed under Film Noir, Romance, Drama, Thriller/Suspense, Bogart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.