Dark Passage [VHS]

Dark Passage [VHS]
by Delmer Daves

Dark Passage [VHS]

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Category: VHS Video
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Product details

Actor: Agnes Moorehead, Bruce Bennett, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Tom D'Andrea
Director: Delmer Daves
Cinematographer: Sidney Hickox
Writer: Delmer Daves
Editor: David Weisbart
Producer: Jack L. Warner
Producer: Jerry Wald
Writer: David Goodis
Edition: VHS Tape
Format: Black & White, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 106 minutes
Release Date: 1992-05-20
Publisher: MGM/Ua Studios
Studio: MGM/Ua Studios

VHS Movie Reviews of Dark Passage [VHS]

Movie Review: This FIlm Does Justice to Noir
Summary: 5 Stars

Dark Passage features a lot of breaking of the fourth wall (person speaking directly into the camera), and for the first twenty minutes or so of the film, the anti-hero (Bogart) is not seen; only his voice is heard. Other than "Caged," this is one of Agnes Moorehead's meatier roles. This Howard Hawke film (adapted from a David Goodis novel) does justice to the noir era. (NOTE: Thanks to "L. Spancer" for pointing out errors in my previous review.)

Movie Review: One of the most bizarre movies of the 1940s.
Summary: 3 Stars

I had always thought that "In a Lonely Place" was the strangest movie in Humphrey Bogart's filmography. After seeing Delmer Daves' "Dark Passage," however, I would have to say it's not only the most bizarre film in both Bogie's and Bacall's careers, but perhaps the weirdest film released by any major studio during the entire decade of the forties.

The film--based on a novel by David Goodis, whose work also inspired Truffaut's "Shoot the Piano Player"--concerns a man (Bogart), framed for his wife's murder, who escapes from San Quentin and roams San Francisco looking for anyone who can help him flee the country. At one point the man visits a disreputable plastic surgeon (Houseley Stevenson) to change his appearance. Throughout the film's first half, we never see the man's face; in the second half, he's Bogart. The only person he can trust is a beautiful stranger (Bacall) who helps him for reasons she keeps to herself.

In any case, "Dark Passage" is long on atmosphere and short on sense. The story takes bizarre leaps in logic, and most of the characters act as if they'd just escaped from an insane asylum. The film at times resembles a collaboration--minus the in-your-face raunchiness--between David Lynch and John Waters, both of whom could have taken inspiration from this (and probably did).

Possibly because we don't see Bogart on screen for such a long time, but only hear his voice, he and Bacall build up little chemistry in this film. By far the best performance comes from the wonderful, underrated Agnes Moorehead, in perhaps her only appearance as a femme fatale. Her scene with Bogart late in the film oozes a sexual tension that is totally missing from Bogart's scenes with Bacall. All the other supporting performances--particularly Stevenson as the doctor and Clifton Young as a weaselly blackmailer--can charitably be described as way over the top.

Movie Review: Do not go easy into that dark night.
Summary: 5 Stars

One of their best movies, if you disregard the difficult subjective viewpoint of the camera in the first part of the movie.

Movie Review: Different pace of film
Summary: 4 Stars

Read the reviews that rate it 4 or 5 stars, you'll get more detail than I will provide. This was a first-time viewing for me, so I was partially intrigued, but not disappointed. I rated it 4 stars, not that it couldn't be 5, there just lacked a touch of logical progression for me. The Bogie/Bacall combo is there, more subdued than their other notable performances - To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, Key Largo. In watching the special features, and learning some behind the scenes info, helped explain some of the "cheap" feel some segments had, for me anyway. Least enjoyable character was the grifter, he just lacked a bit for me. All of the others were solid, enjoyable to watch in action. One amusing point was Bogarts observation about how Warner would feel about paying him all that money, for what amount he was seen, too rich!

Movie Review: Classic Bogart - Bacall movie
Summary: 5 Stars

This is one of the series of classic Bogart-Bacall movies. Viewing them is a very enjoyable retro experience.

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Summary of Dark Passage [VHS]

This gimmicky film noir stars Humphrey Bogart as an escaped criminal who undergoes plastic surgery and holes up at the home of Lauren Bacall's character while healing and preparing to prove his innocence. If you can last through the first half-hour of this thing--which is shot entirely from the subjective view of Bogart's bandaged face, which we don't see until later--you might find ample reason in the stars' performances to stick around for the conclusion. But director Delmer Daves (A Summer Place) tests a viewer's endurance with such an obvious, attention-getting ploy. The least of the Bogart-Bacall vehicles (The Big Sleep,To Have and Have Not, Key Largo). --Tom Keogh

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