Dark Passage

I'm back with Bogie and Bacall, after an extraordinary long wait on Netflix for their third pairing, Dark Passage, written and directed by Delmer Daves and released in 1947. This is an interesting but not wholly satisfying noir in which Bogart's face isn't even seen for a third of the film.

Bogart stars as Vincent Parry, who as the film begins has escaped from San Quentin. He was in prison for murdering his wife, but of course he is innocent. He is picked up along the road by Lauren Bacall, who happened to be in the area. She also happened to be a believer in his innocence, and attended his trial. That's the first coincidence that's hard to swallow--man escapes from jail, and a stranger who is also something of a groupie happens to drive by and help him.

Through this section of the film we don't see Bogart's face, and there is heavy use of a subjective, or first-person, camera. This was previously used in Robert Montgomery's Lady of the Lake the year before. It's not just a gimmick--it's necessary because Bogart goes to a plastic surgeon to have his features altered, coming out of the bandages to look like, well, Humphrey Bogart.

The film then devolves into more coincidences. Not only was Bacall a supporter of Bogart's, but she's also acquainted with Agnes Moorehead, who gave the key evidence against Bogart. Bogart tries to figure out who killed his wife, and his best friend, as well as shaking a would-be blackmailer (Clifton Young).

The film did not to do good business. It has a strange rhythm to it, and supposedly Bogart's stance against the House Un-American Committee cost him some box office. But it's a good, if not great, film, and an interesting piece of Hollywood history. It also makes good use of real San Francisco locations, such as the Filbert Steps, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the cable cars.