Dark Passage (1947) **1/2

Release Date: September 5, 1947

Running Time: 106 minutes

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Agnes Moorehead

Director: Delmer Daves

Vincent Parry (Humphrey Bogart) has some of the strangest flows of luck ever found in cinema. He was framed for the murder of his wife and sentenced to life in prison. As luck would have it, when he breaks out Irene Jansen, (Lauren Bacall) a woman whose father also was sentenced to prison falsely, overhears about the escape and, deducing where he will be, shows up in time to smuggle him past a police barricade. She happens to be friends with Madge (Agnes Moorehead), a woman whose testimony sent Vincent to prison, and when Madge shows up at Irene’s apartment while she is out, Vincent is convinced he cannot stay there. 

 Vincent leaves in the night but is recognized by the cab driver giving him a lift. Fortunately, the cab driver doesn’t think he’s guilty either and, even more fortunately, he knows a skilled plastic surgeon who also believes Vincent is innocent and is willing to give him a new face to help him avoid the police who know he hasn’t left the area. The surgery is successful but will require a week of recuperating but when Vincent returns to a friends home to recoup that friend has been killed and the police believe Vincent did this murder, too. Vincent has no choice but return to Irene who believes he is innocent of this new murder, too, and hides him again. Once he has recovered from the plastic surgery, in record time no less, he can freely investigate the crime he was sentenced for without much worry of being recognized. 

The best thing about Dark Passage is the performances by it’s two leads. Bogart and Bacall are in top form in a film that is several levels below their talent. There is a heat between them that is palpable even if you don’t know they were a couple behind the scenes. This isn’t as strong as it was in To Have and Have Not but it is undeniable. Even Agnes Moorehead is strong in the unlikeable portrayal of Madge, a woman who testified against Vincent at the trial and now is scared he may be coming for revenge. The film however is not deserving of all this talent though and struggles to keep afloat.

Almost from frame one the film tells you it’s going to be a challenge getting into it. Director Delmer Daves had two ways he could tell this story and he took the road less traveled. Yet it is less traveled for a reason. He knew when Vincent undergoes the plastic surgery mid-way through the film he wanted Humphrey Bogart’s face to be the altered version. So, instead of hiring a separate actor or putting Bogart through makeup to alter his appearance early on we get a jarring and disorienting filming style where we see most of the first third of the film in the first person perspective. When we do step away from that perspective Bogart is filmed in shadow or from behind in an obvious attempt to hide his face. His dialogue is dragged through a filter to mimic how he would sound to himself but it makes it echoey like bad voice-over. Early on in the film there is a confrontation between Vincent and a man who picks him up hitch hiking along the side of the road. When it is revealed that Vincent is an escaped con a fight breaks out and viewing the fight through the eyes of Vincent is limiting and poorly staged. 

But what’s worse than the gimmicky first person is the sheer happenstance Vincent keeps bumping into. He just happens to be found easily by Irene who just happened to be listening to the radio and heard about his escape. She just happened to know where he would be heading when the police did not. She happened to have a father who also was sent to prison under similar circumstances. She happened to be friends with the one who sent Vincent to jail. Vincent happened upon a cab driver who not only sympathized with him but knew someone who was perfect to help Vincent avoid the police. The list goes on and on. All of this happenstance strains the credibility of the viewer to the point that the greatest thespians couldn’t land it. By the time we get to the end things have happened that, had we not been shown it on screen, we would never believe Vincent to be innocent of any of it. Yet somehow Irene never wavers in her trust in this man. If the actors weren’t playing things so seriously it could almost pass as farcical.

The mystery is intriguing and the twists are not too obvious, yet this film is difficult to invest in. There are just too many conveniences to make it a believable story. That, coupled with the jarringly way the first third is filmed (Not to mention a full recovery from plastic surgery in just seven days), makes this film just so unbelievable that it’s hard to take it seriously. It really is a shame too as Bogart and Bacall are in fine form in a film that lets them down at nearly every turn.