Rent Dark Passage (1947)

Refreshingly odd - Dark Passage review by LC

The plot of this film noir thriller is quite hard to take at times, with a few wildly unlikely moments and coincidences. However, it's redeemed by some inventive direction - particularly the first half, where everything is either shot from the point of view of Bogart's character, or so that his face isn't shown (he does eventually appear on camera, but it takes so long, I was beginning to wonder if the producers had decided to save money by just hiring Bogart for a voice-over and getting a stand-in for the physical scenes). The hero's quest to clear his name also doesn't play out in quite the way you might expect, leaving this a slightly odd but interestingly different film.

For Your Eyes Only - Dark Passage review by CH

You too, with a few strokes of the knife, could look like Humphrey Bogart. That is the premise of Dark Passage.

From David Goodis's novel, everything is seen for an hour through Bogart's eyes, his only physical presence that unmistakeable voice as he describes what is happening after leaving jail for false conviction of murdering his wife. Some of this voiceover also comprises his dialogue with those seen full on - including the cab driver (Tom Andrea) who puts him onto the side-alley surgeon (Houseley Stevenson) who can wield the knife, swath him in bandages and leave him to pull them off in a week's time with the help of Lauren Bacall, who had long thought him innocent and wrote to a San Franciso paper to say as much.

Preposterous is scarcely the word for all this but Delmer Davis brings to his own script the panache for a fine entertainment which owes as much to its cinematography as it does a cast which carries the absurd - even call it Absurd - with aplomb.

When Smoke Gets in Bogarts Eyes - Dark Passage review by griggs

What stands out most about Dark Passage is the way it plays with what’s shown and what’s withheld. The opening stretch unfolds entirely through Vincent Parry’s eyes, keeping Humphrey Bogart’s face hidden until after surgery. It could have felt like a gimmick, but instead it pulls the viewer into his paranoia, forcing them to piece together a city that seems ready to crush him. When his face is finally revealed, Bogart carries the scars and suspicion so naturally it feels inevitable.

Lauren Bacall is the film’s steady centre, calm yet razor-sharp, and her connection with Bogart feels more like fate than mere chemistry. The supporting players ooze menace, Agnes Moorehead especially, each encounter another snare being set.

San Francisco itself does much of the heavy lifting: staircases, skylines, and narrow rooms used like traps. The result is noir at its sharpest — stylish, tense, and grounded in enough humanity that the audience still cares who survives.