Bogie doesn't make his first appearance until half-way through "Dark
Passage" though we hear his voice from the outset. He's an escaped
prisoner and we see things through his eyes. He's doing life for the
murder of his wife but he's innocent. He's picked up on the road by
Lauren Bacall who knows who he is and who wants to help him. One reason
we don't actually see Bogie is, for reasons of the plot, he has to have
his face remodelled and it's only after the bandages come off we get to see those famously craggy features.
The director of this immensely stylish and underrated noir was Delmer
Daves and David Goodis wrote the original novel. The initial trick of
everything being seen though Bogart's eyes, (in other words, him 'being'
the camera), does get a little tiresome but it's got a strong narrative
and any movie that gives Agnes Moorehead a good, meaty role worthy of
her talent is always welcome.
The weak link is Bacall who, after her stunning debut in "To Have and Have Not" never did anything as good again. Here she has to address the camera a good deal but never looks comfortable doing it. On the plus side it's very stylishly photographed by Sidney Hickox making very good use of the San Francisco locations and there's two terrific supporting turns from TomD'Andrea as a friendly cabbie and Clifton Young as the guy who first picks Bogie up on the road but isn't all he seems. It remains an unjustly neglected picture.
The weak link is Bacall who, after her stunning debut in "To Have and Have Not" never did anything as good again. Here she has to address the camera a good deal but never looks comfortable doing it. On the plus side it's very stylishly photographed by Sidney Hickox making very good use of the San Francisco locations and there's two terrific supporting turns from TomD'Andrea as a friendly cabbie and Clifton Young as the guy who first picks Bogie up on the road but isn't all he seems. It remains an unjustly neglected picture.
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