Dark Pictures Project

For a film featuring Bacall and Bogart, its rather surprising Dark Passage is a flat, uninteresting and forgettable film. The first dozen minutes of the film are told from the point of view of Bogart’s character as he escapes from prison, and finds a surgeon who’ll give him a new face. While something of an inspired way of cutting funds, it’s not wholly successful. Compare this sequence to that of Mamoulian’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde made nearly twenty years beforehand and you’ll understand what I mean. While there is some intention in the decision, there is no creativity or interest. The rest of the film only falls more after this point.

I have to outright say, I am not a fan of Lauren Bacall. Outside of Hawks’ films where he obsessively crafted her entire persona and every miniscule action of hers to create his vision of the perfect woman, she always falls flat. She’s never quite as alluring or interesting as she is in those first two Hawks films. The rest of her career is flat, the only other director to be able to draw something of interest from her was Douglas Sirk in Written on the Wind, and this is only in exploiting her dull persona compared to the brilliance of Dorothy Malone (ironically, this is one of two films Malone steals the film from Bacall). Here, not even her chemistry with Bogart seems enough to ignite the film. The only shining spot in an otherwise dull noir adventure is Agnes Moorehead. She is menacing, funny and exhibits actual passion compared to everyone else involved. Best to avoid this dud unless you’re really big on Moorehead.