Dark Passage

a bit different from the usual and happy to have it.

I ordered this film so I could add it to my small collection of Bogart films. Having seen this film years ago, I was happily surprised to find it still intriguing and clever. I love the way its filmed. Bogart and Bacall are perfect, as they always were together. And Agnes Moorehead portrays a perfectly awful, selfish and ultimately deadly woman.Sorry I cant remember the name of the actor who plays the taxi driver - but he's pitch perfect too. I just love Bogart films and I think this is a classic.This film may not have aged as well as some other Borgart and Bacall films such as 'To Have and to Have not' or 'The Big Sleep', but I think Dark Passage and even Key Largo are really under rated films. And if anyone has a trumpet I can borrow, I will happily blow it loud and clear for this film. Toot!

This is the one with the opening third filmed in the first person, where we see the world through Bogart's eyes. This gimmicky technique failed with Robert Montgomery in 'The Lady in the Lake' and it fails here but with Bogart and Bacall and a story by the acclaimed noir author David Goodis it's worth putting up with the silliness and going along for the ride.Wrongly-convicted wife murderer Bogart breaks out of San Quintin in an oil drum, intent on clearing his name, with the aid of a talkative cabbie, a back-street plastic surgeon and Lauren Bacall, as the dame who fell for him while following his trial and believes in his innocence.The plot is head-spinningly convoluted and quite unbelievable but there are enough eccentric characters and attractive San Francisco locations to make it thoroughly enjoyable example of a soft-centred, noirish romance, even if it runs out of steam with a weak, damp-squib ending.

This is his best film and their best performance together. Wonderful plot and very different from anything else he’s done. Clever script and superbly directed. It features an entire string cast. Agnes Moorhead is fabulous too. I never get bored of watching it.

One of the classsic bogart and bacall films but not one of the best known ones.I first came across it on tv and was pleased to find it on prime.The story had some nice twists and Bacall and Bogart are a pleasure to watch.I would certainly recommend it.

Not only one of the best noirs but one of the greatest films I've seen period. The camerawork is top notch, treating Bogart as the camera in the first half is masterful filmmaking. I suspect this film was a major influence on Hitchcock's Vertigo, has some similarities, including the San Francisco location.

After escaping from prison, for murdering his wife, Vincent Parry finds his face plastered on the front of every newspaper across the state. What can he do, where can he go and how can he prove he did not murder anyone? When a complete stranger with a friendly face agrees to help he attempts to avoid the authorities, clear his name and uncover the real murderer.This rather unusual 1947 film noir is the forgotten third film in the four that Bogart and Bacall made in the mid to late forties. With it's unusual first person filming style for Bogey in the first act it wasn't your average Bogart vehicle where he plays a tough guy of some sort. Here he plays a very ordinary guy who gets mixed up in something he has little or no control over and who for most of the plot seems to be buffeted along by it, rather than dictating it. It's something of a departure for Bogart to play against type and it's a brave choice to be sure but unfortunately it doesn't work as well as he or the director might have hoped. The fact is people want Bogey being Bogey, it's as simple as that.The other secondary roles played by Bacall, Moorhead and others are rather good and do make up in some small way for the lack of Bogart in the first act, but overall the decision to keep him off the screen for so long was ultimately a poor one. The producers Warner Brothers, when they saw the first cut, were not very happy with the result and audiences felt the same way, feeling quite rightly that a Bogart film needs Bogart.Although the film is handsome enough and utilizes the San Francisco skyline effectively and the lovely black and white high contrast lighting photography fits in nicely with the dark noirish subject matter, it is unfortunately not the roaring success that all concerned hoped it might be. Falling foul of a script and screenplay with so many coincidences and conveniences, to help the plot along, the production soon begins to feel very laboured and rather far fetched. Although attempts are made to shore up a lagging second act with a police chase scene, the screenplay does lag quite often and it's not enough really. What starts out as a rather gritty piece with a sense of it's own style and purpose, soon descends into a fairly standard sentimental melodrama with a saccharine sweet ending bolted on for good measure because the story had no where to go. The book it was based on may have been better served left as a book.A reasonable success at the box office it might have been but it was quickly forgotten and I suspect didn't get very good word of mouth when people realised they were only getting Bogey for half the films actual runtime. The only reason this film has not been consigned to cinematic oblivion is because of it's stars Bogart and Bacall.A solid film, but let down by a laboured plot, a poor screenplay and too little Bogey.

Here Humphrey Bogart is seen at his best with Lauren Bacall. In all, a highly enjoyable performanceand a DVD served as usual by our efficient friends MusicMagpie.

Surely the strangest project a hot team ever produced, but entertaining and strong for that. Bogie, convicted unjustly of murder escapes from prison, an event orchestrated by a woman he does not know, played by Lauren Bacall. Complicated by Agnes Moorehead with good work from Bruce Bennett and Tom D'Andrea. For all classic film lovers.

buena imagen y sonido

Encore une fois, il faut aller se servir chez nos amis espagnols de chez Warner pour avoir droit au blu-ray du film de Delmer Daves. La copie HD est très bonne, le rendu de la photo de Sid Hickox est tellement glauque dans les rues et impasses de San Francisco qu' on en choperait une jaunisse. Tiré du roman de David Goodis "Cauchemar", le métrage de Delmer Daves en respecte l' intrigue à deux ou trois péripéties près ; on peut aussi rajouter que la lilliputienne Veronica Lake aurait mieux convenu en lieu et place de la trop grande Lauren Bacall. Se raccrocher juste à la caméra subjective, le regard de Bogart/Parry, pour l' originalité du film, c' est faire fi du brio d' Agnes Moorehead en Barbara Stanwyck du purgatoire, à moins d' être miro ; l' ardu affrontement avec Bogart/Parry ainsi que la fin de son personnage qui est implacable et imparable, ce sont les meilleures scènes du film ! Ceux qui ne croient pas à une évasion de prison dans un baril, devraient se souvenir de celle de Jean-Pierre Treiber dans un carton...Film en noir et blanc au format 4/3 d' une durée de 106 mn.Audio et sous-titres en castillan, espagnol, anglais et français.Bonus :- Un documentaire "Hold your breath and cross your fingers" d' environ 11 mn avec VOSTRF- La bande annonce de "Dark Passage" troisième film du couple Bogart/Bacall d' environ 2 mn- Un Bugs Bunny, le célèbre "Slick Hare" d' environ 8 mn avec VOSTRF

Worthwhile addition to my collection of Bogart/Bacall collection.