Dark Passage (1947)

John Chard

7.0

Aug 28, 2014

Dark Passage, light journey. *** This review may contain spoilers *** Vincent Parry has been imprisoned in San Quentin for murdering his wife, he escapes at sets about clearing his name. After being picked up, and then hidden by Irene Jansen (who has followed his case closely), Parry gets a tip from a cab driver which leads him to an underground plastic surgeon. After being given a new face, Parry must keep away from the police and find out just who did in fact kill his wife? OK, so the plot isn't much to write home about, but the star appeal of the leads and a quite simply brilliant…

Humphrey Bogart spends at least half of Dark Passage heard but not seen. When the movie isn’t shot from his point of view – little more than a gimmick in any day and age, though I guess in 1947 it might have had the benefit of novelty; sort of like a first-person shooter long before first-person shooters –, Bogie’s face is either a shadowy silhouette or wrapped in bandages. The latter is the result of a back-alley plastic surgery, which is itself an oddity since this is an extreme that more often than not only true villains will go to – perhaps because only a truly guilty conscience could bear…