Dark Passage (1947)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Dark Passage (1947) – D. Daves

This third pairing of Bogie and Bacall (after To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep but before Key Largo) is the least celebrated, possibly because it uses the gimmick made famous by Robert Montgomery’s Lady in the Lake (1946) but more probably because Bogie plays a less confident, more hesitant, character than in the other three films. The gimmick is to have the camera take the “first person” point-of-view, showing us what Bogie’s character sees, without showing us Bogie himself (except his fist when he punches someone). This lasts for the first 40 minutes of the film, ending with a bit of a punchline when Bogie picks up a newspaper reporting on his escape from jail and the picture is not of Humphrey Bogart (well, apparently it is a composite and it is Bogie from the eyes up!).  At this point in the film, Bogie undergoes plastic surgery from a dodgy doctor (who lost his licence, of course) and after the bandages come off (20 minutes later), we finally see Bogart an hour into the film.  Bacall plays the woman who was a staunch defender when Bogie’s case went to trial, never believing that he really killed his wife.  She does what she can to hide him, even as another murder is committed and attributed to him. There are a few suspects, including Agnes Moorehead and Clifton Young, but things don’t look good for Bogie. We know he’s innocent, but how will they convince the law? It doesn’t turn out how you expect. Solid noir although not in the upper echelon.