DARK PASSAGE
US, 1947, 106 minutes, Black and white.
Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bruce Bennett, Agnes Morehead.
Directed by Delmer Daves.
Dark Passage is a thriller vehicle for Humphrey Bogart. He had teamed with Lauren Bacall in a version of Hemingway's To Have And Have Not as well an Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep. They were a successful couple and married. Their next film together was this thriller, written and directed by Delmer Daves. Daves was a writer in Hollywood for many years with such films as Destination Tokyo. He moved into direction, made a number of significant westerns during the fifties, including Broken Arrow and several films with Glenn Ford, for example, Three Ten To Yuma. He moved into the lush romantic soap operas in the 60's with A Summer Place, Susan Slade. The film was also an interesting vehicle for Agnes Moorehead as the villainess. The film has a number of tricks including subjective camera because of Humphrey Bogart's face being altered by plastic surgery. It is the kind of thriller that was very popular at the time.
1. Was this a good thriller? A Humphrey Bogart film? An interesting contribution to the criminal genre?
2. The impact of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall? Why the mystique about them? The particular tones of their appeal and impact? Tough and vulnerable? Their suitability for thrillers?
3. How much sympathy did the audience initially have for Vincent Parry? His being in prison, the nature of his escape, the hijacking of the man? the change in him? the truth about him? Was he an interesting hero? The technique of only seeing his photo and not seeing his face until the plastic surgery? The quality of the subjective shots and the half hour of looking through Parry’s eyes? Audience identification with this?
4. What kind of person was Vincent Parry? An ordinary man, the victim of his wife and Madge, deceived? A victim, of society? The car, his relationship with Irene? With Madge? The importance of the request for the truth? The impact of his wanderings in the city? His realization of the truth? Was he a hero for a modern film? What were his most sympathetic qualities?
5. How strong was the theme of Parry's suffering? The victim of the trial, the insecurity about his imprisonment and escape, of what to do when he escaped? The operation and its aftermath? The murder of George? The risk for Irene? His being challenged in the bar? The victim of the blackmailer? The experience with Madge and her hysteria? Was the film right in vindicating him in allowing him to escape? Was this an easy way out?
6. How attractive a character was Irene? The background of her father’s trial? Her interest in Parry’s trial? The credibility of her helping him? Her nerve and the sequences of the bride’s getting him to the flat? The emotional interaction between them? The credibility of this? Irene contrasting with Madge? Her relationship with Bob? The final phone call?
7. How interesting a character was Madge? In retrospect when we realize that she was the murderess, The hysteria and melodrama? The vindictiveness against Vincent? Against Bob? The melodrama of her suicide and its vindictiveness?
8. How important were the incidental characters and the quality of their contribution to the film, the taxi driver and his comments on driving people around and loneliness? Doctor and his surgery?
9. The policeman at the bar, the barman himself? George and his contact with Vincent, the blackmailer?
10. How credible were the melodramatic situations of the film? Did it stand well as melodrama?
11. Its presentation of values and assumptions of values in the audience: law and order, justice, truth, the impact of society on the individual, right and wrong, retribution?
12. The use of San Francisco locations, the music and the symbol of the record, the use of newspapers and headlines, the police?
13. How good a thriller was this? As a tough Warner Brothers film of the late 40s? Audience expectations from these films? How well do they wear?
