Absolutely Fantastic

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The first must-see film of the year.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Watched Dark Passage with Bogart and Bacall the other night (innocent man convicted of killing his wife escapes prison, tries to prove he's not guilty). What struck me this time (because I've seen this movie, like many of the classics, many times over), was how a movie made in the 1940s had, as an underlying message, intentionally or not, that justice doesn't always prevail in this country, that sometime the innocent go to jail, and the guilty are never proved to be guilty. A plot that is based on an imperfect justice system, and in a country where truth doesn't always triumph, isn't something I wouldn't think I'd find in a movie made during this more patriotic period in our country's history. I would have expected (and probably did the first time I saw the movie) that Bogart's character would have proven his innocent in the end. It is a bit of shock that -- as true as it may be in real life -- in the movie the good guy is not able to set the record straight. But it's not a depressing movie for two reasons. One is that there are so many people -- most total strangers to him -- that try to help him: the taxi driver who takes him the plastic surgeon, the surgeon himself, his old one and true friend, and, of course, Bacall's character, a woman's whose own father suffered the injustice of the justice system and ended up died in prison. Improbable as it is that these people would aid and abet a convicted murderer, it's comforting to have the movie show that, even though the system may not always work, you can count on people to both know the truth and to go to great lengths to help you. It's also not a depressing movie because we are treated to a happy ending. Though he'll never be free of guilt in this country, he does find happiness -- and with the girl -- in Peru. And that was the other surprise message that struck me this time viewing the movie - that a 1940s movie would show you that happiness can actually be found in a country other than the good old USA.

One of the worst noir movies I've ever seen. Annoying beginning SPOILER where you can't see Bogie's face for what seems like hours. Stupid plot, stupid plot developments, stupid stupid stupid. The only saving grace was Bacall in her prime, and Agnes Moorehead as vamp!. Don't waste your time.

Delmer Daves' "Dark Passage" is a very good movie that is very similar to "The Fugitive" (1993) in terms of the story-line but has some different aspects as well, this is one of the best film noir type films that I have seen along with "The Big Heat" (1953), "The Maltese Falcon" (1941), "White Heat" (1949), "The Big Sleep" (1946) and as well as many others. The movie stars Humphrey Bogart as Vincent Parry a man who is convicted for murdering his wife and ends up escaping from prison and is on the run from police in order to prove his innocence. Parry then meets a woman named Irene Jansen (Lauren Bacall) who tries to help him prove his innocence. Then during the movie Parry seeks a doctor's appointment to seek plastic surgery in order to change his appearance with Dr. Walter Coley (Houseley Stevenson). The first forty minutes of the movie are the most interesting 40 minutes I have ever seen in a film since those shots are from Parry's perspective. Then towards the end of the movie we see Parry and Jansen and her neighbor Madge (Agnes Moorehead) scream as if he actually killed somebody when he actually didn't. The movie was the third of four movies that Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall would do together (the fourth was John Huston's "Key Largo" (1948)). The chemistry between Bogart and Bacall was so good in this movie just like it was in their previous film "The Big Sleep" from the previous year and was directed by Howard Hawks. Delmer Daves' direction and his screenplay is executed for the film like an Alfred Hitchcock movie but much less suspenseful. But it was still was a very good movie to watch and is one of 1947's best films, and it kept me on the edge of my seat as well.

To enjoy this movie you have to completely deaden your disbelief monitor. I mean the story is idiotic however it does move along and keep your interest and it is fun to believe it possible. One of my main interests was the scenery of 40s San Francisco when the US was still as Trump would say a great country.Bacall is 24 when this was made and Bogart 49. I got tired of viewing the glowing pans of her face and anorexic body. Bogart is much more watchable and down to earth. I knew the score it became popular in and of itself.It gets a star for the noir quality... The bad guy gets away in a sense...usually this doesn't happen by Hollywood's code.As an aside I have used Netflix but Amazon Prime offers a lot better selection...and comes free with the prime membership. It will shut down Netflix for me...(who knows but the competition helps)..RECOMMEND