Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
2.5/4
"Dark Passage" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 03/09/2012
A man jailed for killing his wife escapes and with the aid of a beautiful well wisher attempts to reveal the truth behind her death. This film is mainly known for the first person gimmickry of the first half in which the action is seen from Bogart's point of view and for being the least of Bogart and Bacall's on screen pairings. The direction although gimmicky is actually quite a technical achievement and makes it feel quite contemporary still, and the whole film looks very, very nice, concealing Bogie's face in shadows and making excellent use of some great locations (surely Hitchcock had this film in mind when he made Vertigo). Unfortunately this gimmick causes other elements of the film to suffer; Bogie's on screen presence is sorely missed, and his wordless, bandaged face means that …
Rating of
2.5/4
A rather dark road
uberalpha - wrote on 12/10/2007
Bogart and Bacall in their first film since they made their marriage public--it was a secret during The Big Sleep. Their on screen chemistry works very well in this film and Bogart's character is much more human. The combination of location shoots and first person camera perspective until Bogart's character, Parry, gets cosmetic plastic surgery presents an intriguing look for the film. Functionally, it makes it much easier to empathize immediately with the position of the escaped convict. It's not just Parry who is being threatened, but people are looking into the camera, at the audience and threatening the viewer. Leonard Maltin--in the making of featurette--puts it best, this is a good film, not a great one. That said, if you're looking for more original crime noir films from the …
