Review of Dark Passage (1947) by Ken B — 03 Aug 2007
"Dark Passage" takes a surprising risk for a film of its period. The first third is shot entirely in the first person, as if looking through the eyes of Bogart's character. Though Bacall is seen (and she's stunning) through the film's entirety, for a filmmaker not to show the face of Bogart, who was then Hollywood's most bankable actor, throughout the opening of his film must have had the studios going berzerk.
The nifty gimmick evidently works, because it is about the only thing (besides Bacall's sultriness) that is of any real interest here. After we see Bogart on screen for the first time and the first-person view is no longer there, the film becomes something of a bore. The overall story is cookie-cutter, plot elements are preposterous, individual scenes are dated and cheesy, and on my second viewing I fell asleep through the whole middle portion of the movie. I woke up in time for the climax, but the movie's resolution was truthfully nothing special either.
I'm a bogart fan and this one's worth watching just for the interesting first-person camera work. But outside of that, it's honestly not very good.
This review of Dark Passage (1947) was written by Ken B on 03 Aug 2007.
Dark Passage has generally received positive reviews.
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