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Dark Passage (1947)

tomatometer

100

Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 0

No consensus yet.

audience

80

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 5,936

My Rating

Movie Info

Robert Montgomery's 1946 film Lady in the Lake attempted to tell the entire story with a "subjective camera": shooting the film from the point of view of the main character, with the camera acting as his "eyes". The first hour or so of Dark Passage does the same thing--and the results are far more successful than anything seen in Montgomery's film. Humphrey Bogart heads the cast as an escaped convict, wrongly accused of his wife's murder. After being forced to beat up a man (Clifton Young) from

Unrated, 1 hr. 47 min.

Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Classics

Delmer Daves, David Goodis

Nov 4, 2003

MGM Home Entertainment

Cast

All Critics (23) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (22) | Rotten (2) | DVD (4)

The structure and character sense of the David Goodis novel are intact, and a full-throttle supporting cast has a ball with meaty parts.

July 12, 2011 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment
Village Voice
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The story is involving, the atmosphere is as starkly noir as anything Bogart participated in, and the dynamic between the leads is as conspicuous as ever.

July 12, 2011 Full Review Source: ReelViews | Comment
ReelViews
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This thriller is not quite up to the best Hitchcock, but it does prove that Delmer Daves is a man to watch. And The Dark Passage is a picture to see.

July 12, 2011 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment
TIME Magazine
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An odd, atmospheric 1947 thriller.

July 12, 2011 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
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What starts out as a thriller switches en route into a sagging, psychological drama, but recovers in time to give out with the satisfying gory stuff.

March 26, 2009 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
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Even though bored by the story -- which, because of its sag, you may be -- you can usually enjoy the scenery, which is as good as a travelogue.

January 28, 2006 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

An example of how star power can compensate plot, this is the least electric of the Bogart-Bacall pairings; luckily, there's Agnes Moorehead, the screen's best hornet, to intervene whenever the going gets too lackadasical.

July 12, 2011 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Dark Passage isn't a particularly good film - there's a lot of disparate elements that never quite sew themselves together. It's a crazy patchwork made up of different pieces of other movies.

October 4, 2010 Full Review Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune | Comment

Delmer Daves' paramount noir dreamscape

December 8, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion | Comment
CinePassion

One of the great San Francisco films.

June 1, 2009 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Combustible Celluloid

Exquisite.

September 10, 2007 Comment
ColeSmithey.com

The plot has some admirable twists and turns and Agnes Moorehead, as the villainess, has three wonderfully showy scenes.

June 14, 2007 Comment

Brilliantly atmospheric.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Moody noir semi-classic with Bogie and Bacall.

October 25, 2004 Comment

Maybe not one of the great noirs, but certainly one of the good ones.

August 2, 2004 Comment
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

A film more than 50 years old two legends as stars isn't automatically great, but if a studio tosses some money towards issuing a DVD, one can assume it's at least good.

April 26, 2004 Comment
Reel.com

A minor classic in the noir genre.

January 27, 2004 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Filmcritic.com
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Dark Passage

Though not on the level as the other Bogart/Bacall classics, this surprisingly experimental film noir has plenty to enjoy. Also great images of 1940's San Francisco.

November 14, 2011
Graham Jones

Super Reviewer

A good chance to watch Bogart and Bacall getting emotional. I found this noir quite entertaining but some events and decisions made by the characters were a tad far fetched, and the ending was too pleasing for my taste.

July 12, 2007
pier007

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Dark Passage - Die schwarze Natter (DE)
  • Dark Passage (1947) (UK)
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