The Dark Past

1949

The Dark Past

Critics Consensus

No consensus yet.

50%

TOMATOMETER

Reviews Counted: 6

48%
liked it

Audience Score

User Ratings: 143

All Critics | Top Critics

Average Rating: N/A
Reviews Count: 0
Fresh: 0
Rotten: 0

Average Rating: 3.2/5

You may have noticed some of the recent changes we have made. To read more about what we’ve been working on behind the scenes, please check out our new RT Product Blog here.

ADD YOUR RATING

Want to See

My Rating

The Dark Past Photos

View All Photos

Movie Info

In the film remade from a play and a 1939 movie called Blind Alley, a convicted killer (William Holden) escapes from prison and is looking for a hideout. He finds the right cabin and holds hostage a psychiatrist (Lee J. Cobb) and his family who are vacationing there. The psychiatrist tries to use psychological strategies to convince the crook to let his family go.

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Drama, Mystery & Suspense
Directed By:

Rudolph Maté
Written By:

Malvin Wald, Philip MacDonald, Albert Duffy, Oscar Saul, Michael Blankfort
In Theaters:

Apr 25, 1949 wide
Runtime:

75 minutes
Studio:

Columbia Pictures

Cast

William Holden
as Al Walker

Lee J. Cobb
as Dr. Andrew Collins

Nina Foch
as Betty

Adele Jergens
as Laura Stevens

Stephen Dunne
as Owen Talbot

Lois Maxwell
as Ruth Collins

Berry Kroeger
as Mike

Steven Geray
as Prof. Fred Linder

Wilton Graff
as Frank Stevens

Robert Osterloh
as Pete

Kathryn Card
as Nora

Robert Hyatt
as Bobby

Ellen Corby
as Agnes

Charles Cane
as Sheriff

Robert B. Williams
as Williams

Phil Tully
as Cop

Harry Harvey Jr.
as John Larrapoe

Edward Earle
as McCoy

Pat McGeehan
as Commentator

View All

Critic Reviews for The Dark Past

All Critics (6) | Fresh (3) | Rotten (3)

... a minor noir notable largely for Holden's uncharacteristically feral performance...

Oct 13, 2007 | Full Review…

Sean Axmaker
Turner Classic Movies Online
Another of the era's barely tolerable advertisements for Freudian psychoanalysis.

May 16, 2006 | Rating: C | Full Review…

Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness
A stagy remake of the Chester Morris film "Blind Alley" (39).

Jan 1, 2000 | Rating: C- | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews