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Dark Passage (1947)

post #1 of 8
9/21/10 at 4:44pm
Thread Starter 
Over the last couple of months, i've been going through the 40's period of Noir's with Bogart and specially the ones featuring Bogart and Bacall (shit she was a goddess).

I saw Key Largo, The Big Sleep, and yesterday i saw Dark Passage. (I've yet to se To Have and Have Not, but it's coming).

Of the 3 i watched, this was my least favorite. I liked the novelty of having almost the entire first act shot from a first person POV and having Bogey be off camera. Then the second act, he's got a mask on and only in the last section of the film does he reveal his face. That had to be a ballsy move back in the day.

Bacall is stunning, as usual. She's got this weird and narrow face, in a great way. Like a sex velocirraptor ready to catch you.

Wasn't a fan of the reveal of the killer, and Bob played no role whatsoever. And i also didn't like the happy ending at the end. Did Shawshank draw inspiration from this?
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post #2 of 8
9/21/10 at 5:26pm
The happy ending was pretty obviously the studio pandering to audiences that wanted to see Bogie & Bacall beat the world. Dark Passage is based on a book by Dave Goodis, who from all that I've heard was an unrelentingly bleak writer, and you can sort of tell that the movie's tone and set-up do not match the ending at all.

I saw this very young - maybe eleven or something - caught it by accident while flipping channels, my dad had already instilled a healthy love of Bogart in me via Casablanca, The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon, and at the time the gustyness of those opening scenes totally kicked my ass. Revisting it semi-recently I'll admit it's more of a curio than a classic, but still a personal favourite.
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post #3 of 8
9/21/10 at 7:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanielRoffle View Post
The happy ending was pretty obviously the studio pandering to audiences that wanted to see Bogie & Bacall beat the world. Dark Passage is based on a book by Dave Goodis, who from all that I've heard was an unrelentingly bleak writer, and you can sort of tell that the movie's tone and set-up do not match the ending at all.
I used to think the same thing about Goodis until I started reading his novels. Of the ones that I'm familiar with, three have happy endings while the fourth (Down There, adapted as Truffaut's SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER) has the protagonist losing a loved one but finding, quite unexpectedly, that he's surrounded by friends who will go to great lengths to keep him from a long stretch in prison.

I've never read Dark Passage, and have no idea how it ends, but Goodis had the tendency to put his characters through hell and then drag them to safety. Also, as enjoyable as they are, the stories can be silly and contrived in a very Hollywood way.
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post #4 of 8
9/22/10 at 7:05am
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Originally Posted by Malmordo View Post
I used to think the same thing about Goodis until I started reading his novels. Of the ones that I'm familiar with, three have happy endings while the fourth (Down There, adapted as Truffaut's SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER) has the protagonist losing a loved one but finding, quite unexpectedly, that he's surrounded by friends who will go to great lengths to keep him from a long stretch in prison.

I've never read Dark Passage, and have no idea how it ends, but Goodis had the tendency to put his characters through hell and then drag them to safety. Also, as enjoyable as they are, the stories can be silly and contrived in a very Hollywood way.
Huh. I just remember the Goodis article in The Big Book Of Noir going on about him being the darkest shit you'll ever read.
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post #5 of 8
9/22/10 at 10:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tati View Post
Over the last couple of months, i've been going through the 40's period of Noir's with Bogart and specially the ones featuring Bogart and Bacall (shit she was a goddess).

I saw Key Largo, The Big Sleep, and yesterday i saw Dark Passage. (I've yet to se To Have and Have Not, but it's coming).
Bacall is, indeed, a goddess. And To Have and Have Not is the movie that unleashed her on an unsuspecting world and an overwhelmed Bogart. You can actually kinda see them fall in love on the screen. One of my absolute fave flicks.

also....same boat as the one in Key Largo.
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post #6 of 8
9/22/10 at 10:45am
Thread Starter 
I'm gonna have to track down To Have And Have Not soon enough. I love their chemistry.
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post #7 of 8
9/22/10 at 2:57pm
"Was you ever bit by a dead bee?"

Walter Brennan rules in this, too.
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post #8 of 8
9/23/10 at 6:49am
Yeah, To Have And Have Not is a lot of fun. Shares some themes with Casablanca.
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