Dark Passage (1947)

Director:

Delmer Daves

Writers:

Delmer Daves (screenplay)
David Goodis (novel)

Release Date:

27 September 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

Two Of A Kind ! Tough . . . Torrid . . . Terrific !

Plot:

Bogart plays a man convicted of murdering his wife who escapes from prison in order to prove his innocence...

Plot Keywords:

Escape From Prison | Plastic Surgery | First Person Camera | Police | Peru

Cast

Humphrey Bogart	...	Vincent Parry
Lauren Bacall	...	Irene Jansen
Bruce Bennett	...	Bob
Agnes Moorehead	...	Madge Rapf
Tom D'Andrea	...	Cabby (Sam)
Clifton Young	...	Baker
Douglas Kennedy	...	Detective Kennedy
Rory Mallinson	...	George Fellsinger
Houseley Stevenson	...	Dr. Walter Coley
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Alvin	...	Blackie (scenes deleted)
John Arledge	...	Lonely man (uncredited)
Leonard Bremen	...	Bus ticket clerk (uncredited)
Clancy Cooper	...	Man on street seeking match (uncredited)
Deborah Daves	...	Child with Aunt Mary (uncredited)
Michael Daves	...	Michael - Child with Aunt Mary (uncredited)
Tom Fadden	...	Diner Counterman Serving Parry (uncredited)
Bob Farber	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Mary Field	...	Aunt Mary (uncredited)
Ross Ford	...	Ross (bus driver) (uncredited)
Craig Lawrence	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Ian MacDonald	...	Policeman in bus depot (uncredited)
Dude Maschemeyer	...	Man (uncredited)
Patrick McVey	...	Impatient taxi driver (uncredited)
Ray Montgomery	...	Theatre Usher in Trailer (uncredited)
Paul Panzer	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Tom Reynolds	...	Hotel clerk (uncredited)
Ramon Ros	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Shimen Ruskin	...	Driver who hits Kennedy (uncredited)
Anita Sharp-Bolster	...	Woman (uncredited)
Jo Stafford	...	Singer (uncredited) (voice)
Richard Walsh	...	Policeman (uncredited)

Directed by
Delmer Daves

Writing credits
Delmer Daves		(screenplay)
David Goodis		(novel "Dark Passage")

Produced by
Jerry Wald	....	producer
Jack L. Warner	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Franz Waxman

Cinematography by
Sidney Hickox		(as Sid Hickox)

Film Editing by
David Weisbart

Art Direction by
Charles H. Clarke

Set Decoration by
William L. Kuehl		(as William Kuehl)

Makeup Department
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Richard Maybery	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Dolph Thomas	....	sound

Special Effects by
Hans F. Koenekamp	....	special effects photography (as H.F. Koenekamp)

Stunts
Bob Morgan	....	stunts (uncredited)
Allen Pomeroy	....	stunts (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Bernard Newman	....	wardrobe

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	musical director
Leonid Raab	....	orchestral arrangements

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures (as Warner Bros.-First National Pictures)

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1947) (USA) (theatrical)
• Dominant Pictures Corporation (1956) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Argentina Video Home (2004) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2004) (Argentina) (VHS) (re-release)
• Warner Bros. (2004) (Argentina) (all media) (re-release)
• Key Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Living Colour Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Germany:16 | Norway:16 | USA:Approved (PCA #12248) | Canada:PG (video rating) | UK:15 (1988) | UK:A (1947) (cut) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Filbert Steps, Filbert Street, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Franz Waxman's main title music for this movie is exactly the same as that used in To Have and Have Not (1944), for which he was uncredited.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Vincent Parry wore his bandages on his face for over two weeks but only had about two days of beard growth. The human male bread would grow about 3/4 to a inch in over two weeks on average for a man like Parry.

Quotes:

Madge Rapf: I've cried myself to sleep at night because of you. She's got you now. She wants you very badly doesn't she? She's willing to run away with you and keep on running and ruin everything for herself. But she wouldn't care because she'd be with you and that's what she wants. Well she doesn't have you now. She'll never have you. Nobody will ever have you! And that's the way I want it! You're nothing but an escaped convict. Nobody knows what you wrote down. They'll believe me! They'll believe me!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Coming Attractions: The History of the Movie Trailer (2006)

Soundtrack:

I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan

Agnes Moorehead steals the show!

Even if she has only two or three scenes she steals them all.And it speaks volumes when the stars are Bogart and Bacall.

This is my favorite B/B among the four films they made together."The big sleep" has a plot I've never understood -Hawks used to say it was the same to him-,"to have and to have not" fails to excite me (Bogart a resistant and Gaulliste at that!"Key Largo",on the other hand, is a close second to Daves' movie .

Not that the subjective viewpoint/camera was that much new.Robert Montgomery filmed his hero the same way in 1946 ("Lady in the lake" ,and we only saw his reflection in the mirrors).Hitchcock knew the technique as well and he used it with virtuosity during short sequences.But Daves who is best remembered for his westerns ("broken arrow") pulls it off effortlessly.The depth of field gives a dreamlike atmosphere to the first sequences with Bacall and the surgeon -dream which becomes nightmare during the operation when Bogart sees in his bad dream all the characters involved in the story- There are plot holes of course,particularly Madge 's character .Parry is in Irene's house and presto here she comes.It takes all Agnes Moorehead's talent to give this woman substance.

The first third is Bogartless,as an user points out.But he could add that the last third is almost Bacallless too.

Only the ending,which I will not reveal of course ,is not worthy of a film noir!Maybe the producers imposed it.