- It's difficult to imagine a more conspicuous and identifiable screen presence than Humphrey Bogart's, which is part of what makes Delmer Daves' Dark Passage so enjoyable. Any film bold enough to keep from showing Bogart's iconically languid countenance for its first hour must be worth watching. Sure, we get glimpses of his back-lit silhouette and plenty of point-of-view shots accompanied by his inimitable slurred enunciation, but the cameras absolutely refuse to reveal his face until more than halfway through the film. That the film's first hour is also its best is not a knock against its lead's looks, but rather an indicator of how intriguing it can be to keep a big star under wraps.
- The plot-related reason the film hides Bogart's face is that his character, Vincent Parry, has just escaped from prison. Incidentally, he was in for the murder of his wife, which he swears he didn't commit. He initially grabs a ride from a chap named Baker (Clifton Young), who asks a few too many questions and ends up getting socked in the jaw. Before Parry has time to make his next move, however, Irene Jansen (Lauren Bacall) arrives on the scene to offer him a lift. The odd thing is, the sultry Miss Jansen knows exactly who Parry is and was seemingly waiting for him by the side of the road. Sounds like a trap, but escaped convicts don't typically have the luxury of multiple options.
- As it happens, Miss Jansen's intervention is just the first in a series of surreal events to befall Parry. While she's away one afternoon, a woman named Madge (Agnes Moorehead) drops by her art deco apartment. Strange that Parry last saw Madge when she testified against him in his trial. And then there's the small matter of Baker's car parked just a few blocks away. What's he doing around here? In one particularly weird night, Parry hails a cab driver (Tom D'Andrea) who recognizes him. It just so happens that the driver knows a plastic surgeon (Houseley Stevenson) who does his best work after midnight. "Ever see any botched plastic jobs?" the doctor asks. "If a man like me didn't like a fellow... he could surely fix him up for life." Trust me, you don't want to go under anesthesia with a thought like that on your mind.
- Given the details, you'd think that such a strange and paranoia-inducing plot couldn't possibly come together in the end. In fact, the film does an admirable job tying up its myriad loose ends once Parry finally removes his bandages. Unfortunately, those tangled plot lines and the fascination of its intentionally obscured star are a large part of what made the film so interesting, and the second half quickly transforms into a far more ordinary potboiler noir. Still, with Dark Passage's excellent on-location San Francisco scenery and terrific shadowy cinematography by Sidney Hickox, also responsible for The Big Sleep and White Heat, it's easy to overlook the film's average ending. Toss in the fact that this is certainly Bogart and Bacall's strangest onscreen romance, and you have a film that is as instantly recognizable and unique as the leading man it tried so hard to hide.
- Based on a novel by David Goodis.
- A pre-surgery image of Parry's face is shown in the paper, and it belongs to actor Frank Wilcox, known to me as a judge from Perry Mason.
