Dark Passage

Humphrey Bogart stars as Vincent Parry, an innocent man sitting on death row for the murder of his wife. In the opening minutes of filmmaker Delmer Daves's 1947 noir drama Dark Passage, Parry escapes from San Quentin to try to clear his name, but his face isn't even seen through the first act of the film. Instead, viewers witness his escape almost entirely through his eyes, a first-person account with the voice of Bogart guiding our point of view—until he emerges from plastic surgery with his face covered in bandages (a temporary situation; the bandages come off to reveal the scuffed face of Bogart soon enough). Lauren Bacall costars as Irene Jansen, the Good Samaritan who aids Parry's escape, while Agnes Moorehead is wickedly nasty as a conniving, acid-tongued busybody who once had designs on Parry but then turned vicious when he married another woman. Dark Passage plays like a glossy chamber piece of film noir, set mostly during the daytime in well-lit apartments and out on the streets in hard daylight, and while the plot is something of a stretch, this is still a compelling yarn that boasts great chemistry between Bogie and Bacall (this is the third of four films they made together) and excellent use of San Francisco locations. Extras include a “making-of” featurette and a vintage Bogart-related Bugs Bunny cartoon. A beloved Hollywood classic, this is highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)