1947’s Dark Passage was the third of four full-blown films Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall made together. I’d rate it last in quality, but even lesser Bogart and Bacall is a cut above.

A bonus for me is that Dark Passage was filmed in my other hometown of San Francisco as well as in Marin County. I’m always blown away with how close to the general population the forbidding walls of San Quentin Prison are.

The core cast is excellent: Bogart, Betty Bacall, Agnes Moorehead, Bruce Bennett, and Clifton Young. As usual, I’ll call them by their real names, it’s less confusing that way. Besides, Bogie is on the run, so he has several names.

Bogart is a man unjustly convicted of killing his wife. He escapes from San Quentin and is picked up by creepy crooked motorist Clifton Young. They tussle and Bogie leaves him for better company, Bacall. There was no whistling this time.

Bacall is the daughter of a wealthy architect also unjustly convicted of murder. She attended Bogart’s trial and has publicly supported his cause. Bogart stays at her crib but decides to lam out of there. He’s picked up by a cabbie who suggests plastic surgery to obscure his notorious mug. The cabbie takes our hero to this creepy plastic surgeon:

Everybody smoked in 1947, even unlicensed plastic surgeons. But the quack does a good job on Bogart. He gets his movie star mug back after the bandages come off. Until then, he looks like Claude Rains in The Invisible Man.

Having nowhere else to go, Bogie returns to Betty’s pad. He’s now unjustly accused of a second murder. It’s hard being Bogie.

Bogart has another close encounter with Clifton Young. This time in one of the most scenic spots in a city full of them:

I don’t entirely buy into the gimmick of not seeing Bogart’s face until the bandages are removed but the acting is first rate. Here are Bruce Bennett and Agnes Moorhead squabbling in Bacall’s swanky apartment.

Moorehead is a mutual frenemy of Bacall and Bogart’s. Agnes testified against him at his trial. She’s involved in one of the most spectacular moments of the movie after this argument with the star:

That’s all the plot I’m willing to share. This feature is called pulp fiction, not pulp spoilers, after all.

Dark Passage is based on a novel by the great crime fiction writer David Goodis:

Goodis was happy with Delmer Daves adaptation of his book; a rarity for writers in any genre. The man with the alliterative name also directed.

The movie has a perfunctory happy ending with the stars reuniting abroad. It was possible because the production code didn’t require them to be punished, because of the whole unjustly accused thing. Additionally, the studio was worried that Bacall looked frumpy in the film, so she’s dolled up at the end.

Grading Time: I give Dark Passage 3 1/2 stars and an Adrastos Grade of B+

This bit is for readers I’ve picked up from the various TCM fan groups on Facebook. The Pulp Fiction feature started off as a way for me to post books with cool covers and titles. It evolved into a movie post in 2022. That’s why I post so many images.

It’s time to be poster posers or some such shit. We begin with the one-sheet poster followed by a quad. I’m partial to quads. Is it because of Quadrophenia?

Speaking of quad squads, let’s follow the dancing movie treats to the lobby. I hope they have Snow Caps.

They were out of Snow Caps, so I settled for Hot Tamales.

As always during this era, the lobby cards for this black and white movie are in color. That’s good for Betty and Agnes as they were both redheads at this point. Bogie’s hair was basic brown.

The freeze frame image of the trailer is a close up of Bogie and Betty. That sums up the movie’s appeal quite neatly.

The last word goes to Eddie Muller with his Noir Alley intro and outro.