Dark Passage (1947)

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1. 

   greenhorg

   Here's my theory

   This noir is another example of the unreliable narrator -- see also Detour (1945). Parry is looking for the "real murderer" of his wife in the same way that OJ Simpson is looking for his. Parry beat George to death with the bugle. His fingerprints are on the murder weapon; Madge would certainly not have the strength to beat an adult man to death with a small metal object. It is also obvious that Parry pushed Madge out of the window for being a witness at his murder trial. What we see on the screen is his implausible version of the events (She killed my wife and then fell out of the window by accident!).
   
   Parry is not punished at the end, so the Hayes code enforcers accepted his version of the truth, making him a sneaky Golden Age anti-hero.

   9 years 8 months ago
2. 

   BillieDove

   Ouf - what a ride! I buy into film noirs maybe too easily, especially with Bogart in the lead, and I can understand why this one gets a bad rep, but i LOVED it. I put it on thinking I'd take a break 15 minutes in to make tea and get some food, and I couldn't pause it the whole way through. And I was hungry. So while it might not technically be a great film, but it hooked me more than any film I've seen in the past month, and I've gotten some great ones. 11 years 9 months ago
3. 

   Siskoid

   Dark Passage and Lady in the Lake came out the same year, and both have a first person POV gimmick. Thing is, while Dark Passage doesn't sustain it for the entire film, there's a REASON for it, the effect is achieved more cleverly, and with all due respect to Audrey Totter, Lauren Bacall can better carry a film where she interacts with the camera. But mostly, it's one of several tricks to keep us from seeing Bogart's face in the first half of the film, even though you can't mistake him - he has one of the most distinctive voices in cinema - and it is justified by its plot about a falsely accused man escaping prison to prove his innocence and getting help from a woman tangentially involved in his history. The twists and turns evoke lurid pulp, and as with many Bogie & Bacall collaborations, the bonkers plot takes a back seat to onscreen chemistry. 4 years 9 months ago

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