Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

zardoz-13 William Holden plays a troubled prison inmate in Rudolph Maté's claustrophobic thriller "The Dark Past" who takes a college professor and his guests hostage after he breaks out of stir. This represents one of the few examples of Holden cast as a villain but taking top billing over his heroic co-star Lee J. Cobb. Instead of Holden as the hero, Cobb is hero, a shrewd but open-minded police psychiatrist who relies on his fearless intelligence to get himself out of a dangerous predicament. The liberal minded "Dark Past" isn't so much a 'crime doesn't pay' movie as much as it is 'crime can be prevented' movie. Unfortunately, more dialogue than shooting occurs here, but the psychological process of unraveling a murderer's mind compensates for the talkative script. The villains' lack of vigilance, particularly on the part of the henchmen, is what gets them in hot water. A compassionate police psychiatrist, Dr. Andrew Collins (Lee J. Cobb of "Lawman"), attends the morning line-up of offenders at the police station. He takes an interest in an embittered 18-year old criminal, John Larrapoe (Harry Harvey Jr.), who has been arrested for armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and resisting arrest. Collins wants to intervene in Larrapoe's behalf because he thinks that the youth doesn't know the way the system works. He wants to send Larrapoe to the psychiatric ward of the county hospital for observation. Initially, the arresting officer, Williams (Robert B. Williams), who wears a bandage on his right temple where Larrapoe struck him when he resisted arrest, doesn't agree with Collins' recommendation. "Don't expect me to make that kind of recommendation in my report to the D. A.," Williams states. "There is nothing wrong with Larrapoe that a good stretch at hard labor won't cure," the detective argues. "He's a bad boy, mean all over." Collins refuses to give up on Larrapoe. "I don't want us hardening him into a hopeless criminal. He's young, something can be done for him while he is young. He's a sick boy, mentally and emotionally." Williams follows Collins into his office and Collins fills Williams in on his experience with a criminal named Al Walker (William Holden of "Born Yesterday") when he was a professor of psychiatry at a small university near the Canadian border. Thus concludes the first act of this melodrama.Collins plans to spend the weekend in the country. Collins owns a cabin by a lake and he takes his wife, Ruth (Lois Maxwell, who played the first Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond franchise) and his son Bobby (Robert Hyatt) with him. Bobby yearns to go hunting and fishing. Meanwhile, Walker has mysteriously broken out of prison. We know from the get-go that Walker is a ruthless felon because he displays no qualms about gunning down Warden Benson (Selmer Jackson) in cold blood after they set him a foot. Indeed, the exposition during a radio broadcast lets us know that Walker shot and killed two guards during his prison breakout. Anyway, they are heading to the lake where they are supposed to catch a ride in a boat with an accomplice. Although they have found an abandoned shack to hide out in until the boat arrives, Walker wants to take advantage of Collins and his guests. Walker believes that his accomplices and he can lay low with less chance of discovery by the police if they wait it out with Collins and company. The midpoint of this drama concerns a question and answer conversation between Collins and Walker (William Holden) about a recurring nightmare that has plagued the lawbreaker entire life. "I don't kill sick people," Dr. Andrew Collins informs Al Walker, "I cure them." Although it is officially a remake of Charles Vidor's "Blind Alley" (1939), "The Dark Past" reminded me of the home invasion thriller "The Desperate Hours" where Humphrey Bogart broke into Frederic March's house and held his family and him at gunpoint. Collins is a pretty cool customer as he psychoanalyzes the reluctant Walker. At one point, the exasperated Walker thrusts a revolver into Collins' stomach when he cannot understand the professor's line of questioning. Walker suffers from a nightmare that involves an abusive father and rain. Maté and scenarists Philip MacDonald, Michael Blankfort, and Albert Duffy keep the principals cooped up for about an hour in a loquacious yarn. For the record, "The Dark Past" is an adaptation of the James Warwick's play "Blind Alley." "A little understanding and guidance," Collins observes, "maybe we can salvage some of this waste." The problem with 'The Dark Past" is that Walker lets Collins get the upper hand and prevents him from killing ever again. William Holden is miscast as the murderous escaped convict, but Lee J. Cobb is quietly convincing as the assertive psychiatrist. Otherwise, the rest of the cast is credible. Nevertheless, Collins' ability to undermine Walker after he cures him seems far-fetched, given Walker's homicidal nature. On the whole, "The Dark Past" is an interesting, if somewhat fanciful yarn.

wes-connors During a criminal lineup, police psychiatrist Lee J. Cobb (as Andrew Collins) shows concern for snarling young Harry Harvey Jr. (as John Larrapoe). Young law-breakers go to jail and are schooled in the criminal lifestyle, instead of being rehabilitated and given a second chance. This causes Mr. Cobb to recall a memorable incident with hardened criminal William Holden (as Al Walker). A couple years ago, Cobb was a wealthy college professor. While at his country estate near the Canadian border, Cobb's dinner party was invaded and held hostage by Mr. Holden and his gang. Cobb notices Holden's troubled psyche, rooted in an unusual recurring dream, and tries to root out his criminal mind..."The Dark Past" offers a familiar plot, perhaps most successful in cinematic form as "The Desperate Hours" (1955) with Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March. Like that film, this particular story started life as a tense Broadway play. James Warwick's 1935 play is arguably better as "Blind Alley" (1939)...The story's intrigue is the psychological interplay between the leading men. Herein, Cobb gets the better of Holden in more ways than one. Cobb appears authentic alongside Holden, who grimaces and gazes. You miss the more subtle, alcohol-drenched cynic Holden would play so well. The exaggeration continues with obvious lighting, billowing curtains, dramatic angles and arty dream sequences. A dose of Freudian complexes mixes in to give director Rudolph Mate and his crew an overly gimmicky looking film. The cast is overcrowded with three servants, dinner party guests and a kid. As gangster Holden's love interest, pretty Nina Foch almost effective. The story's lesson is commendable.***** The Dark Past (1948/12/22) Rudolph Mate ~ William Holden, Lee J. Cobb, Nina Foch, Steven Geray

Spikeopath The Dark Past is directed by Rudolph Maté and adapted by Malvin Wald, Oscar Saul, Philip MacDonald, Michael Blankfort and Albert Duffy from the play Blind Alley written by James Warwick. It stars William Holden, Nina Foch, Lee J. Cobb, Adele Jergens, Stephen Dunne and Lois Maxwell. Music is by George Duning and cinematography by Joseph Walker.Al Walker Breaks Jail!One from a number of classic era Hollywood's ventures into Freudian thrillers. Here we have Holden as escaped convict Al Walker, who along with his loyal crew hold hostage psychologist Dr. Andrew Collins (Cobb) and his guests at the doctor's remote country retreat. With Walker clearly unstable of mind and often showing a cold blooded streak, the good doctor, the calmest man in the house, slowly tries to draw out of Walker the root of his murderous leanings.James Warwick's play had already had a film adaptation in 1939 as Blind Alley (Charles Vidor), but such was the advent of film noir and crime films of similar ilk, the source material was ripe for a remake in the late 40s. Maté's film is doubly reliant on strong acting performances and strength of subject matter, the former is no problem at all, with Cobb methodically excellent, Holden twitchy and coiled spring like and Foch smooth foil for both of them.The latter issue isn't totally successful, though, the picture is very talky anyway, but much of the psycho-babble talk about conscious states, dreams, sensor bands and damage childhoods is handled so matter of fact, it's never really convincing as narrative thrust and it slow builds to a finale that lacks dramatic oomph. It's annoying really because Maté paints it in light and shade and a dream sequence, stripped back to negative form, is surreal excellence and befitting the interesting core basics of the psychological issues on the page.It's definitely worth a look by those interested in the Freud influenced entries in the film noir cycle, while fans of hostage dramas like The Desperate Hours and The Petrified Forest will enjoy the character dynamics on show. But it's not all it can be and the handling of the crime and mental health equation is just too short changed to matter. 6.5/10

Gene Bivins (gayspiritwarrior) This little film is word-for-word, almost shot-for-shot the same as the earlier "Blind Alley" and, I'm sure, the play that film was based on. The few differences all work in this later film's favor. Lee J. Cobb is better as the psychologist than Ralph Bellamy, and William Holden is more subtle if less comfortable in the tough-guy shoes than Chester Morris. Both films are stagey in the extreme, the interest coming mostly from the two main performers, (particularly Lee J. Cobb, who dominates his scenes,) and the better direction of Rudolf Maté. TNT is showing both films this afternoon, in order of their filming. Both are triumphs of craft over weak material.