Dark Passage

A film noir set in San Francisco. Vincent Parry has been convicted of killing his wife and escapes from prison. He says he did not do it; he has nothing to prove it with. On the road a woman picks him up. Irene has followed the case in the papers and believes he is innocent; she takes him to her apartment. His face is being looked for. A doctor is found and he has surgery; until he heals he cannot speak and waits in bandages. The best-known thing about the film is here: the first part of the narrative was shot entirely from Parry's eyes. The camera looks where he looks, people speak straight into the lens, and Humphrey Bogart's face is not seen for a long stretch. The choice sets the change of face after the surgery inside the narrative itself. In the second half Parry starts looking for the real killer, and it turns out everyone around him has an interest. Lauren Bacall plays Irene; it is the third film she and Bogart made together. Agnes Moorehead has a supporting part and carries the film's hardest scenes. The city streets, the bridge and the apartments on the hills were shot on location. Delmer Daves directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes 1940s noir and studio films that experiment with form. Who it is not for: anyone looking for consistency of plot; the coincidences are many and the narrative does not account for them.