Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Voxitype
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Lachlan Coulson
This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
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
Michael_Elliott
Dark Past, The (1948) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Remake of 1939's Blind Alley follows the same story and really doesn't offer anything new. A criminal (William Holden) escapes prison and breaks into the home of a psychiatrist (Lee J. Cobb) where he holds him, his family and friends hostage. The psychiatrist decides to try and examine the criminal's mind in hopes that he can make him crack. The original version has Chester Morris playing the criminal against the brains of Ralph Bellamy and I think that version is much better. This remake really doesn't offer anything new, although a few of the characters are somewhat changed. In the original film it was a student who shows up at the house half way through while here it's been changed to a hunting buddy. The first film also managed to get the underlined theme of child abuse past the Hayes Office but that whole plot point has been axed in this remake. Both Holden and Cobb turn in good performances but once again, I think the original worked better. In this film Cobb comes off as a tough guy, as the actor was, and this really takes away from him trying to play with the criminal's mind because there is a scene where the doctor uses his toughness to take a situation over and this just didn't ring true. Nina Foch plays Holden's girlfriend but she adds very little to the film. In the end, this certainly isn't a bad movie but it has been watered down too much to where it can't compare with the original.
bkoganbing
The Dark Past may very well have been a turning point in the career of William Holden. As you remember Holden had a dual contract with Columbia and Paramount and I'm sure Billy Wilder at Paramount must have seen The Dark Past before casting Holden in Sunset Boulevard. This B film for Columbia was unlike any of the 'smiling jim' roles that Holden had played up to now.The Dark Past has only a 75 minute running time and was playing the bottom end of Columbia double bills when it first came out. It's a remake of another Columbia film Dark Past with Chester Morris in Holden's part as the escaped killer. The part of the psychiatrist played by Lee J. Cobb here was played by Ralph Bellamy in the previous production.Cobb is now a police psychiatrist, but wasn't always; in fact as he relates in flashback he was a professor when he ran into Holden who was escaping from jail with his mob and his moll. They take refuge in Cobb's summer house where Cobb and family are entertaining guests.Lee is as cool as he would be emerging from a refrigerator. He starts getting under Holden's skin with his training exposing the real cause of his killer personality. Most disarming in every sense of the word.If it were only that easy. Still the film in its short run does keep one in suspense. A lot like the duel of minds between Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March in The Desperate Hours. Also look for a very good performance by Nina Foch as Holden's moll who unwittingly leads to her man's downfall when she asks Cobb to find out about a recurrent nightmare Holden has.If a dose of Freud could only cure all bad behavior.
fimimix
I agree with most of the other reviewers: it's dated, but I enjoyed watching it late at night on TCM when the rest of TV is junk.It was interesting to see Lee J. Cobb do a laid-back role (Dr. Collins), when he usually plays a much darker character. Handsome and much younger William Holden ("Al" somebody) played the psycho, escaped convict-with-a-problem. How convenient he barges into psychiatrist "Dr. Collins'" weekend lodge-party and gets healed. During this process, we get the idea "Al" may have wanted to do sexier things with "mom" while dad is away. Nina Foch, as his mob-gal, plays a very smoothe lady, but her hand is always in her pocket, on her gun. No doubt, she'd rather have her hand in "Al's" pocket....the usual gimmicks are used in this movie as all of its genre do. Although it's a ho-hummer, I enjoyed it.Actually I have a ulterior motive in writing this: paired with it, a movie called "Suddenly" with Frank Sinatra and (somebody) Hayden. Frankie-Boy had just won an Oscar for "From Here to Eternity", and became an overnight acting-sensation; Hayden was an established actor. You will not find this film on IMDb: almost the same plot at "Past", except Sinatra is going to assassinate a US president, whose train is stopping in the tiny town of "Suddenly". It is based on Eisenhower's trips to Palm Springs (pre-US-1 'copters). After the film was edited, Sinatra was horrified to discover that Lee Harvey Oswald had seen it just before the JFK assassination. He demanded it be shelved, and won....big star, he was; most of his scenes were shot in one take. Therefore, if you ever run-across it, look at it - you'll be seeing an "old" movie become a "new". It's fairly done by rote, but interesting and gives us a notion of all the hullabaloo that happens when a US prez comes to town, in earlier times (usually by train). One of Sinatra's lines is: "They taught me to do it (kill), and I liked it". I say that a lot about teaching young soldiers to become instant killers.....gotta give this movie an 8.......
