The Dark Past (1948)

There're really two movies going on here. One is a fairly standard crime drama with a good cast and some atmospherics; the other plays like a commercial for the American Psychiatric Association starring Lee J. Cobb and his pipe. I just wish the producers had stuck with number one. That movie might not have been special, but it would have given such ace performers as Kroeger, Foch, Osterloh, Jergens, and Geray more to do. As things work out, they get to stand around and play stage props to Professor Freud and his therapy sessions. And that does get tiresome. What with Cobb acting like it's all nothing more than Lecture Hall 101, even as Holden sticks a gun in his ear. So, will Holden finally put an end to Cobb's knows-it-all attitude and give the rest of us some relief. Not for a second. You know that from the beginning since shooting him would reflect on an entire profession for which Cobb's character obviously stands as an icon. Nonetheless, the usually boisterous Cobb does get to show his versatility as an actor. There were a number of these "home invasion" films from that period, nearly all of which are superior to this didactic 75-minutes. I especially like The Night Holds Terror (1955), a tight, no-nonsense B-movie in which a nutty John Cassavetes would have pulled the trigger in nothing flat. Probably something about his dreams.

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.

"The Dark Past" is a Psych 101 class disguised as a film noir.William Holden plays Al Walker, notorious criminal who has escaped from prison and, along with his girlfriend (Nina Foch) and assorted goons, takes a family hostage in their country home while waiting for his getaway. The family patriarch (Lee J. Cobb), however, happens to be a criminal psychologist, and he begins to deconstruct Holden's psyche, eventually rendering him helpless when the ultimate showdown with the police occurs.This isn't a terribly interesting film, either in style or subject matter. A good portion of the film is spent in Cobb analyzing a recurring nightmare of Holden's, acknowledging it as the key to Holden's anti-social tendencies. But the dream itself is basic Freud, all about anger towards father figures and love for a lost mother. This all might have seemed cutting edge at the time, when psychology as an area of study had become trendy to address in film, but it has a been-there-done-that quality now.Holden isn't very good in his role, overacting to the hilt, and he's not convincing as a bad guy. But it is nice to see both he and Cobb playing against type for a change. Cobb especially is refreshing, for once playing a character quietly and reservedly rather than as a bellowing lout.Director Rudolph Mate and his screenwriter could have done all sorts of things to explore the group dynamics of a situation like this, but they don't. For a much better family-taken-hostage story, watch "Key Largo," released the same year as this film.Grade: B-

As soon as I heard the opening narration, I realized that it was the voice of John Forsythe to which I was listening. After a few minutes,however, I thought that it might, in fact, be Lee J. Cobb doing the voice-over for his own character ... until the scene where Cobb is leaning back on his office chair, "reminiscing" ... and when the voice-over comes in, it's subtly (but clearly) different than Cobb's voice. I don't see Forsythe credited anywhere, yet I know that voice so well from the Charlie's Angels TV show, amongst many other things. I feel confident that it's Forsythe ... or am I having auditory hallucinations? ;) Does anyone have any information on this? I'd love to know if I'm right. Thanks, in advance.