Dark Bogart

 

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DARK PASSAGE-1947-Escape convict Vincent Parry (Humphrey Bogart) is helped by painter Irene Janson (Lauren Bacall). It's all a mystery to him. She says she thinks he got a raw deal at his trial. Parry plans to have plastic surgery. He discovers that a woman (Anges Moorehead) who testified against him knows Irene and also a guy named Bob (Bruce Bennett). There are a few twists and turns and a nightmare sequence, but the strange part is the Parry character. The first part is shown from a POV shot, then he's seen with bandages. Finally, Bogart is seen and everything is revealed. Wonder how many name stars would have accepted this kind of role? 

Different type of film noir from co-writer- director Delmar Daves who made the equally mysterious THE RED HOUSE with Edward G. Robinson the same year. Co-writer David Goodis wrote the novel the film is based on. Years later when the ABC series “The Fugitive” debuted, Goodis sued the production company saying the TV show was based on his novel “Dark Passage”. The suit dragged on long after Goodis' death in 1967 and was finally settled in 1972. French new wave director Francois Truffaut based his film SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER on the Goodis novel “Down There”.

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Humphrey Bogart Blood Sucker

THE RETURN OF DOCTOR X-1939-Walter Garrett (Wayne Morris), a dumb reporter breaks the news of the death of an actress Angela Merrova (Lya Lys) but her body disappears and when she winds up alive, Garrett's fired. He goes to his friend Dr. Rhodes (Dennis Morgan) for advice. Rhodes does an operation with the brilliant Dr. Flegg (John Litel). When a body is found drained of blood the police think Rhodes is the murderer. Strange bloodstains are found on the scene. Rhodes visits Flegg and meets his weird assistant Quesne (Humphrey Bogart), a soft spoken pale guy with a white streak in his hair. When Merrova suddenly dies (for real), Garrett and Rhodes investigate along with the doc's nurse/girlfriend Joan (Rosemary Lane) in tow. Later Garrett discovers that Quesne is actually Dr. Xavier, a whacko who let a baby die as an experiment and was executed years before. They dig up his coffin and it's empty. Flegg admits that after bringing a rabbit back to life he did the same for X/Quesne and knows Quesne is a murderer and he is to blame. X/Q kills Flegg and kidnaps Joan for her blood (he has a book with the names of all blood donors who have his type). Before he can kill her he's shot and killed in NJ. 

Olin Howland plays an undertaker. Two interns are played by William Hopper and Glen Langan. Huntz Hall is Pinky and Ian Wolfe is a caretaker. 

This is a typical Warner Bros type “stand alone” horror/murder mystery with an untypical horror lead. The casting of Bogart is the only reason it's probably remembered today! It was directed by former actor Vincent Sherman who later worked with Bogart on ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT.

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