Dark Passage is a 1947 American film noir directed by Delmer Daves and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

[4] The first portion of the film subjectively depicts the male lead's point of view, concealing Bogart's face until his character undergoes plastic surgery to change his appearance.

Convicted wife-killer Vincent Parry escapes from San Quentin Prison and evades police by hitching a ride with a passing motorist.

Wealthy dilettante Irene Jansen, a passing stranger, picks Parry up and smuggles him past a police roadblock into San Francisco.

A former romantic interest whom Parry had spurned, Madge testified at his trial out of spite, claiming that his dying wife identified him as the killer.

Warner Bros. paid author David Goodis $25,000 for the rights to the story, which had originally been serialized in The Saturday Evening Post from July 20 to September 7, 1946, before being published in book form.

[8] Robert Montgomery had made the film Lady in the Lake (1946) which also uses a "subjective camera" technique, in which the viewer sees the action through the protagonist's eyes.

Bogart eventually had B12 shots and other treatments to counteract the effects, but was forced to wear a full wig in his next picture, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

The elegant Streamline Moderne Malloch Building on Telegraph Hill was used for the apartment of Irene Jansen where Parry hides out and recuperates from his surgery.

However, the mood of his performance is compensated somewhat by that of Miss Bacall, who generates quite a lot of pressure as a sharp-eyed, knows-what-she-wants girl.He made the case that the best part of the film is:[14] San Francisco ... is liberally and vividly employed as the realistic setting for the Warners' Dark Passage.

Writer-Director Delmar [sic] Daves has very smartly and effectively used the picturesque streets of that city and its stunning panoramas ... to give a dramatic backdrop to his rather incredible yarn.

So, even though bored by the story—which, because of its sag, you may be—you can usually enjoy the scenery, which is as good as a travelogue.The Chicago Tribune laid out the plot’s many implausibilities: “If you have the right friends, it really is a simple matter to break out of San Quentin, obtain shelter and a thousand dollars, have your face remodeled so completely that even your closest acquaintance won’t recognize you, escape from a smart detective, avoid implication despite being on the scene where three different people die, and retire to live happily ever after in a picturesque Peruvian town with a gal who loves you and has $200,000.

[15]The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote: “Borrowing heavily from ‘Lady in the Lake’ for tricky technique…Daves has provided new and fancy trimming for the not unfamiliar yarn of the escaped convict bent on establishing his innocence…on [Bogart’s] side, and for no convincing reason, is Lauren Bacall, lovely, wealthy landscape painter who picks him up in her station wagon during the early moments of his escape and whisks him home to her luxurious duplex.

Also generously helping the wrongly accused wife-killer are a philosophic taxi driver and a wonderful plastic surgeon…Although the plot doesn’t bear too much close inspection, performances and direction lend considerable fascination to a desperate man’s struggle for freedom…Miss Bacall is attractive and very, very efficient…while Agnes Moorehead is about as mean as they come…Supporting roles are exceptionally well played.”[16]On Rotten Tomatoes the film held an approval rating of 90% based on 31 reviews as of 2022, with an average rating of 7.7/10.