Dark Passage
Warner Bros. | Release Date: September 27, 1947 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Staff (Not Credited)
The third of four films teaming Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, this 1947 feature is a cinema classic. [20 Nov 2009, p.R21]
88
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
A mixture of hard-boiled intrigue and mental instability, this dark passage takes us from the film noirs of its time to the psychological thrillers that Alfred Hitchcock would make in the 1950s. Altogether, it’s a wild, harrowing journey. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Dark Passage is usually ranked as the least of the four Bogart-Bacall collaborations, but it's a practically perfect little noir exercise, with Bogart as a prison escapee tracking his wife's killer. Read full review
80
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
Brilliantly atmospheric San Francisco settings, memorably bizarre supporting performances, a superb use of subjective camera (much more effective than in Lady in the Lake) throughout the entire first third of the film. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Dark Passage is a must see for fans of Bogart/Bacall. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
An example of how star power can compensate plot, this is the least electric of the Bogart-Bacall pairings; luckily, there's Agnes Moorehead, the screen's best hornet, to intervene whenever the going gets too lackadasical. Read full review
70
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Lauren Bacall's charm and Humphrey Bogart's ruggedness count heavily in a strange treatment of a murder story, which if it doesn't withstand scrutiny, does sustain mood and interest. Read full review
63
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
An odd, atmospheric 1947 thriller with a San Francisco setting, adapted by writer-director Delmer Daves from a David Goodis novel and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBosley Crowther
Indeed, it is in the bizarre contacts of Mr. Bogart with shady characters such as those played by these well-directed actors that Dark Passage achieves tension and drive. Perhaps he should be given more time with them. Read full review
50
The New YorkerPauline Kael
The pictures is an almost total drag, though Agnes Moorehead, as the villainess, has a sensational exit through plate-glass windows.
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