It seems I get into specific winter moods sometimes, and this is the second time I've gone on a Humphrey Bogart kick in the winter. Last winter I watched the Bogey Bacall films and a few more, In a Lonely Place is the first one this year.
In a Lonely Place was one of the first movies that came up when I googled "classic film noir". And this was what made me rent it. Then I get it home and it's starting out a little bit weird and...why did this come up as classic film noir?
I've seen a fair bit and I would say Dark Passage is much more of a classic film noir than this. This movie was directed by Nocholar Ray and stars Bogart alongside a bunch of people I did not recognize. The film is centered around a girl who was last seen with Bogart's character Dixon Steele, and who was then dumped along the side of a highway. In the meantime, Dixon gets involved with his neighbor Laurel who begins to learn just what kind of man Dixon is.
There was a lot of this movie that I did not see coming, and a lot of this movie that was a lot darker than I expected. The cops are tentatively doubtful of Dixon Steele, but we as the audience assume he's innocent. What's dark and unexpected is that the shade they end up casting on him is from an abusive, controlling, and angry nature.
It's genuinely scary and shocking the way that Bogart turns in this movie, and it is an acting highlight from him for sure. It's one of the better written films he was in, not that he was in many stinkers obviously. For those wanting a dark, strange, but classic feeling film, I say check it out.
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