Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

The Dark Past

Play trailer Poster for The Dark Past Released Dec 22, 1948 1h 15m Crime Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
50% Tomatometer 8 Reviews 47% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Taken hostage along with his family and friends, psychologist Andrew Collins (Lee J. Cobb) is held by the murderous fugitive Al Walker (William Holden) and his gang. While Walker's crew, which includes his lover, Betty (Nina Foch), tends to the other hostages, the desperate mastermind talks to Collins about his troubled past. As the night progresses, Collins gets Walker to focus on a disturbing dream, resulting in a psychological breakthrough that may help avoid a violent conflict.
Watch on Prime Video Stream Now

Where to Watch

The Dark Past

Critics Reviews

View All (8) Critics Reviews
Nick Schager Lessons of Darkness Another of the era's barely tolerable advertisements for Freudian psychoanalysis. Rated: C May 16, 2006 Full Review Yasser Medina Cinefilia "The Dark Past" is minor film noir from Maté that frames light psychoanalytic notes, but it seems to me that its intrigue is absent like a prisoner on the run. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 6/10 Jul 1, 2021 Full Review Nathanael Hood Unseen Films Rudolph Maté's The Dark Past is a superb noir remake of Charles Vidor's subpar proto-noir Blind Alley (1939). Rated: 8/10 Apr 16, 2020 Full Review Sean Axmaker Turner Classic Movies Online ... a minor noir notable largely for Holden's uncharacteristically feral performance... Oct 13, 2007 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Jul 1, 2005 Full Review Andy Klein Los Angeles CityBeat Rated: 3/5 Sep 2, 2004 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (10) audience reviews
Audience Member People seem to dislike this movie, but I found this really entertaining. I guess I just have a soft spot for psychological thrillers. The cinematography was also fantastic for 1948. Al Walker was written well, and Holden’s performance made the character even better. I’d love to see a remake of this film, because maybe it could win over more people with the benefit of one. 4/5 stars. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/07/24 Full Review william k Superior psychological thriller is original, tense and graced with with some excellent performances; the psychoanalysis presented to resolve the killer's insanity shouldn't be taken too seriously, though. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review martin a William Holden is fantastic in this as a damaged escaped criminal who ends up holding out in the house of a criminal psychologist. Hour by hour the psychologist begins to unravel the criminal's past and tries to reveal his reoccurring nightmare! The film is tense, well-acted, and just wonderful Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review deke p Did not age well. 1948. Cobb as constantly pipe-smoking psychologist cures his captor William Holden. Everyone wore suits and ties. Nonsense psychological miracle, pretentious and melodramatic. Never heard of until saw on broadcast tv The Movie Channel 13.3, on 2.6.20 Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Introductory Psychology Gussied Up as a Crime Film--The Fifty-Minute Cure!! Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Holden did well, but I thought his character was not written as well as it could have been. Cobb's character had much more depth, but the extra story about the boy he may be able to save in the future was fairly unnecessary, most of his character building came in the holdup story anyway. It's fairly short, so if you have a little over an hour to kill, it'd be worth a look. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Dark Past

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Show Less Cast & Crew Show More Cast & Crew

More Like This

View All Best Movies to Stream at Home
Knock on Any Door 69% 59% Knock on Any Door Watchlist Pushover 86% 49% Pushover Watchlist Tight Spot 67% 57% Tight Spot Watchlist Crime and Punishment 80% 48% Crime and Punishment Watchlist Shamus 29% 38% Shamus Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All The Dark Past photos

The Dark Past

The Dark Past (1949) The Dark Past (1949) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Taken hostage along with his family and friends, psychologist Andrew Collins (Lee J. Cobb) is held by the murderous fugitive Al Walker (William Holden) and his gang. While Walker's crew, which includes his lover, Betty (Nina Foch), tends to the other hostages, the desperate mastermind talks to Collins about his troubled past. As the night progresses, Collins gets Walker to focus on a disturbing dream, resulting in a psychological breakthrough that may help avoid a violent conflict.
Director
Rudolph Maté
Producer
Buddy Adler
Screenwriter
Michael Blankfort, Albert Duffy, Philip MacDonald, Oscar Saul, Malvin Wald, James Warwick
Distributor
Columbia Pictures
Production Co
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Genre
Crime, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 22, 1948, Original
Runtime
1h 15m
Sound Mix
Mono
Most Popular at Home Now