Rent The Dark Past (1948)

Forties Noir. - The Dark Past review by Steve

Implausible psychological thriller which is really a schematic attempt to explain the criminal mind. It's possible that the three storeys of psychiatrist Lee J. Cobb's backwoods holiday retreat represent three levels of human consciousness! Anyway, William Holden's gang of psycho-killers escape from jail and hold his weekend party hostage.

Rather than fight back in an orgy of revenge... Cobb puts Holden on the couch and cures him of his demons! If only law and order was really like this! It must be the most liberal film ever made. The shrink sets aside the danger to his wife, son and visiting academics while he exhumes the childhood trauma that put the gun in the killer's hand.

The use of Freud to drive the plot of a thriller was ubiquitous in Hollywood after WWII, but this was based on a prewar play (by James Warwick) which had been filmed before in '39. Director Rudolph Maté was a five times Oscar nominated cinematographer and he makes it all look polished, even if there isn't enough budget for noir ambience.

It's great to see Cobb in the lead and he carries the film; Holden's role is too contrived to be convincing. It's more about the ideas, which promote a progressive approach to crime. Though the family of the murdered prison warden might demur. It's a short, suspenseful B-picture made with considerable sincerity.