Dark Past, The (1948)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Remake of 1939's Blind Alley follows the same story and really doesn't offer anything new. A criminal (William Holden) escapes prison and breaks into the home of a psychiatrist (Lee J. Cobb) where he holds him, his family and friends hostage. The psychiatrist decides to try and examine the criminal's mind in hopes that he can make him crack. The original version has Chester Morris playing the criminal against the brains of Ralph Bellamy and I think that version is much better. This remake really doesn't offer anything new, although a few of the characters are somewhat changed. In the original film it was a student who shows up at the house half way through while here it's been changed to a hunting buddy. The first film also managed to get the underlined theme of child abuse past the Hayes Office but that whole plot point has been axed in this remake. Both Holden and Cobb turn in good performances but once again, I think the original worked better. In this film Cobb comes off as a tough guy, as the actor was, and this really takes away from him trying to play with the criminal's mind because there is a scene where the doctor uses his toughness to take a situation over and this just didn't ring true. Nina Foch plays Holden's girlfriend but she adds very little to the film. In the end, this certainly isn't a bad movie but it has been watered down too much to where it can't compare with the original.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Remake of 1939's Blind Alley follows the same story and really doesn't offer anything new. A criminal (William Holden) escapes prison and breaks into the home of a psychiatrist (Lee J. Cobb) where he holds him, his family and friends hostage. The psychiatrist decides to try and examine the criminal's mind in hopes that he can make him crack. The original version has Chester Morris playing the criminal against the brains of Ralph Bellamy and I think that version is much better. This remake really doesn't offer anything new, although a few of the characters are somewhat changed. In the original film it was a student who shows up at the house half way through while here it's been changed to a hunting buddy. The first film also managed to get the underlined theme of child abuse past the Hayes Office but that whole plot point has been axed in this remake. Both Holden and Cobb turn in good performances but once again, I think the original worked better. In this film Cobb comes off as a tough guy, as the actor was, and this really takes away from him trying to play with the criminal's mind because there is a scene where the doctor uses his toughness to take a situation over and this just didn't ring true. Nina Foch plays Holden's girlfriend but she adds very little to the film. In the end, this certainly isn't a bad movie but it has been watered down too much to where it can't compare with the original.