La fin d'un tueur

Preachy story explaining why juveniles turn to crime because of the failure of the system.

Lee J.Cobb is a crime psychologist with a conscience, who is taken prisoner at his weekend retreat by notorious bad boy Al Walker ( William Holden ). While Cobb's guests are guarded by Walker's accomplices, the two form an uneasy truce. This results in Cobb analysing Walker's recurring nightmare, which frees him from his torment and exorcises his vendetta against society. His crimes are traced back to his childhood and lack of parental guidance. The 'message' is conveniently simplistic for the less demanding viewer - society helps create criminals in the way that young offenders are treated by the authorities, and that criminal behaviour in some cases should be treated as an illness not a crime.

While few would dispute there is some truth in this, the film thrusts this idea clumsily and implausibly. 'The Dark Past' is basically dull. Totally forgettable were it not for the presence of the two leads who acquit themselves adequately with the poor material.

On a night I couldn't sleep, I came across this movie on the TV set by chance. The house of a psychiatrist is held hostage by an escaped prisoner and his entourage. The prisoner (william holden) battles his mental demons throughout the night while the psychiatrist is intrigued to discover why this man has become the "bad egg" he is today. The dialogue between them both is intriguing, with the psychiatrist trying to enter the escaped prisoner's mind and explain the dream this man has had since childhood. A good movie to watch on a rainy day. One particularly for the crime/noir buffs.

I have always liked William Holden: handsome, restrained acting, penetrating eyes. In this particular film, he is actually bested by Lee J Cobb, very effective and convincing as the smooth psychiatrist.

Mate's direction is OK. It keeps you watching this unconvincing story but fails to raise production above overall mediocrity. Photography is probably satisfactory for a B noir... but I find it unfair to rate B a flick with a cast of this quality. Ultimately disappointing. 5/10.

"The Dark Past" is a remake of the 1939 picture "Blind Alley" which starred Chester Morris and Ralph Bellamy. In this newer version, William Holden and Lee J. Cobb play these roles.

The film begins with a prison break. Al Walker (Holden) is the leader of the band of thugs and he murders the Warden (who they've taken hostage) just for kicks. He decides the gang will NOT hold up in one of the empty vacation homes nearby but one with people in it. This way, he figures, the cops won't suspect where they are hiding. The home happens to be filled with quite a few people, as Dr. Collins and his family are hosting a dinner party. Soon, all of them are prisoners and hoping that the gang doesn't kill them. As for Dr. Collins, he is a psychiatrist and plays a mental game of cat and mouse with Walker.

In many ways, this film is reminiscent of "Suddenly" and "The Desperate Hours"---both films about families being held hostage by killers. All of these are very good films and what sets this film apart is the psychiatrist angle. I enjoyed the film, though as a trained psychotherapist I should point out that Dr. Collins' approach is very Freudian...and rarely used today by therapists. Dream interpretation and mother blaming are rarely discussed in therapy today. And, folks like Walker are NOT cured so quickly and easily!! Ridiculous, sure...but still entertaining.

While I rarely say this, I think this film is actually a bit better than the original. Much of this is due to William Holden's more realistic and less sensationalistic performance.

This film caught me by surprise to find out that William Holden starred in this film along with Lee J. Cobb in 1948, and found it quite interesting from the very beginning to the very end. Holden plays the role as a criminal named Al Walker who really enjoys killing people and is loved and adored by Betty played by Nina Foch who was very young and attractive. Lee J. Cobb, ( Dr. Andrew Collins) works for the police department as a psychiatrist and tries to help men from continually living in their world of crime. Al Walker has taken over Andrew Collins Summer home and all his guests and there is plenty of tension going on with guns firing all the time. There is a great scene between Al Walker and Dr. Andrew Collins where the doctor is trying to understand nightmares that keep Al Walker from going to sleep and at the same time try to teach him how to play the game of Chess. This is a very unusual film that seems to have been forgotten and put on the shelf.