La fin d'un tueur

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.

The Dark Past may very well have been a turning point in the career of William Holden. As you remember Holden had a dual contract with Columbia and Paramount and I'm sure Billy Wilder at Paramount must have seen The Dark Past before casting Holden in Sunset Boulevard. This B film for Columbia was unlike any of the 'smiling jim' roles that Holden had played up to now.

The Dark Past has only a 75 minute running time and was playing the bottom end of Columbia double bills when it first came out. It's a remake of another Columbia film Dark Past with Chester Morris in Holden's part as the escaped killer. The part of the psychiatrist played by Lee J. Cobb here was played by Ralph Bellamy in the previous production.

Cobb is now a police psychiatrist, but wasn't always; in fact as he relates in flashback he was a professor when he ran into Holden who was escaping from jail with his mob and his moll. They take refuge in Cobb's summer house where Cobb and family are entertaining guests.

Lee is as cool as he would be emerging from a refrigerator. He starts getting under Holden's skin with his training exposing the real cause of his killer personality. Most disarming in every sense of the word.

If it were only that easy. Still the film in its short run does keep one in suspense. A lot like the duel of minds between Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March in The Desperate Hours. Also look for a very good performance by Nina Foch as Holden's moll who unwittingly leads to her man's downfall when she asks Cobb to find out about a recurrent nightmare Holden has.

If a dose of Freud could only cure all bad behavior.

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.

As others have mentioned the new psychology era and traumatic war experiences had been analyzed to death even by 1948. However the performances make this well worth watching this seldom televised film.

William Holden is very believable as a tormented gangster. He hijacks a dinner party in the doctor's (Lee J. Cobb) hunting lodge. Basically the theme is routine, we have seen "Suddenly" and other similar films with people held hostage. Lee J. Cobb is again excellent as a psychiatrist probing the past of the criminal (Holden) why, what causes this behavior?.

My generation is just re-discovering actors such as Holden. It is unfortunate some cable companies STILL do not broadcast these films (Turner Classics is a must, for me anyway).

Nina Foch is also very good as Holden's girlfriend, attempting to help. Her fine performance contrasts with the two women servants tied in the basement,one screaming shrilly and seeming ridiculous.

I liked this better than "Spellbound"; this is a bit more pedestrian but true to life. It is easier to believe Lee J. Cobb as a psychiatrist (he was also the redeeming performance in the film "The Three Faces of Eve" also starring Joanne Woodward). Recommended for anyone who likes suspense and psychological drama. 8/10.

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.