38 Replies to “The Dark Past 1948 William Holden & Lee J Cobb”

  3. Lee J Cobb was such a strong actor. I enjoyed his portrayals in his various movies. I think i remember him in a tv series as well many years back in the day..60s i think. We dont have the same caliber of actors today nor the scripts either it seems. We need some new movies from Hollywood instead of action crap. Ty YouTube for these oldies but besties.

  5. I’ve never seen Lee J Cob smiling in a movie. In this one his character could have been warmer, specially with Betty (Nina Foch), just to give her more confidence with him. Besides no psychologist would behave this way: talking loud, provoking a patient using the word « madness ». It would be subtler. Nevertheless in my opinion « dark pass » is more credible than Hitchcock’s Spellbound. Hollywood took an interest in psychoanalysis for better (« pursued » by Walsh, whirlpool » by Preminger) and for worse. William Holden’s performance is great. Sadly psychiatrists’s are rarely as efficients as Lee J Cobb’s character is.

  6. An interesting story, good actors. I’ve seen other movies by director Rudolph Maté: « the siege at red river », « the far horizons », « branded », DOA): Maté’s proficiency is obvious. It’s not surprising that great directors took him as director of photography (Hitchcock: Foreign correspondent; Dreyer: Vampyr; Lubitsch: To be or not to be) among a great list. Thanks for sharing

  17. Wow.. what an Intro. Those first few minutes establish the credentials of the writers, director, and camera controllers. Excellent.

  18. "The government knows what to do with people like you."

    Yeah. A cage and actual slavery so they and their cohorts can make a tidy profit. And, if you ever get out, they'll make sure you'll be back inside in no time flat. Gotta keep those doors swinging.

  19. One of William Holden's best movies in his early career I also like Stalag 17 with him and Neville brand and Lee j Cobb did a real fine job in this one as well I can watch this movie everyday

  25. I found it hilarious that a psychopathic criminal, on the lam, having just murdered a witness, having just taken half-a-dozen hostages and threatening to kill them, could a) be as articulate as William Holden, and b) patiently put up with a Freudian dream-analysis session. Still, it was entertaining.

  26. It was like Key Largo with a psychiatrist. People held prisoner in a house by gangsters who were waiting for another gangster to show up during a storm. (Nina Foch even looked like Lauren Bacall) Still very enjoyable. Hard for me to buy Lee J Cobb as a nice person though. He was a very good actor but he had the coldest meanest eyes. Apparently Lee was badly hurt and in hospital once. Lee was having financial trouble and Frank Sinatra paid his entire hospital bill out of respect. True story. Thanks for posting the movie.

  28. The whole thing is ludicrous bc Holden lets the warden out on a country road to walk back, gives the warden his prison clothes and the shoots the warden in the back.
    A kindergartener could figure that one out. ????

  32. DK Classics has an ad every 3-5 minutes. For a person who got the content for free, appears to be unreasonably profitable.

  33. Thank you for sharing.
    The screenplay isn't very original (hostage story, one more, though spiced up with a rather laughable improvised analysis session !), but the film is nonetheless good to watch, thanks to the very special cast. Everyone is against the grain: who would think of seeing Lee J. Cobb as a psychoanalyst one day ? And the ideal son-in-law, the perfect friend, the brother you dream of having, William Holden, as a killer ? And the delicate, wise and graceful Nina Foch as an accomplice of this mobster ?
    And yet, we believe in it: a prodigy of great actors, especially Holden, who shows here that the cinema has not used the full potential of his talent.

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