The Dark Past

1948
Approved
1h 13m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

William Holden, Nina Foch, and Lee J. Cobb in The Dark Past (1948)

An escaped psychopathic killer who takes the family and neighbors of police psychologist hostage reveals a recurring nightmare to the doctor.An escaped psychopathic killer who takes the family and neighbors of police psychologist hostage reveals a recurring nightmare to the doctor.An escaped psychopathic killer who takes the family and neighbors of police psychologist hostage reveals a recurring nightmare to the doctor.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

2.3K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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Top cast39

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William Holden

Al Walker

Nina Foch

Betty

Lee J. Cobb

Dr. Andrew Collins

Adele Jergens

Laura Stevens

Stephen Dunne

Owen Talbot

Lois Maxwell

Ruth Collins

Berry Kroeger

Mike

Steven Geray

Professor Fred Linder

Wilton Graff

Frank Stevens

Robert Osterloh

Pete

Kathryn Card

Nora

Charles Cane

Sheriff
(uncredited)

Bill Cartledge

Arrested Man Leaving Wagon
(uncredited)

Tom Coleman

Detective
(uncredited)

G. Pat Collins

Al's Father
(uncredited)

Ellen Corby

Agnes
(uncredited)

Lester Dorr

First Man in Police Line-Up
(uncredited)

Edward Earle

McCoy
(uncredited)

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The re-creation of Al's dream uses a few seconds of footage from Blind Alley (1939), the earlier film version of this story; specifically the shot approaching the saloon, panning to see the policemen following the narrator, and panning back to the saloon side entrance.

Goofs
Al takes a book off of Andrew's book shelf and opens it around page 50 or 60, but in the next closeup, the page Al is looking at the start of Chapter 22. It's highly unlikely that a scholarly book about psychology would average under three pages per chapter.

Quotes
Betty: [referring to Stevens] How's the tough guy? Is he behaving?
Mike: He's talking business. He wants to make a deal. He thinks his life is worth money.
Betty: [contemptuously] How much did he offer... two bucks?

Connections
Referenced in Discovering Film: William Holden (2015)

Soundtracks
Air
(uncredited)
from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major
by Johann Sebastian Bach

User reviews53

Review

Featured review

7/10

William Holden Was Great

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.