Video Reviews : ****Excellent***Good**Fair*Poor : <i> Recent releases, reviewed by Times critics.</i>
- Share via
Moves
** “The Dark Past.” RCA/Columbia. $69.95.
One year before he shot the original “D.O.A.,” Rudolph Mate made his solo feature directorial debut with this movie--another film noir , remade from 1939’s “Blind Alley.” It’s actually pretty silly: psychiatrist Lee J. Cobb, puffing thoughtfully on a pipe, lectures a skeptical cop on his meeting with killer William Holden, whom he successfully treated for an Oedipus complex while Holden and gang held him hostage. Beyond some flashy subjective camera work, Mate doesn’t do much here, especially for the actors: Holden’s complex induces violent mugging and chic Nina Foch is an unlikely gang moll. But Cobb--the year before he played Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman”--is a powerful presence as the icy-nerved shrink.
More to Read
Only good movies
Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.