The Dark Past is a psychological thriller film directed by Rudolph Maté

Rudolph Maté

Born in Kraków , Maté started in the film business after his graduation from the University of Budapest. He went on to work as an assistant cameraman in Hungary and later throughout Europe, sometimes with noted colleague Karl Freund...

, and starring William Holden

William Holden

William Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...

, Nina Foch

Nina Foch

Nina Foch was a Dutch-born American actress and leading lady in many 1940s and 1950s films.- Personal life :...

, and Lee J. Cobb

Lee J. Cobb

Lee J. Cobb was an American actor. He is best known for his performance in 12 Angry Men his Academy Award-nominated performance in On the Waterfront and one of his last films, The Exorcist...

. The film, released by Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

 is a remake of Blind Alley

Blind Alley (film)

Blind Alley is a 1939 crime drama film directed by Charles Vidor.Chester Morris plays a prison escapee who hides out with his gang in the home of a noted psychologist, played by Ralph Bellamy. Though a prisoner, the doctor begins delving into his captor's psyche.The film was adapted from the...

(1939), also released by Columbia, and based on a play by American playwright James Warwick.

Plot

A psychoanalyst and his young family and some friends are taken hostage by a gang led by an escaped killer Al Walker. The doctor gets the killer to talk to him in an attempt to find out the killer's unconscious motivation for his evil ways.

He relates a dramatic dream he's been having since childhood. Eventually, his crimes are traced back to his childhood and lack of parental guidance, and by the end of the night the doctor has calmed the killer's murderous rage and prevents any more killings.

Featured cast

Actor	Role
William Holden	Al Walker
Nina Foch Nina Foch Nina Foch was a Dutch-born American actress and leading lady in many 1940s and 1950s films.- Personal life :...	Betty
Lee J. Cobb Lee J. Cobb Lee J. Cobb was an American actor. He is best known for his performance in 12 Angry Men his Academy Award-nominated performance in On the Waterfront and one of his last films, The Exorcist...	Dr. Andrew Collins
Adele Jergens Adele Jergens Adele Jergens was an American actress.Born in Brooklyn, New York, Jergen's birth date is sometimes listed as 1922. Jergens first rose to prominence in the late 1930s, when she was named "Miss World's Fairest" at the 1939 New York World's Fair...	Laura Stevens
Stephen Dunne	Owen Talbot
Lois Maxwell Lois Maxwell Lois Maxwell was a Canadian actress.Maxwell began her film career in the late 1940s, and won a Golden Globe Award for the New Actress of the Year for her performance in That Hagen Girl...	Ruth Collins
Berry Kroeger Berry Kroeger Berry Kroeger was an American film, television, and stage actor.Born in San Antonio, Texas, Kroeger got his acting start on radio as an announcer and actor, playing for a time The Falcon and The Shadow...	Mike
Steven Geray Steven Geray Steven Geray, born Istvan Gyergyay on November 10, 1904 and died aged 69 on December 26, 1973 in Los Angeles, California. He was a film actor who appeared in over 100 films and dozens of television programs...	Prof. Fred Linder