Films about amnesia victims usually are interesting especially when protagonists interact with people they used to know after losing their memory.
But here in Man in the Dark starring Edmund O'Brien as ex-con Steve Rawley, we're deprived of those neat interactions once we plow headway into the second act.
Man in the Dark is a little different than your usual amnesia victim story. Instead of losing his memory in an accident, Steve agrees to undergo experimental brain surgery at this clinic run by a do-gooder by the name of Dr. Marsten (Dayton Lummis). The "good" Dr. Marsten believes the surgery will wipe away the "criminal element" in his brain.
And indeed, after surgery Steve can't remember anything about his former life. So, when his former pals led by Lefty (Ted de Corsia) kidnap him from the clinic, they believe that he is faking when he refuses to reveal where he has hidden the $130,000 stolen during a payroll robbery before Steve was incarcerated for the crime.
Steve's girlfriend Peg (Audrey Totter) also believes he's faking it but later comes to realize he's truly lost his memory and needs help. The part of Peg is poorly written as inexplicably this femme fatale suddenly goes soft and demands that Steve return the money when they find it.
Instead of Steve pursuing clues as to his past life by seeking prior acquaintances, the bulk of the narrative focuses on the gang members threatening him if he doesn't try and recall what he did with the money. These threats become tedious, and Steve mainly remains a captive of the gang until late in the film when he finally escapes their clutches with Peg.
The only plot point that really holds our interest is in when the number "1133" found scrawled on a piece of paper back at Steve's old apartment is found. Steve finally figures out what "1133" means in a series of nightmares that he must decipher.
This brings us to the climax, the big amusement park scene in which "1133" is the number of a receipt which Steve had received after leaving a package containing all the cash at a concession stand where people checked their property while enjoying themselves at the park.
The final shootout with the police in which the gang members are either killed or captured proves anti-climactic. As for Steve, despite fleeing the police, he's not arrested after giving back all the cash to an insurance company investigator Jawald (Dan Riss) who's been tailing Steve throughout the narrative.
One critic at the time noted that "An endless array of stuff comes whiffling at your face" throughout the film and that was intentional-Man in the Dark was Columbia's first 3-D movie.
O'Brien and his fellow thespians can do little with the material here which fails to develop the amnesia sub-genre properly.
But here in Man in the Dark starring Edmund O'Brien as ex-con Steve Rawley, we're deprived of those neat interactions once we plow headway into the second act.
Man in the Dark is a little different than your usual amnesia victim story. Instead of losing his memory in an accident, Steve agrees to undergo experimental brain surgery at this clinic run by a do-gooder by the name of Dr. Marsten (Dayton Lummis). The "good" Dr. Marsten believes the surgery will wipe away the "criminal element" in his brain.
And indeed, after surgery Steve can't remember anything about his former life. So, when his former pals led by Lefty (Ted de Corsia) kidnap him from the clinic, they believe that he is faking when he refuses to reveal where he has hidden the $130,000 stolen during a payroll robbery before Steve was incarcerated for the crime.
Steve's girlfriend Peg (Audrey Totter) also believes he's faking it but later comes to realize he's truly lost his memory and needs help. The part of Peg is poorly written as inexplicably this femme fatale suddenly goes soft and demands that Steve return the money when they find it.
Instead of Steve pursuing clues as to his past life by seeking prior acquaintances, the bulk of the narrative focuses on the gang members threatening him if he doesn't try and recall what he did with the money. These threats become tedious, and Steve mainly remains a captive of the gang until late in the film when he finally escapes their clutches with Peg.
The only plot point that really holds our interest is in when the number "1133" found scrawled on a piece of paper back at Steve's old apartment is found. Steve finally figures out what "1133" means in a series of nightmares that he must decipher.
This brings us to the climax, the big amusement park scene in which "1133" is the number of a receipt which Steve had received after leaving a package containing all the cash at a concession stand where people checked their property while enjoying themselves at the park.
The final shootout with the police in which the gang members are either killed or captured proves anti-climactic. As for Steve, despite fleeing the police, he's not arrested after giving back all the cash to an insurance company investigator Jawald (Dan Riss) who's been tailing Steve throughout the narrative.
One critic at the time noted that "An endless array of stuff comes whiffling at your face" throughout the film and that was intentional-Man in the Dark was Columbia's first 3-D movie.
O'Brien and his fellow thespians can do little with the material here which fails to develop the amnesia sub-genre properly.