Noir November: Out of the Past
Written by Cameron Geiser
Every day for the month of November, Cameron Geiser is reviewing a noir film (classic or neo) for Noir November. Today covers the staple Out of the Past: often the de facto example of the film style in university courses.
Jacques Tourneur, being a French film director, joins a slew of other great international film Noir directors. Even just looking at the directors covered thus far in Noir-Vember, only two of the eight were American born directors! Tourneur may have been known mostly for his low budget horror flicks he churned out for RKO studios, but he knocked it out of the park with Out of The Past. He may have given the world Cat People, but he also gave us one of the finest Noir films out there.
Robert Mitchum stars as Jeff Bailey, or Jeff Markham depending on who's asking. A man trying to break away from his past in a new town, with a new job, and a new woman. Mitchum was the perfect choice for Jeff, as Roger Ebert put it, “The film stars Robert Mitchum, whose weary eyes and laconic voice, whose very presence as a violent man wrapped in indifference, made him an archetypal noir actor.” I couldn't agree more. I was also surprised to see Kirk Douglas involved as the gangster Whit Sterling. He seemed to be having a great time in the role and was effectively, and believably, villainous. Though I'd be remiss in my duties as a critic if I didn't focus on Jane Greer as Kathie Moffat. She's right up there with Double Indemnity's Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) as one of the best examples of Noir's femme fatales. She perfectly performs the role of alternating between Jeff's love interest and his worst enemy. The first half of the story is told through flashback as Jeff tells his new girl, Ann (Virginia Huston), everything about his old life once it re-enters his attempt at a peaceful retirement.
Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer in Out of the Past.
Initially Whit hired Jeff to track down his lover, Kathie. Whit claimed to have been shot by Kathie after a scuffle and robbed of $40,000 on her way out of town. So Jeff took the job and left New York to track her down and discover the truth. After a while he corners her in Acapulco, but she seduces him and they decide to high tail it out of Mexico together. Jeff points Whit, and Joe (Paul Valentine) Whit's muscle, in the opposite direction when they come down to Mexico to check in on him right as the new couple make their way to San Francisco. Of course there is no happy ending in *most* Noir films and it isn't long before Jeff's old partner, Fisher (Steve Brodie) from back in New York, spots him and Kathie at a horse track in San Francisco. Things get a bit dicey as Fisher now works for Whit, and when he tries to make his own gains by blackmailing them both, Kathie shoots Fisher dead and accidentally leaves behind bank notes proving that she really did steal the $40,000 from Whit. She'd already confessed to shooting Whit earlier but had denied the theft.
The fun of the second half of the film is finding out how everything unfolded since Jeff's move to the countryside. Kathie eventually wound up back under Whit's thumb, but Whit got a signed affidavit from Kathie claiming that it was Jeff who had murdered Fisher. Essentially there's a whole lot of backstabbing, double and triple crossing between Whit, Joe, Kathie, and Jeff. In an ending with this much bad blood, we can take solace in Jeff's final action being a willful suicide knowing that he at least took down Kathie with him. Ann, being led to believe that Jeff had chosen a life with Kathie instead of the dark truth, is the only one to get out alive.
Amid stellar lighting and cinematography choices to craft the perfect pitch black shadows and air filled with smoke in nearly every scene, there's a lot to love on the production side of things with Out of The Past. On-location film shoots, a committed crew of character actors, and a phenomenally twisty story at hand provides a culmination of everything you're ultimately looking for in a good Noir film. Out of The Past may not reach the heights of what is Noir cinema throughout its runtime, but it's a perfectly adequate and thrilling genre film.
Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.