Director: Jacques Tourneur
Producer: Warren Duff
Screenwriter: Daniel Mainwaring
Cinematographer: Nicholas Musuraca
Music: Roy Webb
Studio: RKO Pictures 1947
Main Acting: Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, and Jane Greer
When thinking of the quintessential film noir detective, most people (myself included) automatically turn to the names of Spade or Marlowe to represent the genre. On the surface, those two figures possess the seemingly proper ingredients to best symbolize what a sleuth in this classic movement should exhibit. In truth though, those two characters seem to be missing one crucial element that Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) retains as the ultimate film noir private eye. They remain emotionally removed from their respective cases. Marlowe and Spade always solve the crimes and unravel the mysteries, but in The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, and Murder My Sweet, they are explicitly immune to the carnal pull of the femme fatale. While they get themselves in deep with the circumstances of a case, the attachment is solely business. Jeff Bailey instead, gets ensnared romantically and personally. His dilemma is that he becomes acutely entrenched within the events until there is no way out. His role as private dick gets blurred with that of hopelessly doomed noir protagonist. The illicit pull of sin and lust drag him into an entrapped grey area where his position as investigator is thus replaced with something more profoundly tragic. If Marlowe and Spade are only sucked into the noir universe on a surface level, Bailey thus becomes the true paramount gumshoe of this movement by allowing himself to get mired deep within the narrative muck and never find a way out. For film noir, this last development is crucial and essential.
Out Of The Past contains my favorite scene in all of film noir. Like an apparition materializing from the warm Mexican sun, Katie Moffat (Jane Greer) walks into Cafe La Mar Azul and enters Jeff Bailey’s world. Repeat viewings make us realize that her appearance into the shadowy cafe spells doom for our narrating guide. This important moment is when Bailey becomes much more than an intelligent flatfoot and instead traverses down a long grim road of destruction. Death comes with an immaculate white dress and a killer smile that could melt the heart of any man. Her expressions and mannerisms are of innocence with a subtle trace of seductiveness at this early junction. Bailey has been waiting patiently for this moment to arrive. Her beauty intoxicates him quickly and we can see that he has fallen under her spell even before she mentions another night spot called Pablo’s. This little cantina is quiet and plays American music she hushes, a further invitation to develop a dalliance for which Bailey is dying for. “I sometimes go there” is her understated parting shot. The detective should flee or replace that craving desire with steely temperance or professional discretion. Instead, he goes and waits every night like she would want him to. Unlike Sam Spade, he succumbs…
Robert Mitchum’s drowsy persona is just right for the role of Jeff Bailey. The fact that Katie is essentially pulling the wool over his eyes throughout the film allows his acting style to be pitch perfect. A willing dupe who is too asleep in his salacious fervor to wake up and see reality. The Night Of The Hunter may be Mitchum at his acting best, but Out Of The Past represents the typical Mitchum style the clearest and at its most effective. Jane Greer and Kirk Douglas also greatly enhance the goings-on and all the acting hits the right note. Jacques Tourneur directs what is most commonly referred to as his masterpiece. With a filmography that includes Cat People, I Walked With A Zombie, and Night Of The Demon, this is no small feat. His ace cinematographer, Nicholas Musuraca, lends his considerable talent at establishing the perfect visual mood while Roy Webb adds another typically lyrical score that further heightens the intoxicating tension throughout. The script is top notch and Mitchum gets saddled with some absolutely memorable lines that bear repeating…
“Neither do I, baby. But if I have to, I’m gonna die last.”
“It was the bottom of the barrel, and I was scraping it.”
“I think I’m in a frame…I don’t know. All I can see is the frame. I’m going in there now to look at the picture.”
For many, Out Of The Past holds the most film noir elements that could be associated with the movement. It’s like a recipe that is filled to the brim with flavorful ingredients that will arouse one’s taste buds and palette. This 1947 Tourneur effort unknowingly houses so many noir themes and concerns that you wonder if RKO wasn’t conscious of what truly constituted the genre. Maybe they had Nino Frank and the French on the payroll reciting all the needed aspects to scribble in some secret Noir Constitution. Thou shall have a femme fatale, trapped male protagonist, shady rich business man and so on. If you needed to show an uninitiated friend what film noir is or represents, you couldn’t do any better than Out Of The Past. The story even supplies a convoluted section near the end where everything becomes a mesmerizing jumble of motives and purposes. While most other genres would suffer from such confusion, noir always rises above such mere inadequacies. Isn’t Jeff Bailey in so far over his head that clarity should be the last thing presented to the viewer in making any identifying connections? Our gullible beacon should not walk these lonely bewildered roads alone. Let us hold his hand while he sinks into oblivion.
The ending, while downbeat, seems like the proper conclusion. In film noir, there are laws that should not be broken by anyone. Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe instinctively know where such poor choices will lead you. After all, they are the closest to noir super heros that this stylized world could afford. Never would they fall for such a scheming dame trying to make good. Jeff is the opposite. Just another typical every man who gets tangled up in a duplicitous web without escape. His fallibility is endearing and understandable to us because we can see how obsessive desire can hurt even someone with his smarts. He is everyone. Some get lucky and only end up giving up a fox fur to a woman in Washington Heights, some get the shorter end of the stick. “Build My Gallows High, Baby,” he mutters at one point. Never allowing the chance for self preservation to get in the way of curtailing the possibility of some glorious sex. In Out Of The Past, internal desires and wants end up eradicating another being who should have known better.
Well, I must say Maurizio, you have thrown me for a loop here, just as Dave Hicks did in his noir countdown of two years ago. Dave had this at #2, with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS taking poll position. I would have surely lost my shirt if I had placed a wager, as I was thinking you were planning to “reverse” that judgement, though again, number at this point are really subject to daily whims. Some much has been said about this film, that I won’t travel that time-worn path, except to say I enjoyed your theories here concerning RKO’s seeming cognizance that this feature would provide a textbook definition of what the genre entailed. It’s a very great film (one of the greatest American films in fact) and it defies classification in the sense that it transcends it’s context. The two leads are justly celebrated, and the craftsmanship is of course first-rate. Whenever anyone discusses noir, this seems to be the title that is broached firstly.
I’m certainly thinking Nicholas Ray will be soon making an appearance here with a very great film, but other than that you have me scratching my head.
Fantastic piece here, befitting a fantastic “given” selection.
As I have said before, this along with the next three selections all held the top spot at one point during this countdown Sam. It was hard to make the final decision on a number one, but I think my selection is the first film I would give a noir novice to initiate them. Do I like that film better than Out Of The Past… no. They are essentially equal.
THE KILLERS is surely coming…. I think I know the other two as well (certainly the Ray you speak of).
I know everyone will discuss Mitchum, Greer and the visual components, but I’ll put a good word in for Daniel Mainwaring’s script as a vital element. I am also surprised this didn’t land in the top spot. But some surprises loom. I think this Tourneur-directed film is my own favorite noir.
I wouldn’t say any surprises loom Frank. The next three are all established classics. I’m not trying to be different and purposely shock. There will be no Decoy or Tension making the top three. What I will do is honestly select worthy pictures that I love immensely and that truly are my favorites.
Maurizio, I watched this again over the weekend in order to say something meaningful about it when it showed up here, and also to address why so many people consider it the numero uno noir. While you seem to have disappointed such people slightly, I think you hit exactly why this is such a significant film. The vulnerability of the detective really does set the noir hero apart from his hard-boiled precursors like Spade and from series characters like Marlowe who has a kind of necessary immunity. But if I don’t really feel Out of the Past the way others do, though I gladly reaffirm its greatness, is that Mitchum plays it a little too cool for my taste. I prefer the sleazy intensity of Criss Cross but I’ll concede that that’s a matter of taste.
Yeah the detective angle is the key for me Samuel. At first you assume he will be molded like a Marlowe, but his fall off that perch is the essential element that elevates Out Of The Past. His inability to emotionally remove himself from the case destroys him.
No 1 at no 4, could be worse I suppose…
No. 1 already came at No. 9 Fish.
When one truly loves film noir like I do, is there really a difference between 1 and 4? Anyone who claims that one film is substantially superior than the rest in a genre is not a true fan in my book. I’m sure you felt the same way in your countdowns and your future one to come. Jamie had Don’t Look Now as his number one pick, but I’m sure he doesn’t consider it the greatest horror film by some wide margin. It just has some miniscule element that spoke to him on that day.
Allan I’ll take your relative silence and lack of insults as a good thing throughout this endeavor lol.
Nope, ‘Don’t Look Now’ is an end all be all. Just kidding, of course. You are right with what you say… I’m actually trying to get a Top 500 Horror films list for this October. Watching a lot, including a lot of oldies that I haven’t seen in ages (that I used to scoff at). Quite a bit of reshuffling going on, but I’d think ‘Don’t Look Now’ will always reside there. Really I just want the top 250 or so to all be pretty strong films, I can do a 500 list right now, but it would be about 300 films of the absolute lowest quality. Great trash which is important to any Horror fan, but trash nonetheless.
Maurizio, I, too, am a big fan of this film. I enjoyed reading your account of the protagonist’s entrapment, and of the performance of Mitchum.
His laconic timbre perhaps very fortuitously transmits his not being really thrilled about living in the woods and amidst its denizens, in spite of giving it a good shot. I really like the exotic locale where the femme fatale thrives and where the investigator hoped to come into his own. The contrast with the region of cold, hard survival poses, I think, a catchy dilemma.
Oh yeah Jeff is definitely restless living out in the middle of nowhere. Still it is a necessity after botching up his life by becoming infatuated with Katie. The mix of urban setting with that of rural is handled beautifully. Thanks for the comment Jim.
I agree that for most Phillip Marlowe or Sam Spade films rank as the most quintessential film noir. But for many others, including yours truly, Out of the Past would rank as one. I’m not saying its my favourite film noir of all time, but it sure has few companions where the definitive noir goes. And in Jane Greer’s Kathie Moffat we one of the most incredible, beautiful & gleefully duplicitous femme fatales ever brought to screen. Terrific cover here, Maurizio!!!
Yeah I love the Spade/Marlowe films (as my countdown proves), but I agree that Out Of The Past has a unique element which sets it apart in its own little corner.
“If you needed to show an uninitiated friend what film noir is or represents, you couldn’t do any better than Out Of The Past.” I agree with this completely. I think Out of the Past fits the definition of Film Noir perhaps better than any other film. This is what people mean when they talk about Film Noir. Perhaps because of that, it might deserve to be #1, but I’m interested to see what’s next. I’m running out of ideas for the next three, but have a few thoughts. I’m thinking The Big Heat, The Postman Always Rings Twice and The Killers, but other than that I think you already named the others I would have thought of.
THE BIG HEAT came in at like 23 or so. I also think Maurizio has said he isn’t a huge fan of POSTMAN, but I may be wrong.
Oh I must have missed it. I’ll check.
Yep there it was. I’m really running out of ideas now.
C’mon Jon look a little harder lol. There are some big ones I left out of the top 50. A few are overrated in my opinion, but you should be able to draw up a list that will most likely contain the final three.
“I sometimes go there,” vague, sensual, grammatically stilted with the adverb between the subject and verb, not ‘Sometimes I go there’ or ‘I go there sometimes.’ For me the most resonant line in the film from the film’s best scene.
Not your No. 1 pick? Sigh. Now I have no idea what the noir champ will be. None. Nada. Nyet.
Another great essay, though.
Read my comment above to Jon, Mark. The remaining three are not that hard to figure out. I think my WITD colleague Jamie probably could name all three if he made a short half a dozen list. Remember when you look like Katie who needs proper grammar lol. I’m actually happy some of you guys are drawing blanks…. some mystery is still in store.
Okay here is my short list of films that might be in the top 3. None of these would be in my top 5 though, so I’m not sure about this.
Night and the City
D.O.A
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Killers
In a Lonely Place
Anyone else think of some others?
Jon your list has firmed up what I now know will be Maurizio’s Top 3 (no order is remotely known though) and I’ll send him an e mail with my choices. I’ll be mum here at the site of course.
Jon, one other thing. I tried making comments at your site over the weekend, but your comment restrictions don’t include “name.” I would need that restriction lifted to make the comments go through. Thanks for all your great comments here at WitD.
Maurizio thinks DOA is subpar.
Subpar with a side order of campy mess…
Yeah, Maurizio but you love the DOA remake with Meg Ryan right?
(it’s shitty, but it does have Charlotte Rampling right? I’d watch her read George Lucas’ lines, which is saying a lot)
Thanks Sam for the input. I’m still learning the blog world, so I’ll try to see if I can fix that. Thanks to you all for linking me too.
Shocked, amazed and totally dumb-founded, if I thought there was one sure thing on this count once I saw the likes of THE THIRD MAN, SUNSET BLVD and TOUCH OF EVIL already passing I would have put hard cash on OUT OF THE PAST taking the top position. Well, wonders never cease and this count that I initally dreaded has become, probably, my favorite. Craft as a sly fox, Mr. Roca has pulled the rugs in such good fashion that his count has surprized and educated me all the while entertaining in same. I am now totally thrown and am dying to see where this goes!!!!! SNEAKY, SNEAKY, SNEAKY!!!! I’m really loving this!!!
There are no sure things in film noir. Too many classics to boil down the masterpieces to only a handful of movies. My top three are just as great as the pictures you mention Dennis. Saying that, I did have Out Of The Past at the top spot for a few weeks until I changed it. I truly am not being sneaky or crafty. You won’t be seeing selections that are obscure or unheralded by noir lovers just to be different and antagonistic. I’m bringing grade A cinema with my top picks. They all have a common theme though… isolation, alienation, and seclusion. I’m happy I got you interested in a countdown that admittedly is showcasing a genre that is not your favorite in film history.
Maurizio Roca said,”This 1947 Tourneur effort unknowingly houses so many noir themes and concerns that you wonder if RKO wasn’t conscious of what truly constituted the genre. Maybe they had Nino Frank and the French on the payroll reciting all the needed aspects to scribble in some secret Noir Constitution.”
(Laughter!)
Hi! Maurizio Roca…I couldn’t agree with you more when you say:“Thou shall have a femme fatale, trapped male protagonist, shady rich business man and so on. If you needed to show an uninitiated friend what film noir is or represents, you couldn’t do any better than Out Of The Past…”
This most definitely, is a well-written, thought-provoking (In other words, giving the readers, something to think about…review) an excellent review Of a film that has all the film noir elements “firmly” in place. Well, done!
[According to The Cinematte who posted this video over there on youtube:
Robert Mitchum and Steve Brodie’s gritty fistfight in Jacques Tourneur’s film-noir classic Out of the Past. (1947).
With it’S claustrophobic atmosphere and stark lighting, this scene exemplifies the stunning collaborative work of Jacques Tourneur and cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca.
[Facts about actress Jane Greer…The reason that actress Jane Greer, may have that glazed look on her lovely face…
“The five-foot five Greer began life as Bettejane Greer in Washington, D.C. In 1940, aged 15, Greer suffered from a facial palsy, which paralyzed the left side of her face.
She recovered, but it is speculated that the condition contributed to her “patented look” and “a calm, quizzical gaze and an enigmatic expression that would later lead RKO to promote her as ‘the woman with the Mona Lisa smile’.”[1] She claimed that the facial exercises used to overcome the paralysis taught her how to convey human emotion.[2] A beauty-contest winner and professional model from her teens, Greer began her show business career as a big band singer…” In Order To read Jane Greer complete bio(graphy)…Just follow the link to Wikipedia… Jane Greer
She was also featured in author Eddie Muller’s book Dark City Dames…making her one Of the original DCD along with Audrey Trotter, Coleen Gray, Marie Windsor, Ann Savage and Evelyn Keyes. ]
Thanks, for sharing!
DeeDee 😉
Good info Dee Dee. I don’t think I was aware of Greer’s past medical problems or I must have forgotten. As always you leave insightful little tidbits to enhance every thread.