Out
of the Past
1947
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas,
Jane Greer, Virginia Huston
Damnit
I love noir. And holy cow if Out
of the Past isn’t as noir as noir can get. I didn’t appreciate this one the first time I
saw it, not in the least, but that was before I got bitten by the noir
bug. Now that I’m infected with noir
love, Out of the Past is like a potent drug, heady and heavenly and absolutely
wonderful.
Jeff
Bailey (Mitchum) runs a garage in a small town in California and is dating good
girl Ann (Huston). One day, though, a
stranger comes to town who talks of knowing Jeff in a previous life. This prompts Jeff to open up to Ann about his
past where he worked as a private detective, and specifically about a case
where a rich man Whit (Douglas) hired him to find a dame, Kathie Moffat
(Greer). Jeff remembers finding Kathie
in Mexico and the two of them starting an affair together, and the ugliness
that followed when he tried to break from Whit.
But Whit doesn’t like unfinished business, and he doesn’t care a jot
that Jeff has made a new life for himself.
Jeff’s old life comes crashing into his new one with the consequences we
only ever find in film noir.
The
plot is almost as convoluted as one could imagine. Jeff’s flashback to finding Kathie in Mexico
starts to feel like the actual plot of the movie, until we remember that ‘oh
yeah, he’s just remembering.’ And as
soon as Whit comes back to real-time Jeff’s life, things get crazy as they only
can in noir. More characters get thrown
in the mix, there are objects that have to be stolen from other people, money
that has to be accounted for, and who knows who has any of it. When I tell you that I’ve seen this movie at
least four or five times and I still can’t quite keep everything straight,
you’ll understand. But what is
absolutely necessary to understand about noir – good noir – is that this
doesn’t matter. It’s not about all the
red herrings, the ancillary characters who dance around the edges of the film,
or the plot devices. It’s about the
central characters and the mood and the dialogue. Jeff is cryptic, brooding, and powerful;
Kathie is devious, snakelike, and seductive; Whit is smart, careful, and
manipulative. This trio is phenomenal,
and when they spit out hard-boiled dialogue left, right, and center, you really
needn’t worry about trying to follow the plot.
Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
It’s
hard for me to pick a favorite part of Out of the Past, mostly because I’m
such a fan of film noir that I love so much about it, but in Out
of the Past, Kirk Douglas shines.
Really shines. Out
of the Past was only Douglas’ second film role, and with a nice, hefty,
supporting role here, it’s more than easy to understand why he became a superstar. Douglas is beyond phenomenal as the snaky,
conniving Whit. Over the course of his
career, Douglas would do many fine roles in many fine pictures, but he would
often play characters that were BIG and BLUSTERING in some way, shape, or
form. You need someone who can jut his
chin out and make grandiose speeches to a crowd of hundreds, if not thousands? Douglas is your man. Which is the main reason why I like him so
much in Out of the Past; he is decidedly not this persona when he plays
Whit. Whit is cool, subtle, and plays
his cards close to his chest. He’s a
devious villain in that he’s razor-sharp, intelligent, and diligent, with a
dangerous smile that lets you know you’re in for something bad, and soon. As Kathie says, he never forgets, and he’ll
smile his evil smile while he remembers every trick you tried to pull on him. This is a Kirk Douglas unlike most future
Kirk Douglas’. I love it. I can’t get enough. I might even go out on a limb and say this is
my favorite Kirk Douglas performance. As
I said, I might even call him my favorite part of Out of the Past, and Out
of the Past is crackerjack full of good stuff. Not that I was in danger of disliking Out
of the Past, but Douglas really puts it over the top for me.
While
I just love Douglas in Out of the Past, it wouldn’t be the
movie it is without Robert Mitchum.
Mitchum, the masthead of the entire film noir genre, is beyond iconic in
his role here as Jeff (so much so that Alain Delon’s character in Le
Samourai is modeled after him and even called Jef). His drooping eyelids, laconic voice, and
dripping cynicism are pure noir. When
you add in the hat, the dangling cigarette, and the battered trench coat, it’s
just icing on the cake. Jeff is trying
to make a regular life for himself, but he cannot extricate himself from his
previous shady dealings. One look at
Robert Mitchum and I believe that there is no way in the world that Jeff could
ever make a “regular” life. In fact, the
most awkward parts of Out of the Past are where Jeff is
making bland, dull love to Ann (easily the most nondescript character in the
entire cast). Mitchum was born to play a
character like Jeff, all hardness and sarcastic smiles. My favorite line of the film is one of
Mitchum’s, when he and Kathie are falling in lust down in Mexico. She spouts some nonsense to him about not
actually stealing the money Whit thought she did, and he pulls her in for a
kiss and says, “Baby, I don’t care.”
It’s just… perfect. (For what
it’s worth, “Build my gallows high, baby,” comes a close second.)
Tourneur’s
direction and photography are excellent.
There are so many smart choices made that repeatedly play up Jeff’s dual
lives. When the film opens in Jeff’s
pretend “normal” life, we are awash in bright whites. Every scene is bathed in pure sunlight, and
there are almost no shadows. As soon as
Jeff’s old life starts to reappear, things get dark and fast. Enter all the standard shadows and low-key
lighting you can handle. When Jeff
starts to get mixed up with Kathie when you just KNOW he shouldn’t, cue the
apropos fishing nets in the background.
Jeff is caught in Kathie’s net, and there’s no escaping it. Tourneur knew what he was doing, and it
shows.
Mitchum
may have called them B pictures instead of noir, but this is a damn fine B
picture.
Arbitrary
Rating: 9/10
