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Out of the Past (1947)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
13 November 1947 (USA)
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Tagline:
A MAN - Trying to run away from his past... A WOMAN - Trying to escape her future! more
Plot:
Jeff Bailey, small-town gas pumper, has his mysterious past catch up with him one day when he's ordered to meet with gambler Whit Sterling...
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| full synopsis
Awards:
1 win
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User Comments:
One of best 40's film noir - and where is it ?
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Cast
(Complete credited cast)| Robert Mitchum | ... | Jeff Bailey | |
| Jane Greer | ... | Kathie Moffat | |
| Kirk Douglas | ... | Whit Sterling | |
| Rhonda Fleming | ... | Meta Carson | |
| Richard Webb | ... | Jim | |
| Steve Brodie | ... | Jack Fisher | |
| Virginia Huston | ... | Ann Miller | |
| Paul Valentine | ... | Joe Stephanos | |
| Dickie Moore | ... | The Kid | |
| Ken Niles | ... | Leonard Eels |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Build My Gallows High (UK)
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Parents Guide:
Runtime:
97 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Certification:
Australia:PG |
Iceland:12 |
UK:A (original rating) |
UK:PG (re-rating) (1998) |
Germany:12 (re-rating) |
Germany:18 (original rating) |
Canada:PG (video rating) |
Sweden:15 (re-rating) (1965) |
Argentina:13 |
Sweden:(Banned) |
USA:Approved (PCA #12082) |
Spain:13
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1991.
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Quotes:
Jeff Bailey:
I sell gasoline, I make a small profit. With that I buy groceries. The grocer makes a profit. We call it earning a living. You may have heard of it somewhere.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in Sesión continua (1984)
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Soundtrack:
THE FIRST TIME I SAW YOU
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FAQ
How did the press get word that Jeff supposedly killed both Fisher and Eels?Any recommendations for other movies like "Out of the Past"?
How was the frame supposed to work?
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Tremendously stylish, brilliantly scripted and wonderfully directed noir classic about a man who cannot escape from his past. Rarely does the genre get away from the grimy city streets with it's dark corridors and alleyways only partially lit by un-realistic streams of bright light. In this film we not only see the underworld gangs, the bars and floozies, the heavies and the fatales, but we also see the bright beautiful countryside, the streams and the rocks - a complete otherworld.
Mitchum is superb as the man who has escaped the city to live a new life in the country only to be dragged back by powerful forces. This broadening of the cinematic landscape makes the movie more affecting than your assorted Bogarts' & Ladds'. As with 'I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang' I feel much more sympathy for the lead actor who gets dragged back into the bear pit to wrestle for his life and soul.
'Out of the Past' also has some of the finest dialogue and narration I have ever heard, probably matched only by 'The Maltese Falcon'. 'She was like an autumn leaf blowing from gutter to gutter', is one gem that sticks in my mind.
The mood of the film is pleasantly melancholic and the portrayal of the fatale figure (Jane Greer) is particularly sympathetic. In most noir movies the male perspective of the double-crossing woman predominates (not that there's anything wrong with that, it's usually very funny). Here however, whilst Greer presents one of the blackest of women you at least know why she does what she does and can sympathise with her plight. She is trapped too.
Tourneur, tragically made few films but was a master at getting messages deep into your psyche, into your soul. 'Cat People 'and 'I Walked With a Zombie' both had otherworlds where the demons lived. We all have otherworlds too, places we'd rather not go very often, but as with Mitchum we are sometimes confronted with those demons and have to do battle once again. When I go next I hope to be wearing my hat at an exquisite angle and have my trench coat well belted.