Out of the Past (1947)

Director:

Jacques Tourneur

Writers:

Daniel Mainwaring (screenplay)
Daniel Mainwaring (novel)

Release Date:

13 November 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

A MAN - Trying to run away from his past... A WOMAN - Trying to escape her future!

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...

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | Small Town | Cabin | Flashback | Murder

Awards:

1 win

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

Also Known As:

Build My Gallows High (UK)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | American Sign Language

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

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:

Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1991.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Jeff visits Leonard Eels' office building there are clearly five names on the directory under 'E' in the long shot, but just two in the POV shot that follows immediately.

Quotes:

Marny, diner owner: Two things I can smell inside a hundred feet: a burnin' hamburger and a romance.
Jim 'Jimmy': You got a customer.
Marny, diner owner: [to Joe] What'll ya have?
Joe Stephanos: [not bothering to take the cigarette out of his mouth] Coffee.
Marny, diner owner: Nothing else?
Joe Stephanos: Cream.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Best of Film Noir (1999) (V)

Soundtrack:

THE FIRST TIME I SAW YOU

A classic--maybe the best film noir ever

Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) runs a small gas station in a little town in CA. He's in love with a beautiful girl. But he has a past which is about to catch up with him involving gangster Whit (Kirk Douglas) and evil Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer)...MANY twists and turns happen.

The plot is very complicated but this is a prime example of film noir. It's beautifully directed using darkness in almost every shot and has all the ingredients of a good noir--an innocent man (Robert Mitchum) in over his head, a bad guy (Kirk Douglas) and a totally amoral woman (Jane Greer). What makes this stands out (beside the incredible cinematography and direction) is a wonderful script. It's full of some truly incredible lines and delivered dead pan by the cast (as it should be). If any of them had winked at the camera once this would have failed. Mitchum plays it very stone-faced but Douglas is great and Greer is just fascinating as a totally evil, beautiful woman.

Basically a must-see film.