Out of the Past (1947)

A private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses and duplicitous dames.

Director:

Jacques Tourneur

Writers:

Daniel Mainwaring (screenplay) (as Geoffrey Homes), Daniel Mainwaring (novel) (as Geoffrey Homes)

Stars:

Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Robert Mitchum	...	Jeff
Jane Greer	...	Kathie
Kirk Douglas	...	Whit
Rhonda Fleming	...	Meta Carson
Richard Webb	...	Jim
Steve Brodie	...	Fisher
Virginia Huston	...	Ann
Paul Valentine	...	Joe
Dickie Moore	...	The Kid
Ken Niles	...	Eels

Storyline

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. En route to the meeting, he tells girlfriend Ann his story. Flashback: Once, Jeff was a private eye hired by Sterling to find his mistress Kathie who shot Whit and absconded with $40,000. He traces her to Acapulco...where the delectable Kathie makes Jeff forget all about Sterling... Back in the present, Whit's new job for Jeff is clearly a trap, but Jeff's precautions only leave him more tightly enmeshed...

---

Plot Keywords:

secret past | double cross | national film registry | small town | gangster | 

---

Taglines:

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

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Romance | Thriller

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English American Sign Language

Release Date:

December 1947 (USA)

Also Known As:

Build My Gallows High

Filming Locations:

Silver Lake, June Lake Loop, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the memorable lines of the film, "Baby, I don't care," was used by author Lee Server as the title of his 2001 biography of Robert Mitchum.

---

Goofs

When Jeff is walking away from the lake, he is carrying a fishing rod with no reel on it.

---

Quotes

Meta Carson: You are an idiot.
Jeff: So's he.
Meta Carson: You think so?
Jeff: Why not? He's in love with you.

---

Connections

Referenced in Vision Éternel: Pièce No. Trois (2017)

---

Soundtracks

The First Time I Saw You
(uncredited)
from 'The Toast of New York' (1937)
Music by Nathaniel Shilkret
Used as main theme in score

User Reviews

One of best 40's film noir - and where is it ?

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.