Out Of The Past [VHS] [1947]

Told in flashback - hence the title - there is plenty of opportunity for Mitchum to narrate the story, using that voice to carry you along. For a film actor, he has a voice which would have made him a radio star. Director Tourneur clearly understands this and builds on the visual and audio strengths of the production.

Geoff Bailey (Mitchum) is fleeing his past by hiding in a small town, miles from nowhere. His past, in the form of Kirk Douglas, catches up with him. His past also takes on the shape of the femme fatale, Kathy (Jane Greer). Douglas is wonderfully malevolent - there is a dual of the dimpled chins as he and Mitchum indulge in confrontational banter.

It starts out as a simple story, maybe even a love story, then twists like a trenchcoat belt. Mitchum chainsmokes his way through. Will he get the girl, the homespun Anne, the small town girl next door who is so enamoured of him, or will his past suck him back down?

Mitchum is built for a trenchcoat - he wears it in precisely the way Columbo can't. The story hangs about his central character in much the same way. It fits his acting and his presence perfectly. A superb example of the noir genre, a film you can watch and watch.

Robert Mitchum is great here-though his best performance is still that in 'Night of the Hunter'. Jane Greer's career was stalled following this- due to a non-compliance with Howard Hughes' casting couch- though she would appear in the excerable remake 'Against All Odds'. Kirk Douglas plays the vile gangster role- proving he could flip between good guys (like Spartacus) & the venal (though I like his characters in-between, such as those in 'Ace in the Hole' or 'The Bad & the Beautiful'/'Two Weeks in Another Town'). This is what contemporary actors like Tom Hanks could learn- yes, you can play the bad guy! (Mel Gibson has done this, unfortunately in bad films!). This film has many of the facets of film noir- chiaro-scuro, the roads, the sense of impending doom, the love triangle etc. Its influence can be detected in the nouvelle-vague- such films as 'A Bout de Souffle', 'Alphaville', 'Bande a Part' & 'Tirez Sur la Pianiste'. There is also a great allusion to it in Paul Auster's 'Ghosts' (in 'The New York Trilogy'). This is a great film for the performances of Douglas & Mitchum alone & well worth purchase- especially at this budget price. They truly can't/don't make them like this anymore!

"Out of the Past" is a quintessential 1940s film noir, right up there with "Double Indemnity" and "The Maltese Falcon," although it's arguably not as well known as those classics. The script is whip-smart and filled with brilliant dialogue - a character asserts to Bailey, "Don't you see you've only me to make deals with now?" and Bailey shoots back, "Build my gallows high, baby." Each scene is perfectly shot with an abundance of ambience; director Jacques Tourneur specialized in moody films, such as "I Walked with a Zombie," and he certainly scores here. The plot is full of crosses and double-crosses - it's admittedly not one of the most complex film noirs; however, the characters are perfectly etched, and the film builds to a heartbreaking conclusion.

Overall, "Out of the Past" is one of the best film noirs I've seen and a top-notch movie in every way. Most highly recommended. DVD extras: the main extra is a somewhat dry but informative commentary by James Ursini, an author noted for writing about film noir.