I post reviews (here) of Film Noir movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age of Noir, the 1940s and 1950s. I write as an amateur film noir enthusiast, but not an authority as such.

Maybe, like me, you are looking to enjoy films that are different, or of a different era. Films you may not have seen, ones encompassing cynical detectives, seductive femme fatales, flawed sidekicks all tossed together into intricate plots. Not forgetting the snappy dialogue too.

Backstory: Film Noir has its roots in German expressionist cinematography and American crime fiction. During the 1930s Hollywood became a perfect storm of film artists fleeing the threat of Nazi Germany, emigrating to America, and specifically to the Film studios of Hollywood. This included great directors such as Fritz Lang, Jaques Tourneur, Michael Curtiz and Robert Siodmak.

This new dramatic visual style combined with American hardboiled crime stories (noir fiction), emerged during the Great Depression and produced many classic noirs. Some of these writers include: Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett, Patricia Highsmith, Jim Thompson and Mickey Spillane.

I hope to showcase some of these memorable noir movies here for you. And advance apologies for a mixture of British and  US English occasionally. I have applied the link below, to the Amazon.com DVD of today’s featured film. (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases).

Inspired by hardboiled detective stories and film noir, I have written the Sterling Private Investigator Series, set in present-day London. I have also posted a link to my books at the bottom of the page.

 

Today’s film is:

Out of the Past

USA link DVD: https://amzn.to/3DJ444g  Blu-ray DVD: https://amzn.to/4a6dBhZ

UK link DVD: https://amzn.to/407esKC  Blu-ray DVD: https://amzn.to/406fk2g

 

“It was the bottom of the barrel, and I was scraping it”

 

Film Studio: RKO Radio Pictures 1947/B&W

Director: Jacques Tourneur

Original Music: Roy Webb

Cinematography: Nicholas Musuraca

Film Editor: Samuel E. Beetley

Novel Written by: Daniel Mainwaring: “Build my Gallows High”

Screenplay: Daniel Mainwaring, James M. Cain, Frank Fenton

Produced by: Warren Duff

Main Actors: Jane Greer, Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming

Run time: 97 minutes

 

Preview

Out of the Past is based on a novel called, Build My Gallows High by Daniel Mainwaring (under the pseudonym Geoffrey Homes). He also adapted the novel with uncredited revisions by Frank Fenton and James M Cain. The film gained critical acclaim and is recognised as one of the greatest examples of film noir. In 1991, Out of the Past was added to the National Film Registry of “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” films. The director, Tourneur, also directed 1942s, Cat People.

 

Synopsis

Out of the Past begins from the POV of a darkly dressed man with a wide-brimmed hat driving a convertible. Travelling along the scenic road (with the Sierra mountain range on the horizon), he reaches Main Street of Bridgeport, a rural town in California. A blink, and you’ll have driven through it, sort of place. A love or hate sort of place too. If someone loved the bright city lights they would shrivel up and die here, but if they had something to hide, this would be the place… And so it turns out.

The stranger (“Joe Stefanos” played by Paul Valentine) veers off and pulls in at Bailey’s gas station. Parking up, and stepping out, a shadow is cast, though we don’t necessarily know it yet. The man whistles, then honks his car horn at a teenage boy (“The Kid”), who with back turned, is busily working on a car tyre, but the man gets no response. Finally, he flicks his extinguished match at the tyre and the boy, noticing now, turns around.

Realising the boy is Deaf, (but can lipread), he enquires about the owner, saying, he wants to see Bailey. We are given a little hint about the stranger’s predisposition when a police car cruises past, and the wary look he gives, subsequently tipping off the boy. You sense, the boy is protective of his boss.

While waiting, the newcomer heads over to Marny’s Cafe across the street. Marny is a pistol and knows every bit of gossip and everything that goes on in the town. A local, called Jim, comes in for a coffee, and in their chat, we learn that a town beauty called, Ann, is Jim’s girl (sort of), “She’s your girl.” Marny reminds him. Then, she goes on to say that, “every day they (Bailey and Ann),  go fishing together!” After Jim leaves, Marny says to the newcomer, “I guess things people oughta know, they just don’t want to hear.”

Right enough, Jeff Bailey (played by Robert Mitchum) and Ann Miller (played by Virginia Huston), have gone “fishing” together. We are introduced to the couple sitting close together on the scenic banks of a river, seemingly in love. He tells her, “See that cove over there, I’d like to build a house… marry you, live in it, and never go anywhere else.” We will have to wait and see on that dream…

The Kid approaches them and signs across to Jeff that someone is there to see him. Returning to the gas station, the two men reunite, with friendly enough greetings: “Hello Joe,” “Long time”. “Wish it was nicer to see you,” Jeff says in return. Stefanos located Bailey by chance, having seen him pumping gas as he was passing one day. It seems that Jeff’s past has caught up with him because something is under the veneer of their meeting. The insinuation is that Jeff is lying low and re-inventing his life in this small town… Joe Stefanos tells him Whit (played by the great Kirk Douglas), wants to see him.

In summary, Jeff is expected to accede to Whit’s request, and go to, “Lake Tahoe. Turn right at Emerald bay – a big house on the hill. You won’t miss it — you can’t.” You suspect it’s not an invitation for afternoon tea.

Early the next morning, Ann, and Jeff drive to Tahoe. Along the way, Jeff shares a story to her, regarding his mysterious past. “Some of its going to hurt you,” he says (the bit about another woman, presumably). Ann encourages him to share it, nevertheless. Hers is unconditional love it seems.

He tells her his real name is Jeff Markham, previously he was a private detective in New York, along with a partner, Jack Fisher, (played by Steve Brodie). Back then, Jeff received a call from Whit Sterling, a gambling operator and kingpin. Jeff explains how Whit’s girlfriend, Kathie Moffat (played by Jane Greer), shot Whit four times with his own  .38 handgun, and then fled.

The story from here begins in flashback. Whit sits at his desk opposite Jeff, with Fisher and Joe in the room too. We learn, aside from being shot, Whit’s girlfriend has run off with $40,000 of his. As you might conclude, he’s not happy. Whit wants Jeff to bring her back, reassuring him, she won’t be harmed. Jeff takes the case, tracking Kathie (and her 90 lbs of excess baggage), to Acapulco. Kathie tells him she hates Whit and admits to shooting him (those four times), but didn’t steal his $40,000.

Jeff is soon smitten with the alluring Kathie (who is a bit of a seductress), after spending time together in bars and restaurants (and in each other’s arms), they decide to run off together. The next morning, before departing, Jeff receives a knock on the door: Whit and Stefanos are standing there, smiling menacingly. Jeff lies and says he hasn’t seen Kathie. There are a few anxious moments which might make an ordinary person melt in panic, but this being Robert Mitchum, his character plays it cool. Whit tells Jeff to keep looking.  He’s fooled him. Jeff sighs with relief, when they both leave, having missed a bullet or four.

Jeff and Kathie instead, go to San Francisco by boat, keeping a low profile. That is, until Jeff’s ex-partner, Fisher (who is now working for Whit), see them together at the race track. His cover blown, Jeff knows Fisher will follow him, so he temporarily ends all contact with Kathie, arranging to meet her at a cabin at a later date. In the meantime, Jeff drives around acting like a tourist, taking Fisher on a wild goose chase for days. When he thinks he’s lost Fisher altogether, he goes to the mountain retreat to reunite with Kathie. After they pull in, they hear a car door slam behind them; it’s Fisher, and it turns out he has followed Kathie all this time instead…

Fisher is not happy. He’s owed some of the money Jeff was paid to seek out Kathie. Now, he’s in the position of power. He tries blackmail at first but soon the two men are fighting. Out of the blue, Kathie shoots Fisher dead. A moment later, Kathie is gone, leaving Jeff with a discovery… Kathie’s bank book (which she has left) revealing a $40,000 deposit… The penny has roundly dropped: Kathie is a liar and a murderer. And Jeff has a body to bury.

We return to the present and Ann drops Jeff off at the gates to Whit’s home. She doesn’t want him to go but he wants to stop running, clear things up and return for her. When Jeff meets Whit, he tells him he has a (crooked) job for him to do… and there’s one more surprise too… Kathie is back in the fold…

 

Things to like

Marny’s Cafe is the epitome of small-town living. Marny (played by Mary Field), is a gossip which probably keeps her business thriving (that, and some good coffee and homemade pie, I’m guessing). Customers can probably learn more in five minutes drinking coffee here than they could from the local newspaper. The character keeps it light and funny and its not hard to be charmed by her. Naturally, she has developed good intuition, “Two things I can smell within a hundred feet: a burning hamburger and a romance.”

The fake follow. We know that Jeff knows every trick in the book regarding detective work. And likely, his ex-partner, Fisher, does too. When Jeff thinks he’s given Fisher the shake, we’re impressed and a little relieved to be honest. This time, however, Jeff has been outsmarted…

The narration. For example, the first time Jeff sees Kathie: “And then I saw her coming out of the sun. And I knew why Whit didn’t care about that forty grand.”

The film fairly glows as we are treated to sumptuous light, shade, and shadow (and a fair bit of smoke), throughout. Film cinematographer, Nicholas Musuraca produces these striking and moody visuals; the dark scenes add a fatalistic realism to the film. Musuraca’s photography is all about the shadows, inspired, no doubt, by German expressionism.

The talented Jane Greer, who plays the enticing femme fatale as innocently as a choirgirl. Manipulative and cunning; she uses men as easily as lighting her next cigarette. And like a spent cigarette she discards them with a nonchalance.

The superb Robert Mitchum delivers come backs which are never over-dramatic but laconic and laid back. The crisp dialogue and the humour are ever-present whenever he’s around. Mitchum’s character is at first the hunter, but then he is ensnared into a sticky web of deceit. The creator of the thread is the femme fatale of course. Though, we suspect he knows exactly what he’s crawling into (and that he has become the prey). When Kathie asks Jeff if he believes she didn’t steal the money, he simply replies (before kissing her), “Baby, I don’t care.”

 

Quotes

 

 Kathie: “Can’t you even feel sorry for me?”

Jeff: “I’m not going to try.”

Kathie: “Jeff…”

Jeff: “Just get out, will you. I have to sleep in this room.”

***

Jeff: “You wanna lift, baby?”

 Kathie: “You know I really hadn’t ought.”

 Jeff: “You’re a cute little package to be out walking alone at night.”

 Kathie: “You’re kinda cute yourself.”

***

Jeff: “Why me?”

Whit: “Well, I know a lot of smart guys, and a few honest ones. And you’re both.”

***

Whit: “You just sit and stay inside yourself. You wait for me to talk. I like that.”

Jeff: “I never found out much listening to myself.”

***

Ann: “She can’t be all bad. No one is.”

Jeff: “Well, she comes the closest.”

***

Kathie: “I don’t want to die.”

Jeff: “Neither do I, baby, but if I have to, I’m going to die last.”

 

 

Must see scene

Jeff agrees to run off with Kathie, arranging to meet at the hotel the next day, to take a steamer south together. In the morning, Jeff is happily whistling to himself and finishing up packing his case when he hears a knock at the door. He is surprised to see Whit and Stefanos standing there like smiling debt collectors. They come in to talk. Whit sees the near-packed case and asks ominously, “Checking out?”

Jeff says he was about to wire Whit with an update. “Did you find her?” Whit asks. “Only her trail,” Jeff lies. So, begins a nerve-wracking encounter where we can feel Jeff’s anxiety, and almost hear his increasing heartbeat. Though, he plays it cool (as Robert Mitchum always plays it), deciding to play it aggressive rather than defensive, ie. acting irritable and annoyed at the task he has been given. Jeff asks who is following whom? Whit says he is on the way to Mexico City to see a man about a horse. During the back and forth, Jeff discreetly removes a packet of Kathie’s cigarettes from a side table…

Then, a knock. All eyes turn towards the door. Whit and Stefanos wonder who it is; Jeff knows who it is… And we, the viewer, hope he’s wrong…

Jeff opens the door to a hotel porter who hands over some newly shined shoes. Phew. “Nice shoes,” Whit says. “Sporty for you aren’t they?”

This is Jeff’s cue (before someone else knocks at that door), to suggest they go and have a drink in the bar, “to cool off while we try to impress each other.” While in the bar, there is no let up, and no relief, as Jeff nervously glances about for his new lover. Finally, he spots her way across the room, and as a distraction he deliberately knocks over his drink. It works. That spilt drink has possibly saved both of their lives. And maybe they will get to take that steamer south after all.

A suspenseful scene and a great early introduction (three films into his career), of the legendary actor, Kirk Douglas.

 

Summary

A piece of artistic cinema created by a wonderful director, Jacques Tourneur. A great plot (that requires some concentration), a superb script, and first rate acting. Mitchum in his prime. Maybe this is the defining noir, it certainly stands the test of time. And one to watch if you haven’t already seen it. And if you have, watch it again!

 

 

 

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