Out Of The Past (1947) Classic Hollywood Noir

"A man - trying to run away from his past... A woman - trying to escape her future !"

Volumes have been written about Out Of The Past.

It makes most of the top ten lists deservedly. It's the story of of a P.I. who down these streets is not, as Raymond Chandler's puts it in The Simple Art Of Murder " not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid." He is not "a man of honor -- by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world."

P.I. Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchun) is a bit of a dope. He's on a job for a New York gangster Whit (Kirk Douglas) , who wants him to track down 40Gs and the skirt who shot him down and grabbed it.

Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer) is a real piece of work. Jeff snoops around and picks up her trail. He follows the crumbs of information that Kathie dropped and it leads him down to Mexico. Jeff left his detective partner Fisher (Steve Brodie) back in Manhattan, Steve is supposed to hold down the fort.

Jeff Bailey P.I. (Robert Mitchum)

Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer)

Whit (Kirk Douglas)

Down in Mexico Bailey waits everyday at a likely cantina spending his expense money getting boozed up and patiently waiting for her to show. When Kathie does show up Jeff is hooked. He falls in lust with her. Kathie see's another chump.

The Classic First Meet between Jeff and Kathie

Things heat up quickly. They screw on a beach and in a cabin. Of course being 1947 they use the old tried and true visual codes/euphemisms, i.e., a gust of wind from a thunderstorm blasts open a doorway, followed by a downpour, or the more economical one where the screen just goes dark, and you know what they do in the dark.

Fade to black

So, Kathie uses Jeff to evade Whit, who does eventually show up in Mexico. Jeff throws Whit and his henchmen off by telling Whit that Kathie boarded a steamer for Panama and parts South. Kathie really heads North to San Francisco and then on to a future rendezvous place with Jeff, a cabin in the Sierras.

When Jeff eventually gets to San Francisco he spots his partner Fisher. He evades him and meets with Kathie. But Fisher is working now also for Whit, he followed Kathie. Fisher crashes the party at the cabin rendezvous, but while he's forcefully discussing things with ex-partner Jeff, Kathie pulls out a revolver and blows a few holes in Fisher to Jeff's surprise. Jeff is stunned. Stunned enough to not notice Kathie take off in his car leaving him with a a cooling corpse.

Fisher (Steve Brody)

A very dead Fisher

Time goes by. Jeff is laying low, running a gas station in a Sierra flyspeck town. He has a deaf mute helper Dickie Moore who is also his friend, and a new girlfriend. The girlfriend Ann (Virginia Huston) is a safe, plain Jane, vanilla one.

 Musuraca's traveling camerawork - Joe breezing into town

Things are going smooth and  cool until Joe (Paul Valentine) a henchman of Whit, spots Jeff Bailey's name on a gas station as he travels through town. He tells Whit that he found Bailey.

Dickie Moore

Ann (Virginia Huston) and Jeff

Jeff and Joe (Paul Valentine)

Of course, Whit wants to see Jeff. Joe is sent back to Bridgeville to get Jeff. Jeff gets picked up by Joe who drives him up to Whit's hunting lodge. At the lodge Jeff is surprised to see Kathie there. After all this WTF right?

Whit wants Jeff to do one more thing to square things up. It involves the third female lead Rhonda Fleming and a frame. It all goes Noirsville.

Noirsville

Bridgeville

Ann (Virginia Huston) and Jeff

San Francisco 

Meta Carson (Rhonda Fleming) and Jeff.

Out of the Past (aka Build My Gallows High) was directed by Jacques Tourneur. Written by Daniel Mainwaring from his novel Build My Gallows High, with some script doctoring provided by Frank Fenton and James M. Cain. The films excellent cinematography was by Nicholas Musuraca and this greatly adds to the films deserved high regard. There are some great travelling camera shots of Valentine entering Bridgeport, California. Music was by Roy Webb who innovatively weaves the main title music into various musical styles.

The film stars Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Webb, Steve Brodie, Virginia Huston, Paul Valentine, and Dickie Moore.

Filming locations, when not obvious studio sets, were San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Silver Lake, Bridgeport, the East side of Sonora Pass, Los Angeles, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, also Reno, Nevada, USA. Also Taxco, Acapulco, Mexico City, Mexico, and New York City, New York appear in some background shots.

This classic need to be seen by all Noiristas and Afico-Noir-dos. 10/10