Out Of The Past Film Analysis

The film Out of the Past (1947) begins in a rural setting. I particularity like the opening shot, a vast scenic view of high mountains and beautiful forest. The camera presents us with a crisscross road sign showing direction, miles, to all the major cities nearby. The sign in part tells us you are entering Bridgeport and that Los Angles is 349 miles distance. A man driving a convertible enters the sleepy little town of Bridgeport. Filmed in POV of an invisible passenger riding in the back, the mysterious drive’s backside is to the camera prevent us from seeing who it is as he deliberately drives up to a gas station named Jeff Bailey’s. The stranger is looking for Bailey, heads over to the local café, and starts asking question about him. And thus, begins Jeff’s dilemma.

In film noir, there is often the wrong man scenario, where the main characters are pawns and victims of criminal actions done by others,

but another type of common theme is when a character’s shady past comes back to haunt them, as Hirsch points out, “in Out of the Past, The Killers, Kiss of Death, and The Woman on Pier 13, characters are convicted by who they one were, in a past they have tried to overcome” (Hirsch 179). Jeff Bailey is a cynical PI spawn from the city seeking to escape its clutches. The main genesis for many film noir settings begin in the heart of the city, within the shadows, dark alleyways, around unsuspecting corners, between gorgeous lips, behind closed doors where corruption grows and sucks those in that happen to be caught by its allure of easy money and sex. “The city as a cradle of crime and a cauldron of negative energy is the inevitable setting for film noir. Country settings appear infrequently, usually as a counterpoint to the festering city” (Hirsch 83). Jeff found himself mixed up in a classic Greek tragedy and needed to leave all that he knew from the big city.

The cities in film noir are often dark, mysterious, and deadly to novice and pros alike, some people become so entangled that they are left with little options except to disappear, “leaving the contaminating city for salvation in the country is a recurrent noir pattern. Burt Lancaster in The Killers and Robert Mitchum in Out of the Past retire from lives of crime to sylvan settings. (Hirsch 83). But the escape to pleasant surroundings that are new and far away from the clutter of the crime invested city, may not be totally safe after all, as Hirsch clearly notes “a few noir movies - They Live By Night, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Ace in the Hole, and Gun Crazy - take place in rural locations“ (Hirsch 83). You can take yourself out of the city jungle, but a slew of killers may come follow, bringing with them corruption, revenge, and death.

Jeff has been hiding for 3 years, he opened a modest gas station in Bridgeport, the newest addition to the peaceful town, and even starting dating a young lady, Ann. When his shady past finally catches up with him, he has to leave, but first he must explain the whole truth to his girlfriend. I like the intimate close-up shots between Jeff and Ann, especially riding in the car, in the film they share several of these and it perfectly conveys their obvious romance and trust. Enter the flashback scene 3 years prior as Jeff tells it, now here is where the real story begins, and why he has been on the run. “dramatizing the impact of the past on present action, the format of archetypal noir thrillers like The Killers and Out of the Past recalls Citizen Kane, the locus classicus for many noir patterns” (Hirsch 74).

Ann sits and listens to the painful memories of Jeff’s previous life as PI hired to find a lady who stole $40,000.

The trail leads him to Mexico, Jeff narrates throughout the film, and the entrance of Jane Geer as Kathie is breathtaking. The movie graciously promotes Jeff and Kathie’s attraction by placing them in a passionate silhouette of the night along the beach that sparks a natural romance. I really enjoy the use of silhouettes to enhance an unspoken emotion between two characters, were the action is subtle, and yet defined in that moment. Both characters seem to struggle with conflicting emotions about their growing love, but a carry on as if on a romantic holiday. Even the backdrop of a rainstorm conveys the secrecy, isolation, and passion Jeff and Kathie have for each other, but is any of it real, unbeknownst to Jeff, Kathie will ultimately ruin his life repeatedly, “the doomed ex-detective is seduced once again by the charming, wicked woman he had loved and lost, and becomes hopelessly embroiled in a maze of double - and triple-crosses” (Hirsch

74).

Light and darkness is important part in film noir, and most enjoyable when in contrast with one another. This use of lighting gives director Jacques Tourneur and cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, an opportunity to play with light and shadow as in one of my favorite scenes is where Jeff’s old partner confronts him at the hideaway cabin Jeff and Kathie have been using, the sharp light on their faces coming from the fireplace, and the rest of the room shrouded in darkness gives a chilling aspect that something is going to happen during this unexpected visit and argument. And the outcome of which leaves Jeff with no girl and framed by her for a murder he did not commit.

The movie Out of the Past is based on the novel Build My Gallows High by Geoffrey Homes (Daniel Mainwaring). Journalist turned mystery novelist, Mainwaring used his pen name Geoffrey Homes to become a successful novelist and screenwriter. Most of the settings Homes wrote about were in California small-towns where his talents shined as he depicted realistic American culture, some of his best screenplays were The Big Steal (1949), This Woman is Dangerous (1952), The Phenix City (1954), and the Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). To advance himself into screenwriting full time and learn more about adapting book to screen, “Homes (aka Daniel Mainwaring) was reportedly helped in adapting his own novel to the screen by actor/screenwriter Frank Fenton and novelist James M. Cain“ (Grant 485).

The director of Out of the Past was Jacques Tourneur (1904 – 1977), an acclaimed French director of many classic film noir and low-budget horror films like Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie (1943), Berlin Express (1948), and one of my personal favorites Curse of the Demon aka Night of the Demon (1957). Tourneur was born in France and came to America when he was just 10 years old. Over time as he got older he slowly entered the entertainment business of Hollywood, working first in silent pictures, and by the 1930s started directing for major studios like MGM, Columbia, and RKO. His film career is over 30 years long, War-Gods of the Deep (1964) a science fiction tale was his last film, starring Vincent Price and Tab Hunter.