Out of the Past
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Actor: Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Webb, Robert MitchumBrand: MITCHUM,ROBERT
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 97 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-07-06
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: T6759
Studio: Turner Home Ent
DVD Reviews of Out of the Past
DVD Review: "How big a chump can you get to be? I was finding out."
Summary: 5 Stars
Directed by Jacques Tourneur (Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, Night of the Demon), Out of the Past (1947) stars Robert Mitchum (The Night of the Hunter, The Enemy Below, Cape Fear), Jane Greer (The Prisoner of Zenda, Man of a Thousand Faces), and Kirk Douglas (20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Spartacus). Also appearing is Rhonda Fleming (Spellbound, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral), Virginia Huston (Flight to Mars), Paul Valentine (House of Strangers), and Dickie Moore (Sergeant York, Miss Annie Rooney), a child actor who, by the time he was ten years old, had appeared in over fifty films, which is about fifty more than I've appeared in, and I'm a heck of a lot older than ten.
Robert Mitchum plays Jeff Bailey, an ex-big city private eye once known by the name Jeff Markham, who now owns and operates a rinky dink filling station somewhere between L.A. and New York (closer to L.A. in a flyspeck known as Bridgeport), his only employee a deaf-mute boy known only as `The Kid', played by Moore. So how is it Mitchum's character ended up a gas jockey out in the middle of nowhere? Well, if you guessed it had something to do with a woman, you'd be right...and not just any woman, you see, but a real doozy of a tomato who goes by the name Kathie Moffat (Greer). You see, in a previous life Jeff was hired by a wealthy man named Whit Sterling (Douglas) to run down Whit's girlfriend Kathie, who had skipped town after stealing a whole mess of Whit's dough and throwing a few slugs his way (sounds like a complicated relationship). Anyway, Jeff tracks Kathie down old Mexico way, and promptly falls for her but hard. Jeff Tells Whit Kathie got away, following which Jeff and Kathie pull a Houdini and vanish, heading north and losing themselves in the hustle of the streets of San Francisco, but after awhile an old acquaintance of Jeff's makes the scene and threatens their anonymity. Some bad things happen, Kathie splits (she makes a beeline back to Whit), and Jeff tries to start anew, leaving the past behind, that is until Whit finds Jeff and hires him for another job, one involving the recovery of some papers from a blackmailer (seems not all of Whit's business activities are on the up and up)...all right, maybe `hired' isn't the right term, as Whit more or less pushed the job onto Jeff, who soon learns the case is much more than it seems as Whit intends to accomplish a number of things, including the recovery of incriminating documents, getting the blackmailer off his back, and last but not least getting even with Jeff by framing him for a crime he didn't commit (I'll give you a hint, it starts with `M' and ends with `R' and rhymes with girder).
While this isn't my favorite Robert Mitchum film (that's a toss up between The Night of the Hunter and Thunder Road), at least of the ones I've seen, it does rank up there in his top five. I really liked Mitchum's portrayal here as he's a fairly hard case sort with street smarts to spare, but not so hardboiled and cynical as to deny himself a shot at love, even if it means falling for another man's woman while hired by said man to find her and bring her back. Okay, maybe not the smartest play in the book, but who can argue with their heart? That's one battle you'll rarely ever win...while I could identify with Mitchum's character somewhat Greer's character was different story. She was definitely bad news, but was it because she was just a sweet, beautiful woman caught in a rotten situation or because she was a conniving, manipulative seductress, always dialed in to making things work for herself? It was difficult trying to pin Kathie down, as she came off as someone you'd want to believe and trust (if you were a man), yet her actions, especially when in a tight spot, would make you feel otherwise. And no matter how dicey the situation, she always managed to turn, twist, and tangle things in her favor, presenting one of the more slippery characters I've seen in long while. There are a number of great scenes with some truly wonderful dialog, some memorable lines including the following...
In this scene Jeff comes clean to his current girlfriend Ann, played by Virginia Huston, about his past, including how things ended with Kathie...
Ann Miller: She can't be all bad. No one is.
Jeff Bailey: Well, she comes the closest.
And here's another, after Jeff finds out from Kathie (through a little arm twisting), what Whit's game is...
Kathie Moffett: Oh, Jeff, I don't want to die!
Jeff Bailey: Neither do I, baby, but if I have to I'm going to be the one who dies last.
As far as the direction by Jacques Tourneur, I thought it very stylish, moody, and highly appropriate for the material. While the story did get complicated, I found it pretty easy to follow, a lot of that having to do with the way the story was laid out and populated by interesting characters (of course, having Jane Greer and Rhonda Fleming to look at regularly didn't hurt). The one element in this film I didn't care much for was the bit tacked on after the `real' ending of the film. I would have rather the movie ended a few minutes sooner and having forgone the unnecessary sequence between Ann and `The Kid'. I'm sure this was something the studio requested i.e. insisted be included for the purpose of providing closure most likely, but it sort of works against the `noir' sensibilities inherent in the rest of the film, at least in my opinion. Other than that this is a wonderful film, one worth watching more than once.
The picture, presented in fullscreen (1.33:1), looks very clean and clear, and the Dolby Digital mono audio comes across well. As far as extras, included is a commentary track with author/film-noir specialist James Ursini and subtitles in English, Spanish, and French. If you're interested in picking up this DVD, you might want to look into purchasing the Film Noir Classics Collection, Volume 1, a most excellent DVD set, as it includes this film, along with Gun Crazy (1949) aka Deadly Is the Female, The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Murder, My Sweet (1944), and The Set-Up (1949) which appears to cost significantly less than buying the films individually.
Cookieman108
By the way, this film was remade and released in 1984 under the title Against All Odds, which featured Jeff Bridges, Rachel Ward, and James Woods, along with Jane Greer, having a much smaller role than in the original feature.
Description of Out of the Past
A collection of classic film noir.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 6-JUL-2004
Media Type: DVD
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