Out of the Past

[Jack Scorpion]

My graduating thesis, due in a couple weeks, is mostly on Tourneur's Out of the Past. Reading lots and lots of articles and criticism on this movie has led me to only one conclusion:

Wow, this was one amazing film.

I can spend pages detailing WHY (wait, I already am), but that is statement enough.

That is all.

 

[Feraud]

Out of the Past is an excellent film!

For those who have never seen or are unconvinced of how good a film it is, would you care to share a few of the point you might include in your thesis?

 

[MK]

agreed

Great flick. Mitchum was perfect for the role.

I wish he would have been cast as Marlowe at this era of his life....instead of waiting until the 1980's.

 

[Feraud]

Great flick. Mitchum was perfect for the role.

I wish he would have been cast as Marlowe at this era of his life....instead of waiting until the 1980's.

I agree. Mitchum would have put in a stunning performance at that time.

 

[jake_fink]

I like Mitchum as Marlowe in the 1975 Farewell My Lovely... the film accounts for his age in its tone and by setting the action in the summer of 1941. It is eligaic. But yes, he would have been a great Marlowe in the 40s.

Out of the Past is one of my favourite films, nigh on perfect and it stands up to the kind of scrutiny you have been putting it through Jack Scorpion. There aren't many movies I can watch and watch and watch... this is one of them.

I was so upset by the Laura thread that I couldn't even post. I hope this film isn't as misunderstood and beat up on. :cry: [bad]

 

[jake_fink]

PS, Feraud,
Since your avatar has become a slow motion flipbook of Last Man Standing I have to wonder what you'll do when the credits start to roll.

 

[Feraud]

PS, Feraud,
Since your avatar has become a slow motion flipbook of Last Man Standing I have to wonder what you'll do when the credits start to roll.

Do what I always do..watch it again!

 

[Feraud]

I was so upset by the Laura thread that I couldn't even post. I hope this film isn't as misunderstood and beat up on. :cry: [bad]

I think it was misunderstood and beat up on a bit. That is all the more reason why you should have added some thoughts!
Now jump back in there and help ol' Laura out! Tell 'em about that great twist or Waldo trying to "pick up" (hand me my towel??) MacPherson!!
I think Dana Andews' character could use a little support too.

 

[Jack Scorpion]

Well, Tourneur is a brilliant director and Mitchum was the PERFECT cast...

(Bogart wanted the role, but Warner wouldn't let him. A good thing in my opinion because Bogart's scene hogging presence would kill the balance (A reason why I often shy away from Bogart noirs). Dick Powell was first in line for the role. Don't know what happened there, but I am glad that didn't pan out, too, even though I loved him in Murder, My Sweet: his tendency for being too funny and/or overcompensating for his masculinity wasn't quite right for Jeff Bailey/Markham. I think John Garfield was next in line, but then again, no go, fortunately. I hate John Garfield for very little reason. Shrug. I just do.)

The screenplay history is very interesting (supposedly Build My Gallows High was a terrible book, and when the author Mainwaring (Homes) tried to adapt it, very little of his version was used (Terrible dialogue!). Then the famous James M Cain wrote TWO more versions of the screenplay, both quite bad (Cain was pretty bad at screenplays. He added a shark attack for some reason!). In the end, the uncredited Frank Fenton made it the brilliant screenplay we know today. In truth, all three writers contributed at least a little bit to the final product, whether it be story like Homes or the flashback structure like Cain, but Fenton did the most and the best)...

Basically, Out of the Past was kind of accidentally amazing. It wasn't a complete authorial masterpiece of Tourneur's like Cat People or I Walked with a Zombie, and it wasn't the most challenging acting role for any of the very talented players... (Kirk Douglas's second starring role and he was phenomenal). All the little pieces just fell together for this one. The screenplay came out amazing. Mitchum basically played himself. Tourneur probably could have directed the screenplay with his eyes closed. (Tourneur did have a lot of imput into the screenplay, though, and he was still heavily in control of everything.)

The key to the film was the the multi-locale narration: Bridgeport, Alcapulco, San Francisco, Cabin in the woods, etc. Each segment is almost episodic, each is told in a very similar manner (including repeating parallel camera shots, similar dialogue lines), and yet somehow each segment is crucial to the plot as a whole. Each locale is extremely different in theme and camera-use and lighting and overall tone.

Watch it again and notice the differences (and similarities!) in between the Jeff/Kathie scenes and the Jeff/Anne scenes (beach/lake was an obvious one). Watch the similarities between the opening sequence in Bridgeport and the closing sequence in Bridgeport. Every time they are in a car, etc, etc. Every scene in the movie is either a throwback or a foreshadowing (or both) of another scene in the movie for significant reason, by use of camera angle or dialogue or similar micro-plots.

And of course the amazing dialogue. Practically every line is quotable. Surprised? How about I close this door and we forget this ever happened? Matzlan. Not Acapulco, Kathie, because I'd keep thinking of you... up in that woman's prison. Baby, I don't care. He couldn't find a prayer in the bible. Etc, etc.

The femme fatale was not one-dimensional like Double Indemnity's pure evil Phyllis. Jane Greer's Kathie was very human, and her romance with Mitchum was almost Casablanca-like (though extremely complicated and untrustworthy). You can almost hear them say, "We'll always have Acapulco" in the end. She can't be all bad--No one is. She comes the closest.

I do not rest my case, because there is so much more to say, but imagine that I have pages and pages of evidence for every praise I said and more where that came from. So good.

 

[dr greg]

Dick Powell noir

I thought he also did a fine job in a small feature called 'Cornered' which has a pretty violent ending for the time. It was also the film that first inspired my theory that, in the movies, bad guys wear the back of the their panamas brim down, and the good guys, brim up.

 

[jake_fink]

supposedly Build My Gallows High was a terrible book, and when the author Mainwaring (Homes) tried to adapt it, very little of his version was used (Terrible dialogue!). Then the famous James M Cain wrote TWO more versions of the screenplay, both quite bad (Cain was pretty bad at screenplays. He added a shark attack for some reason!).

It's not that bad. Of it's type it's really quite interesting, a political parable and very dark. Quite a bit of dialogue did make it to the screenplay, like "Build my gallows high," just for example.

Cain's shark attack ending to Double Indemnity was removed for the movie, so maybe he was just recycling.

Definitely a case (a rare one) of the movie improving on the book.

 

[Jack Scorpion]

In Homes's original adaptation of the book to the film, the line 'build my gallows high' was used about 5 times. I think Fenton did well to shrink it down to the one.

And what was Kathie's name in the book? Like Mumsie McGonigle or something? Jeff was named Red.

 

[jake_fink]

In Homes's original adaptation of the book to the film, the line 'build my gallows high' was used about 5 times. I think Fenton did well to shrink it down to the one.

It only appeared once in the book itslef to my recollection. Do you have or have you seen Mainwaring's screenplay?

And what was Kathie's name in the book? Like Mumsie McGonigle or something? Jeff was named Red.

True and true. Mumsie Mcgonigle. lol What a monicker.

 

[Jack Scorpion]

It only appeared once in the book itslef to my recollection. Do you have or have you seen Mainwaring's screenplay?

I don't have it. I haven't read it all the way through, but I've had to look at it a few times. There's an article in an old Film Comment magazine that pokes a lot of fun at the original screenplays.