Out of the Past

The appearance of the femme fatale in movie history is considered a mixed blessing by feminists. Before, female characters were merely objects to be possessed, saved, or fought over. Even though a femme fatale's motives are usually evil, she always proactive. Many recent movies use the femme fatale archetype but they do not qualify as true film noir. Movie like "The Last Seduction"(1994), "Basic Instinct"(1992), "Black Widow"(1991), and "Body Heat"(1981) all fall under this fake film noir category. In "Body Heat", the woman declares: "You aren't too bright. I like that in a man". In these films, all of the women out-wit all of the guys and they are left free to rampage through the movie, killing anyone they want. This really is more an indication of a different genre: the horror genre. What is really the difference between Catherine stabbing a bunch of stupid guys with an ice pick and Jason stabbing a bunch of stupid women with a knife? The audience effect of yelling at the screen, to warn the deserved victim is the same. In fact, the horror movie "The Bad Seed"(1956) where a young girl goes around killing people looks very similar to these movies. The one movie in this category that works is the 1945 "Leave Her to Heaven" The main character is not the man tracking down the out of control female killer. The main character is the female killer. Her motives are explained so she is more sympathetic.

Even, Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard"(1950) has been described as a femme fatale trapping the slow witted Joe Gillis. Still,a fair fight where the man and the woman are evenly matched are infinitely more interesting to watch. Examples of this include "Miller's Crossing"(1990) and "Gilda"(1946). In a true film noir, the man falls under the spell the woman against his better judgement. There is fatalism in his action. He knows better but he doesn't fight it because that is his fate.

In my opinion, only three movies are actually classic film noirs: "Double Indemnity", "The Postman Always Rings Twice", and "Out of the Past",

In "Double Indemnity"(1944), smart insurance salesman, Walter Neff, gets involved with a married woman, Phyllis Dietrichson, who wants her unseen husband killed. After the proposition he says: "I knew I had hold of a red hot poker and the time to drop it was before it burner my hand off." After arriving home he tells us, "I was all twisted up inside, and I was still holding on to that red hot poker." His fate was sealed and no smarts could get him out of it.

In "The Postman Always Rings Twice"(1946), Frank Chambers is a drifter who is hired by gas station owner Nick Smith to work for a while. Frank starts an affair with Nick's wife Cora and they plot an accident for the husband. Unlike "Double Indemnity", the audience gets to see the husband and he is a nice guy who likes Frank. That makes Frank's casual betrayal of Nick more puzzling. He feels drawn to Cora and that seals his fate.

In "Out of the Past", a man with a mysterious past (Jeff Bailey) runs a gas station and is engaged to Ann who is the daughter of the local judge. Jeff is not interested in the past, only in the future. Unfortunately for him, Joe --a man from his past-- recognizes him and Jeff has to take care of some past business in Tahoe. On the drive to Tahoe, Jeff tells Ann the story of his past. Jeff was hired by Whit Sterling, a gambler, to find a woman (Kathy) who shot him and ran off. Jeff goes to Mexico and finds her. Jeff and Kathy decide to run off together and hide from Whit. A murder causes them to separate and Jeff ends up running a gas station. In Tahoe, Whit asks Jeff to make up for past indiscretions. And that's just the beginning...

The plot for "Out of the Past" is convoluted to say the least. Robert Mitchum inquired whether he was missing some pages in the script he received. As legend has it, Humphrey Bogart had a similar reaction to the "Big Sleep" script. He asked director Howard Hawks "Who killed Owen Taylor?", the family chauffeur. Hawks didn't know, so they contacted William Faulkner who wrote the script. He didn't know. Finally, they contacted Raymond Chandler who wrote the novel, and even Chandler could not tell them. "Who Killed Owen Taylor?" is one of the biggest plot mysteries in Hollywood.

Most of the dialog and plot points for "Out of the Past" were written by studio writer Frank Fenton. James M. Cain who wrote the novels "Double Indemnity" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice" worked on the script, but his idea of Kathy Moffat was a copy of "Double Indemnity's" Phyllis Dietrichson. Fenton wrote Kathy as more of an ambiguous character. She could be totally evil or a woman that just can't help what she does. She loves Jeff when he is around, but her self-preservation takes over in his absence. This makes for a more complex movie.

The movie compares the two women in Jeff's life. Ann is blonde as the sun and is usually shown in daylight or high-key lighting. At the lake, Jeff and her act like an old married couple. There is no passion. It is a safe relationship. On the other hand, Kathy is dark haired and occupies the night. She lives in a dreamlike world. Jeff says he was nearly asleep when he first saw her stepping in out of the sun. The Beach scene reminds us of the lake scene withAnn. The difference is that the beach scene has passion you can feel. It looks like Jeff has chosen a passionless marriage toAnn rather than to be with Kathy. But at Tahoe, he givesAnn the car to drive back alone. Is this the action of man who plans to return?

Whit Sterling is also an interesting character. Played by Kirk Douglas in his third film role; he commands a menacing presence without any onscreen violence. He loves Kathy and wants her back, even though she shot him. He shares an interesting unspoken empathy with Jeff because he thinks they might the emotional victims of the same woman.

Characters' reactions to people out of the past are very interesting. When Joe shows up to find Jeff, Jeff is almost expecting it and there is relief he can stop running. The same can be said when Jeff shows up to find Kathy. He represents a person out of her past which has caught up with her. She acts like she has practiced this pickup. She has accepted her fate of being found. While waiting for Jeff to come back, Ann is confronted by a person from her past. Jimmy has had a crush on Ann since they were kids and against Ann's wishes, threatens to turn Jeff in to the police if he comes back. There is an important question asked at the end of the film. The answer is not obvious but it finally buries the past.

The film was directed by Jacques Tourneur and photographed by Nicholas Musuraca. This is the legendary team that did the original "Cat People"(1942). They were the first ones in Hollywood history not to show the monster. This story was immortalized in the 1952 film "The Bad and the Beautiful"

Review by Keith MacCrimmon

A film by Jacques Tourneur

1947, B&W, 97 mins, Film Noir

Starring:

Robert Mitchum

Jane Greer

Kirk Douglas