A great movie from RKO Pictures, 1947, and I was between 3 and 4 years old!

Watching this classic and classy movie again I feel both humor and black humor as intended, noir, as the French termed it. Also, watching Mitchum being treated as a pin ball in a machine, soon makes you want to distrust everyone else in the picture, while looking for the frame too.

It was a difficult movie to be in as almost everyone of note ends up dead and only the two people you would least suspect are the only ones having a shot, no pun intended, at a happy ending.

This is truly a magnificent motion picture that will linger with the viewer, one to be watched again and again. I think I first saw the movie on TV in glorius black and white and not a thing has changed over the years.

If you like Mitchum, Greer, and Douglas this is a film for you. Though most of these folks are now dead they have left us a terrific picture from those far gone days.

Semper Fi.

"Out of the Past," a 1947 RKO release directed by Jacques Tourneur of "Cat People" fame, is frequently hailed as the definitive "film noir" by critics, historians, and other "experts." I disagree, although I do find it an excellent film overall. Sure, it stars Robert Mitchum, who, in Roger Ebert's opinion, "embodies the soul of film noir," and he wears a trenchcoat throughout no matter the weather. But from the very first frame, I found it a little short on the atmosphere - the fog and shadows, the rain swept streets, the blinking neon lights - that are the genre's visual style, and the visual style defines film noir more than the dialogue (tough, terse, fatalistic), or the characters (cynical double-crossers or those who become cynical after being double-crossed).

Daylight dominates the early scenes as Mitchum, a former private eye now operating a gas station, is called back to his old profession by Kirk Douglas. Yep, there's a woman involved. There's always a woman involved in noir, this one played by Jane Greer who would join Richard Widmark, another member of the noir hall of fame, in providing support for Jeff Bridges, James Woods, and Rachel Ward in the 1984 remake, "Against All Odds."

Things pick up halfway through as the double-crossing begins in earnest, but though "Out of the Past" has much to recommend it, it is not the best example of this fascinating genre. Try Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity" or Howard Hawks' "The Big Sleep." Jules Dassin's "Night and the City" is another highlight, as is Lewis Milestone's "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" and Anatole Litvak's "Sorry, Wrong Number." For more modern attempts at revisiting the genre, you could do no better than Dick Richards' "Farewell, My Lovely" with Mitchum a superb Philip Marlowe.

Brian W. Fairbanks

For anyone who has interest in the Film Noir genre of film, this movie is the first one you should see. It is the classic Film Noir that many critics compare others to. It has all of the classic plot lines, the detective, the femme fatale, and the villian. This film actually has a more complex plot than many of the same type like The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, and Chinatown; however, it is definitely one of the best.

I won't bore you with repeating the plot line; however, I must say that this is an essential Film Noir classic (and of American film in general).

One of the 'few' prototypical films (Laura, The Maltese Falcon/The Big Sleep, Double Indemnity), that defines all characteristics of the film noir genre. Full of "dead souls and dark alleys", this film gem never slows down. Mitchum is magnificant.

A car drives into Bridgeport Calif and stops. The driver asks about the owner of Bailey's Garage. Joe Stefanos tells Jeff somebody wants to see him at Lake Tahoe. Jeff used to be a private detective in the Big City, he was asked to find a runaway girlfriend. He tracks Kathie Moffit to Acapulco Mexico and finds her. The film tells what happened there. Jeff falls in love with Kathie and they plan to leave. But Whit shows up with Joe. Jeff puts them off, then leaves with Kathie for San Francisco. But Jeff's old partner finds them. Kathie shows her hidden personality, and Jeff finds her bankbook! They separate.

When Jeff visits Whit he finds Kathie has returned. Whit wants Jeff to do a job for him in San Francisco. Jeff will retrieve the papers from a person (but worries if it is a frame). The plot grows more complex. Jeff senses the trap and foils the plot. But something happens to upset Bailey's scheme. Jeff manages to escape his pursuers and turn the tables. Will he be cleared of the frame and collect his payment? More complexities arise in a surprising ending. The ending is happy for the survivors.

The violence in this action story is mostly off-screen. It is a good story but not a great story about the worst villainess since "The Maltese Falcon".