1947’s Out of the Past is widely considered to be one of the greatest
examples of 1940s film noir. Set around a convoluted plot, the film twists and
turns through double, triple and quadruple crosses, landing surprise blows on
its dumbstruck and occasionally confused audience. Based on the novel Build My Gallows High and originally
released in the UK
under the same title, the picture stars Robert Mitchum as freelance Private
Detective Jeff Bailey. He’s hired by rich and shady businessman Whit Sterling
(Kirk Douglas) to track down a dame, Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer) who Stirling alleges has disappeared with $40,000 of his
money. Told partly in flashback and with a voiceover to match that of Sunset Boulevard’s, the film twists and
turns like a twisty-turny thing, through several cities, two nations and a
long, albeit undisclosed, period of time.
It took me a little while to get
into Out of the Past but when I did,
I enjoyed it greatly. Unfortunately my patience wore off towards the end thanks
to the elaborate nature of the narrative. This isn’t a film I’d suggest
watching after a long day at the office and a couple of martinis inside your
stomach. Although a large part of the movie’s charm is its strong story, the
frequent double crossing did begin to confuse me as we crossed the hour mark.
This isn’t entirely a bad thing however as half the fun is in guessing who has
the upper hand and who will strike next.
