Out of the Past (1947)

Director:

Jacques Tourneur

Writers:

Daniel Mainwaring (screenplay)
Daniel Mainwaring (novel)
(more)

Release Date:

13 November 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

A MAN - Trying to run away from his past... A WOMAN - Trying to escape her future!

Plot:

Jeff Bailey, small-town gas pumper, has his mysterious past catch up with him one day when he's ordered to meet with gambler Whit Sterling...

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | Small Town | Cabin | Flashback | Murder

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Robert Mitchum	...	Jeff Bailey
Jane Greer	...	Kathie Moffat
Kirk Douglas	...	Whit Sterling
Rhonda Fleming	...	Meta Carson
Richard Webb	...	Jim
Steve Brodie	...	Jack Fisher
Virginia Huston	...	Ann Miller
Paul Valentine	...	Joe Stephanos
Dickie Moore	...	The Kid
Ken Niles	...	Leonard Eels
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Brooks Benedict	...	Kibitzer in Blue Sky Club (uncredited)
Oliver Blake	...	Tillotson - Night Clerk (uncredited)
Eumenio Blanco	...	Mexican Waiter (uncredited)
Wesley Bly	...	Harlem Club Headwaiter (uncredited)
Mildred Boyd	...	Woman at Harlem Club (uncredited)
Hubert Brill	...	Car Manipulator (uncredited)
James Bush	...	Doorman (uncredited)
Ted Collins	...	Man at Harlem Club (uncredited)
James Conaty	...	Bartender in Acapulco (uncredited)
Homer Dickenson	...	Kibitzer in Blue Sky Club (uncredited)
Lee Elson	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Jess Escobar	...	Mexican Doorman (uncredited)
Mary Field	...	Marny - Diner Owner (uncredited)
Adda Gleason	...	Mrs. Miller (uncredited)
Theresa Harris	...	Eunice Leonard (uncredited)
Harry Hayden	...	Canby Miller (uncredited)
John Kellogg	...	Lou Baylord (uncredited)
Mike Lally	...	Kibitzer in Blue Sky Club (uncredited)
Primo López	...	Mexican Bellhop (uncredited)
Philip Morris	...	The Porter (uncredited)
Manuel París	...	Croupier (uncredited)
Caleb Peterson	...	Man with Eunice (uncredited)
Jose Portugal	...	Mexican Waiter (uncredited)
Charles Regan	...	Mystery Man (uncredited)
Victor Romito	...	Mexican Waiter (uncredited)
Tony Roux	...	Jose Rodriguez (uncredited)
Jeffrey Sayre	...	Extra in Nightclub Cloakroom (uncredited)
Wallace Scott	...	Petey - Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Archie Twitchell	...	Rafferty (uncredited)
William Van Vleck	...	Cigar Store Clerk (uncredited)
Bill Wallace	...	Kibitzer in Blue Sky Club (uncredited)
Sam Warren	...	Harlem Club Waiter (uncredited)
Frank Wilcox	...	Sheriff Ed Douglas (uncredited)

Directed by
Jacques Tourneur

Writing credits
Daniel Mainwaring		(screenplay) (as Geoffrey Homes)
Daniel Mainwaring		(novel "Build My Gallows High") (as Geoffrey Homes)
Frank Fenton		uncredited and
James M. Cain		uncredited

Produced by
Warren Duff	....	producer
Robert Sparks	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Roy Webb

Cinematography by
Nicholas Musuraca

Film Editing by
Samuel E. Beetley

Art Direction by
Albert S. D'Agostino
Jack Okey

Set Decoration by
Darrell Silvera

Costume Design by
Edward Stevenson		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Gordon Bau	....	makeup supervisor

Production Management
James H. Anderson	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Harry Mancke	....	assistant director
Earl Harper	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Lynn Shores	....	second unit director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Clem Portman	....	sound
Francis M. Sarver	....	sound

Special Effects by
Russell A. Cully	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Linwood G. Dunn	....	optical effects (uncredited)

Music Department
C. Bakaleinikoff	....	musical director

Other crew
Boyd Cabeen	....	stand-in: Robert Mitchum (uncredited)
Robert De Grasse	....	fill-in photographer (uncredited)
Frank Fenton	....	screenplay constructor (uncredited)
M. Gutterman	....	stand-in: Jane Greer (uncredited)
Leonard Shannon	....	unit publicity writer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures (presents)

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1947) (USA) (theatrical) (as An RKO Radio Picture)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1953) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• C&C Television Corporation (1955) (USA) (TV)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1957) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1957) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Nostalgia Merchant, The (198?) (USA) (video)
• Fox Hills Video (198?) (USA) (VHS)
• RKO Home Video (199?) (USA) (VHS)
• Manga Films (2000) (Spain) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Build My Gallows High (UK)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | American Sign Language

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Iceland:12 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (1998) | Germany:12 (re-rating) | Germany:18 (original rating) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Sweden:15 (re-rating) (1965) | Argentina:13 | Sweden:(Banned) | USA:Approved (PCA #12082) | Spain:13

Filming Locations:

Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1991.

Quotes:

Whit Sterling: Joe couldn't find a prayer in the Bible.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Best of Film Noir (1999) (V)

Soundtrack:

THE FIRST TIME I SAW YOU

One of best 40's film noir - and where is it ?

Tremendously stylish, brilliantly scripted and wonderfully directed noir classic about a man who cannot escape from his past. Rarely does the genre get away from the grimy city streets with it's dark corridors and alleyways only partially lit by un-realistic streams of bright light. In this film we not only see the underworld gangs, the bars and floozies, the heavies and the fatales, but we also see the bright beautiful countryside, the streams and the rocks - a complete otherworld.

Mitchum is superb as the man who has escaped the city to live a new life in the country only to be dragged back by powerful forces. This broadening of the cinematic landscape makes the movie more affecting than your assorted Bogarts' & Ladds'. As with 'I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang' I feel much more sympathy for the lead actor who gets dragged back into the bear pit to wrestle for his life and soul.

'Out of the Past' also has some of the finest dialogue and narration I have ever heard, probably matched only by 'The Maltese Falcon'. 'She was like an autumn leaf blowing from gutter to gutter', is one gem that sticks in my mind.

The mood of the film is pleasantly melancholic and the portrayal of the fatale figure (Jane Greer) is particularly sympathetic. In most noir movies the male perspective of the double-crossing woman predominates (not that there's anything wrong with that, it's usually very funny). Here however, whilst Greer presents one of the blackest of women you at least know why she does what she does and can sympathise with her plight. She is trapped too.

Tourneur, tragically made few films but was a master at getting messages deep into your psyche, into your soul. 'Cat People 'and 'I Walked With a Zombie' both had otherworlds where the demons lived. We all have otherworlds too, places we'd rather not go very often, but as with Mitchum we are sometimes confronted with those demons and have to do battle once again. When I go next I hope to be wearing my hat at an exquisite angle and have my trench coat well belted.