Out of the Past
 | Directed by Jacques Tourneur Starring: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Webb Turner Home Ent, 1947, DVD Customer Rating: 76 reviews Recommend |
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A collection of classic film noir.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 6-JUL-2004
Media Type: DVD
"Build my gallows high, baby" — just one of the quintessentially noir sentiments expressed by Robert Mitchum in this classic of the genre. Mitchum, in absolute prime, sleepy-eyed form, relates a complicated flashback about getting hired by gangster Kirk Douglas to find femme fatale Jane Greer. The chain of film noir elements — love, money, lies — drags Mitchum into the lower depths. Director Jacques Tourneur gets the edgy negotiations between men and women as exactly right as he gets the inky shadows of the noir landscape (even the sunlit exteriors are fraught with doubt). This is Mitchum in excelsis, with his usual laid-back cool laced with great dialogue and tragic foreshadowing. As for his co-star, James Agee immortally opined that Jane Greer "can best be described, in an ancient idiom, as a hot number." Remade in 1984, unhappily, as Against All Odds (with Greer in a supporting role). — Robert Horton
Title: Out of the Past
Sales Rank: 9910 in DVD
Actor: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Webb
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Studio: Turner Home Ent, 2004-07-06, Theatrical Release: 1947-11-13
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC, Acpect Ratio 1.33:1
Languages: English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region Code: 1
Running Time: 97 minutes
Item Dimensions: 0.25 pounds
Package Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches, 0.15 pounds
- Film Noir crash course
- Film Noir is tough to define. James Ursini's commentary for Out of the Past is a perfect crash course. You may have read much of this information before, but to have it paired with pertinent scenes from the film vividly illustrates the points he makes. Watch the film through once, and then again with the commentary and you'll have… More reviews
- A Classic Noir from Out of the Past
Humphrey Bogart could have starred in OUT OF THE PAST. He wanted to do so, but Warner wouldn't loan him out to RKO. John Garfield and Dick Powell turned the part down. So in stepped Robert Mitchum: his first starring role. And he gave a performance that instantly made him RKO's number one male star. Also memorable was the… More reviews
- Great movie, dreary commentary, deep questions
- Just watched this movie for the umpteenth time -- a masterpiece -- but for the first time I listened to the commentary by James Ursini, who is a BORE -- who asked him?
There is something very mysterious about the film. I think it is about the appearance of control, and how it slips away. It may be that this is one of the first movies I can think… More reviews
- Film Noir at its Best
- When you hear the cliche, "they don't make them like they used to" this is one of those movies they refer to. Superb interchanges between Kirk Douglas and Robert Mitchum. Dialoge right out of those drug store pulp fiction novels, a movie that relies on plot, intreigue and innuendo rather than special effects. The script… More reviews
- FANTASTIC CLASSIC!
- This fine movie is a must for any Classic collection! Interesting plot, snappy dialog and masterful performances by young actors, Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, and Jane Greer. First rate supporting cast too, with Rhonda Fleming and a sappy Ann Huston (but she's supposed to be sappy!), child actor Dickie Moore and Paul Valentine as a menacing but almost-kind-hearted… More reviews
