Entertainment
79 Years Later, One of the Best Noir Thrillers Ever Debuts on a New Streamer
The Hollywood crime dramas of the 1940s are typically known as “film noir.” With a cynical morality that puts them at odds with contemporary censors, and black-and-white cinematography that made cities into fearsome urban jungles, film noir remains popular to this day. 1947’s Out of the Past, a twisty thriller starring Robert Mitchum as a mystery man with a shady past, is often considered one of the best noirs, if not the best, and you’ll be able to catch it at its new streaming home next month.
Out of the Past was adapted from the 1946 novel Build My Gallows High, by Daniel Mainwaring (Invasion of the Body Snatchers); it was acquired by RKO, a B-movie studio that lavished a surprisingly high budget on the production. It was directed by French-American director Jacques Tourneur, best known for helming the Val Lewton horror pictures Cat People and I Walked With a Zombie. Mitchum was a regular in RKO pictures, and had been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor two years before, for The Story of G.I. Joe. His role in Out of the Past solidified him as an archetypal leading man of film noir. You’ll be able to see for yourself when Out of the Past comes to HBO Max on April 1.
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What Is ‘Out of the Past’ About?
As the film opens, Jeff Bailey (Mitchum) is the owner of a gas station in a sleepy mountain town. Soon, Bailey’s true identity is revealed: He was New York private eye Jeff Markham, who was hired by hot-tempered crime kingpin Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas, in one of his first screen roles) to track down his missing girlfriend, Kathie (Jane Greer). Jeff and Kathie fall in love, and everything goes wrong in both the past and the present, conveyed via an innovative flashback structure.
Out of the Past was remade as Against All Odds in 1984, with Jeff Bridges, Rachel Ward, and James Woods; Greer had a supporting role in the film. Out of the Past also had an unexpected sequel, of sorts, 40 years after it was released. Mitchum hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live in 1987, and starred in a black-and-white pre-taped sketch titled “Out of Gas.” It picks up on Jeff, decades later, running the last leaded gas station in America. One day, Kathie (Greer, also reprising her role) pulls up to the pumps, and hilarity ensues.
Out of the Past will be available to stream on HBO Max starting April 1. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
- Release Date
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November 25, 1947
- Runtime
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97 Minutes
- Director
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Jacques Tourneur
- Writers
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Daniel Mainwaring
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