Hello everyone, this is the Film Conversations episode for March, 2026.
In this show, we discuss the 1947 Film Noir classic, Out of the Past.
Here's a synopsis from Wikipedia:
Out of the Past (billed in the United Kingdom as Build My Gallows High) is a 1947 American film noir directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer and Kirk Douglas. The film was adapted by Geoffrey Homes (Daniel Mainwaring) from his 1946 novel Build My Gallows High (also written as Homes), with uncredited revisions by Frank Fenton and James M. Cain.
Its complex, fatalistic storyline, dark cinematography and classic femme fatale garnered the film critical acclaim and cult status. In 1991, the National Film Preservation Board at the Library of Congress added Out of the Past to the United States National Film Registry of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" films.
Here's the plot synopsis:
Joe Stefanos arrives in the rural mountain town of Bridgeport, California seeking Jeff Bailey, who owns a local gas station. Joe asks Jeff's deaf-mute employee The Kid about Jeff's location, and the boy finds Jeff fishing with girlfriend Ann Miller. Jeff returns to the gas station, where Stefanos informs him that he must travel to Lake Tahoe to meet Whit Sterling. Jeff invites Ann to ride with him to Whit's place. He tells her about his past in a flashback that took place three years ago.
Jeff Bailey's real name is Jeff Markham. He and Jack Fisher were partners and private investigators in New York City. Whit, a gambling kingpin, hires Markham alone to find Whit's girlfriend Kathie Moffat, who had shot Whit and stolen $40,000 from him. Whit promises Jeff that she will not be harmed if he locates and returns her. Jeff finds Kathie in Acapulco and is immediately taken by her beauty.
Kathie admits to shooting Whit, whom she hates, but denies taking his money. Jeff falls in love with her and proposes that they run away together. Whit and Stefanos suddenly appear at Jeff's place in Acapulco. They ask Jeff whether he has found Kathie, but Jeff lies, saying that she is aboard a southbound steamer. Whit instructs Jeff to continue his search.
Jeff and Kathie secretly escape to San Francisco. They gradually become more comfortable appearing in public, but Fisher, now working for Whit, spots Jeff at the racetrack. With their location revealed, Jeff and Kathie separate and later meet at a mountain cabin to evade Fisher, but Fisher follows Kathie and catches them at the cabin. Fisher tries to blackmail them and the men brawl. Kathie shoots Fisher and flees, leaving behind a bankbook showing a balance of $40,000, proving that she had indeed taken Whit's money.
Back in the present, Jeff arrives at Whit's estate, where Whit informs him that he has a job for him. Jeff is surprised to find Kathie, who has returned to Whit. Kathie later speak privately with Jeff, telling him that she had no choice but to return. She told Whit about her relationship with Jeff but not about her murder of Fisher. Jeff scornfully rejects her.
Crooked San Francisco lawyer Leonard Eels, who helped Whit dodge $1 million in taxes, is now blackmailing him. Whit wants Jeff to recover the incriminating records and tells him to meet with Eels' secretary, Meta Carson, who explains the plan to Jeff, but Jeff suspects that he is being framed. At Eels' apartment, Jeff alerts him about Whit's pursuit. Jeff trails Meta and then returns to find Eels dead. He hides the body in the closet of a neighboring apartment.
[...]
Full synopsis at the Wikipedia entry (link below).
References:
Psychoanalysing Horror Cinema by Mary Wild
https://www.routledge.com/Psychoanalysing-Horror-Cinema/Wild/p/book/9781032545097
'Out of the Past' at 78: The Quintessential Film Noir that Launched Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas' Careers
https://cinephiliabeyond.org/past-quintessential-film-noir-launched-robert-mitchum-kirk-douglas-careers/
Out of the Past (wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_the_Past
Chester Himes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Himes
https://english.arizona.edu/person/charles-w-scruggs
Film noir
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_noir
The Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1944/12/the-simple-art-of-murder/656179/
Review of Eddie Muller's book, 'Dark City Dames'
https://www.iseeadarktheater.com/dark-city-dames-review
Out of the Black Past: The Image of the Fugitive Slave in Jacques Tourneur's "Out of the Past"
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41328708
John Gray
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gray_(philosopher)
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