100 All-Time Films (To see the entire list, click here)
Jacques Tourneur’s Out of the Past (1947)
One of the prime examples of classic film noir and a very underrated film. It is the master of the chiaroscuro cinematography (distinct areas of darkness and lightness in lighting) and its dreamlike storyline. A movie with the original name of Build My Gallows High has to be good.
It is a hardboiled melodrama that director Jacques Tourneur emphasizes with strong characterization. Using weary eyed and deep voiced Robert Mitchum as the violent man who turned a new leaf makes him the archetypal noir actor. Jane Greer plays the charming and seemingly harmless femme fatale and Kirk Douglas is very believable as the gangster.
It may be overshadowed by other big names like The Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep, but Out of the Past is just as good as any of these. You want seedy characters? You’ll get plenty in this film.
