194: Out of the Past

US  97m  Dir: Jaques Tourneur  Key Cast: Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer

Based on: Build My Gallows High by Daniel Mainwaring (Novel)

Whilst many film noirs feature a detective with a relaxed attitude, they don't come more relaxed than Robert Mitchum's Jeff Bailey. 

Jeff was a private investigator hired by gangster Whit (Kirk Douglas) to track down his girlfriend Kathie (Jane Greer). Jeff found her but was so attracted to her that they formed a relationship. In the present day, Jeff, now living a quiet life running a garage, is found by Whit and soon discovers Kathie has returned to the gangster. Forced to do Whit's bidding, Jeff soon realises a scheme to punish him for once stealing Kathie is in play. 

The biggest problem here is the plot. The central conflict between Jeff, Kathie and Whit works really well but it's held up by a string of double crossings and various side characters who just complicate things. There's far too much fluff that becomes really difficult to follow. 

The characters are great here. Mitchum is superb as Jeff who never at any point looks like he really cares about anything but in reality is regularly impacted by his passions. Nearly every line he spouts is dripping with wit in a way which would be really irritating if you had to have a conversation with him but really fun to watch. 

June Greer is also great as Kathie. Though the character plays the femme fatale role here she's a little different from others in the genre. There's a sense that Kathie has real romantic feelings and is quite vulnerable in her relationship with Whit. She's not brooding and overtly sexual in the way other femme fatales are either. 

I really like the ambiguity in this film. Part of the reason Kathie feels like a different kind of femme fatale is that it's never quite clear what her feelings are. Is she some master criminal or is she a woman struggling to break out of an abusive relationship who genuinely develops strong feelings for Jeff. Similarly, it's not clear what Jeff's feelings are for Kathie once he meets her for the second time- is he in love with her or is he just using her to survive? Even the ending doesn't really give us a clear answer to this, giving us one character's opinion but it never feels like an undeniable fact.

A highlight of the film noir genre with one of it's best detectives.