Out of the Past

The late 1940’s saw an era that redefines the world of cinema, especially in the US. It’s the golden years of film noir. Granted, that the first film noir wasn’t produced in the US, but when European directors like Fritz Lang, or Michael Curtiz came to the US with their visions and distinct style, it gave birth to numbers of film noirs in the US. Fritz Lang’s M, John Huston’s Maltese Falcon and Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity may be the ones that people always talk about when it comes to film noir, but for me, Out of the Past stands alone as the best of all time.



Robert Mitchum stars as the reluctant hero, Jeff Bailey. A man who are running away from his past and live a quiet small town while hoping to make a better future with his new girlfriend, Ann. His hopeful future is ruined when a man of his past came seeing him, asking him to see his old boss, Whit Sterling. Bailey had done business as private investigator for Sterling before. But when the job involves him with Sterling’s girlfriend, Kathie Moffat, it all went straight to hell. As Bailey told Ann about what happened then with him and Kathie, the truth of his past began to unfold. A couple of years ago Bailey fell in love with Kathie when he was working with Sterling, and they decided to run away together. But their happiness was only temporary when they were discovered by Bailey’s partner, and Kathie had to kill him. They never saw each other again after that.

The plot covers the basic storyline of film noir. It involves the protagonists who fell in love with the wrong woman, and tangled in the labyrinth of deceit and problems. While the plot is seemingly similar to other film noir, Out of the Past came out better because of superior cast, amazing direction, and the sense of moral ambiguity towards the end. Jacques Tourneur’s direction, combined with the superb cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca, created a beautiful pictures that uses extensive shadows and dark cinematography which never loses the grip of the story throughout the film. There was never a dull moment in this one, unlike other film noir (I found Maltese Falcon dull and meandering in some parts). The use of voice over narration also helps to develop the character, without losing its subtlety.

The stellar cast is led by the amazing Robert Mitchum. His deep voice, mannerism, and gleamy eyes were the highlight of the film. It makes you empathize, and feel sorry for him. To me, he is probably the best film noir actor ever, even better that Humphrey Bogart. Kirk Douglas played a great mobster/bad guy, Whit Sterling. But the real talent is on Jane Greer. Portraying the deceitful Kathie Moffat, Greer managed to put a superb performance with layers of personality for her character. I agreed with people who said that she is the ultimate femme fatale. A femme fatale is a woman you loved for all the wrong reasons. She may struck you as this beautiful, loving, and seductive at first, but she never showed her true color. That’s what Greer is portraying. You’ll love Kathie Moffat instantly when you seen her on the screen, just like Bailey did. But everything isn’t what it seems. Her motivation was never truly explained, she just acts on her best interest, and it’s hard to separate the lies from the fact. It’s hard to picture a modern day actress that can portray Moffat better than Jane Greer. Another thing that really grabs me is that all of the character was never presented in black and white. You can’t just point a finger to one man and say, “that’s the bad guy”. All of the characters are in the grey area, and they have their own sets of principles that differs them from each other. That’s why I liked film noir in the first place.

Lastly, there’s the ambiguous ending. It’s the moment when Ann ask Bailey’s deaf best friend. The answer, I’m not gonna spoil it for you, is the truest essence of a masterful story telling. What the answer means is the viewer’s choice to make. I felt this long pause after the end credit is rolled before I could come up with a possible answer and realize what a powerful scene that the ending was. After all, the movie is about a man who wants to escape his past, and a woman who wants to escape her future.

My spider sense is tingling

It's almost 2 am and my spider sense is off the hook. And it has something to do with comic book.

Okay, The Dark Knight turned out to be a HUGE success. It surpasses the expectations, even created a bigger fan base for the character. Now the studio executive geniuses (pardon my sarcasm) at Warner Bros. are attempting to use the same formula from The Dark Knight, and try to apply it to revive the Superman franchise. They said that the “dark, and brooding nature” of The Dark Knight are the key ingredients to successfully resurrect Superman franchise.


Now that’s what I called stupid.


The very nature of Batman IS dark and brooding. Superman? Not so much. The guy is the biggest Boy Scout on the planet. He endorsed justice, the American way. He is the very role model of the perfect human, though he isn’t one technically. Come on, we’ve already seen emo Spidey, and melodramatic Superman in the past 2 years, have people learned nothing from that experience? The problem with Superman is not on its presentation of the character, but on the inability to provide Superman with worthy villains. Lex Luthor is treated like a real estate mogul, rather than an evil genius that wanted the world. Luthor should be the evil version of Tony Stark with the wit and manipulative skill of Ben Linus of Lost, at the very least, and it would be good to throw in Brainiac or General Zod into the mix just so Superman can have real ass to kick.

Here’s a more preferable solution. First they need to reboot the Superman series. Forget the continuity of the whole series until Superman Returns, and start fresh. Try to explore more on Clark Kent’s motivation to become Superman, develop Lex Luthor into a worthy villain, add one extra supervillain, and do a recast the entire characters, although I wouldn’t mind to see Brandon Routh back as Superman. I think he’s the best thing on Superman Returns. The rest of the cast, however, needs to be recast, especially the disaster that is called Kate Bosworth. A capable director is also needed,someone who’s in the same league as Chris Nolan, or Jon Favreau.

Now if those solutions above are somehow read and understood by one of the studio executives, though it would be very much improbable, I may regain my faith in humanity. Or at least what’s left of it.