Out of the Past (1947)I feel a bit foolish for heaping praise upon the characters of Scarlet Street because Out of the Past has character that might be just as strong. If not, it has a stronger cast with names like Kirk Douglas and Robert Mitchum taking two of the lead roles. However, when it comes down to some of the details and presentation, Out of the Past is a bit rocky.
For a small town in the middle of nowhere, the mysterious Jeff (Robert Mitchum) is an object of much talk and speculation. When an “old friend” comes into town, Jeff begins to spill his guts to his girlfriend Meta Carson (Rhonda Fleming) about the time he worked for the corrupt Whit (Kirk Douglas) and tried to get his girl Kathie (Jane Greer) back for him.
The film does make a compelling contrast between the simple, small town America and the corrupt webs of the city that entangle Jeff’s past. It’s a way in which an otherwise average framing device gains a bit more weight and validity. It also serves as a motivation for Jeff, a reason for him to face this life, not so much for himself but for the future of another.
However, this contrast teases out one of the problems with the Jeff character. He’s caught up in-between a soft human portrait and this shrewd, fantastical detective. He’s a smooth operator who works all the angles and seems to know just the right thing to say and do but he also makes some dumb choices. It makes him more human and the initial small town setting offers up the idea of a man seeking penance, but the two men never fully mesh as the same person, just two roles in a life with no real identity.
In contrast, a character like Whit is able to walk a similar line but make it work. He’s corrupt and clearly evil, but he has this easygoing, soft-spoken manner that’s disarming and almost serene if it wasn’t for just the tinges of malice behind it. He’s able to never appear aggressive or abusive, but there’s little doubt to the evil inside him. It’s a paradox that is written and played supremely.
Likewise, the femme fatale Kathie exudes both cool sexuality and a naïve, adolescent innocence. Of course, the naivety is purely an act, a façade that doesn’t even begin to hold up at the smallest levels of scrutiny, but it is yet another one of those paradoxes that works, in part because it’s a noir convention, but one that Jane Greer makes work fantastically in execution.
Of course, with a cast like this, it’s the performances that make these characters pop. Robert Mitchum is able to perfectly balance that soft vulnerability with the cynical edge. Kirk Douglas is delightfully sleazy and one can almost see the devil dancing in his eyes. Also, there’s a bit part by Dickie Moore as a deaf boy and he’s able to develop a strong, memorable character without ever saying a single word.
While Out of the Past certainly has a lot of excellent elements, the protagonist isn’t as gripping or compelling as he should be. Robert Mitchum does a great job, but he’s stuck in-between two styles of noir protagonists in two different kinds of setups. For some, the duality might be the appeal but the result is that it falls short of being great at telling either story.