The “Black” Film
The film, "Out of the Past'" directed by Jacques Tourneur and released in 1946 is accounted to be among the best Film Noirs produced in the 20th century with an extraordinary definitive superior quality genre representation (Mayer 4). Film Noir discards the customary hero and villain storyline as the hero is not required to demonstrate extra commitment to acquire love and appreciation from the audience. Actually, the main characters within the story are occupied people with serious flaws and often choose the path that leads to their destruction knowingly. Throughout the story, as illustrated in the film there are no saint characters since they are not only flawed by also remorseful for an offense. The film, "Out of the Past" is an exemplary noir since al the practical features of Film Noir can be identified in the film. The domination of shadowing and lighting throughout the film offers a clear differentiation amid Jeff Bailey’s and Jess Marcum’s Worlds (Mayer 6). Pessimistic, unpleasant, philosophical and archetypal hero presentation throughout the film using Mitchum’s character displays masterful application of lighting and shadows that embraces an exceptional film noir.
Film noir does not accept traditional hero versus villain storyline where the hero is not allowed to put more effort to be loved by the viewers. The characters are mainly men and women who are focused, and they well know the path towards their fate. All figures are not innocent, and they feel quilt of something. Out of the past movie directed Jacques Tourneu and released in the year 1947 is one of the most excellent film noirs. The movie is about a man who wants to forget about his past and his weakness and start a new life in a town with new things such as jobs and a woman. The movie began by Robert Mitchum whose eyes are weary, and his voice sounds violent, and this made him be a classic noir character. The film opens without viewers seeing him, and a man comes looking for him in the town that saw Robert working in a gas station. He experiences his old life, and it pulls him back to the old ways. Jeff Bailey wants very much to have a new life, Ann Miller personified his desire, and he is obsessed with his past which is represented by femme fatale Kathy Moffat. He wonders why he does not forget his past and Kathie. Kathie causes trouble to Bailey life (Fujiwara, 61).
The essence of the film Noir genre and the specimen in the out of the past film is when Bailey talks about his destiny. A practical person may try to get over the pictures and the frames, but Bailey kept the memories. He thinks it is good to stay in the frames reason being Kathie. Kathie’s affected the behavior of Bailey’s throughout the film. However, Bailey always takes the riskier path ever regardless of the bad things it will bring to him. His choices are an indicator that his self-destructive is very active, this is because he could pause or stop anything to go with Ann (Luhr, 34).
Femme fatale film noir is vital because her appearance in the movie shows the relation between postwar historical issues. When displaying a femme fatale, the movie is full of explosive and dark atmosphere. This illustrates the views of American atmosphere during the postwar period. During the postwar men were fighting their enemies while women were motivated to work. After the postwar, men came back home and found that that gender roles have interchanged and women have been working and thus independent. This caused the growth of distrust and dissatisfaction. With the appearance of Kathie in the movie men have fear and anxiety towards changes in the gender role. Men refer women as evil, dangerous and they seduce men to get what they want. In such kind of film, women are punished thus giving the men power that they are more superior to women. For instance, Whit slapped Kathie when he noted that she has been telling him lies.
In the Out of the Past, is femme fatale who is a woman who can kill without caring to get what she wants. She always shows a serene expression on her face when others are in the mood of panic. Due to serenity viewers and Bailey can know her acts are caused by something deep. Her actions are not random instead well calculated, and she believes no way she can make mistakes and therefore she acts accordingly. Also, Film noir have is characterized by smoking. (Luhr, 12).Both the modern and the traditional film noir have smoking scene, for example, Mitchum and Douglas were seen smoking together. Also, there is another aspect of film noir in the film which is lightning technique. Low lighting is used which has a proper focus. The method is used in scenes with high tension, mirroring styles which were used in German in the 20s. For example, when Fisher was killed by Kathie, the viewer’s show her being surrounded by her shadow. This is to give the situation much focus. Also, the characters personality is shown according to the lit of the character (Gifford, 112).
Out of the Past is a tentative flashback film centered on the sensational disaster of the Film noir genre. The narrative mainly integrates a mixture of flashback and undeviating approaches to introduce the protagonist Bailey. For the first leading scene, Bailey is an ex-private detective who traveled from New York to explore his love for Kathie a lady that he had been paid to trace by an authoritative business entrepreneur named Whit Sterling (Mayer 4). The entrepreneur held that Kathie had stolen his cash after shooting him, but narrative’s hero does not pay attention to the guilty aspects of Kathie as he is overwhelmed by her attractions. They both escape driven by love but later separates. Jeff has started a new life in a small town where he is involved in gas pump management and currently trying to move on. Ann is not only good for him but also cares continuously about Jeff but she knows nothing regarding his past. Unfortunately, his past catches with him after another entrepreneur arrived in town leading to him meeting the unexpected employer whom he had betrayed (Fujiwara 143).
Bailey desires to comfort all that is in his past to acquire peace but this led to a rather unfortunate fate which ensures that his desire would not be achieved. He is torn amid having a fresh life with Ann Miller and his fascination with his past embodied by Kathie Moffat. Even though he clearly understands that Kathie offers nothing by harm he is unable to fully forget about his past (Grossman 20). For instance, in the scene where he narrates to his drives of how he sees himself in frame best illustrates that he understands that his life with Kathie is disastrous as it would not end well but he still pushes. Kathie acts as a romantic attraction tool as well as a sensual charm for Jeff and Douglas. Through the characterization, the film mainly explores different sets of themes such as corruption, fatalism, betrayal, and morals are incorporated and entwined in a puzzling and intricate shadowed plot that utilizes a combination of linear narrative and flashback (Fujiwara 143). Ultimately all the three characters meet with their inescapable disastrous ends.
Mitchum, Kathie, and Douglas play the main roles that can be utilized as the fundamental examples of Noir characterization. Jeff as the protagonist is the most fated character but despite his flaws, the audience is highly attracted to him as a form of hero. From the beginning of the film, it is rather evident that he will not obtain success despite the few illustration of success that he experiences. He consistently attempts to rise from the dark world but regardless of his efforts to get away from the dark world but he catches with him. Kathie is the Noir’s Femme Fatale (Grossman 21). This is because she has the ability to lure any individual with her attraction but the only thing that interests her is to ensure that she secures herself from any form of harm. She becomes the downfall of both men without any regret. This is evident when she acknowledged to Jeff that she had actually Shot Whit but she was not sorry for what she did. At the final scene when Jeff has already fallen to the unfortunate fate, he is able to finally comprehend Kathie and her negative intention. He states that Kathie is like a form of leaf that blown from one ditch to the next. However, this realization comes rather late as he had already realized that some of his best moments had already been consumed by Kathie and the solution was to ensure that he brought himself down to avoid suffering (Grossman 24). On the other hand, Whit is the crime leader who utilizes threats and charms but does not care about anyone else because he is able to betray given that he will acquire some benefits.
In the Out of the Past, there is contrast amid the small town of New York City as both worlds are different. Jeff had already begun the mission to acquire a new life and leave the fascination of the past that was destroying him but Stephanos came to the gas station and retrieved himself from the noir world and ensured that he got Jeff into it once more. The contrasting of both words directly contributes to the differing atmosphere particularly the darker work that is dominant throughout the story. The Out of the Past best illustrates the elements of the Noir film based on the fact that it focuses on the aspects of heroes and villain (Mayer 16). In that, all the characters in the narrative are characterized by a number of flaws in general but this does not prevent them from playing part in the tragic narrative. The protagonist Jeff makes less effort to be considered as a hero based on the fact that his weakness is Kathie who seems to be destroying him thus affecting the possibility of changing his life (Fujiwara 143). Jeff similar to the leading characters in Noir clearly understands that he is faulted but tend to rely on his past which leads to the inescapable fate.
In conclusion, the film’s masterful application of lighting, shadowing through a narrative flashback best illustrate the contrast between both words through Jeff. The availability of spoilers in the film helps in understanding the genre better as the film explores on the issues of betrayal and tragic fate through the characters who appear to be knowing that their fates are rather misfortunate. The characters are generally flawed but this helps in connecting better with the audience although they choose the paths that lead to their destruction, therefore, falling out of the hero classification. The film is an exceptional Noir as it illustrates the elements thoroughly.
Works Cited
Fujiwara, Chris. Jacques Tourneur: The Cinema of Nightfall. , 2011. Internet resource.
Grossman, Julie. "Film Noir's “Femme Fatales” Hard-Boiled Women: Moving Beyond Gender Fantasies." Quarterly Review of Film and Video 24.1 (2007): 19-30.
Luhr, William. Film Noir. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Internet resource.
Mayer, Geoff, and Brian McDonnell. Encyclopedia of film noir. ABC-CLIO, 2007.
Gifford Barry. Out of the past: Adventures in film noir. Jackson, Miss: Univ. Press of Mississippi. 2001.
Luhr, William. Film Noir. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. 2012.
