Out of the Past

1947 dir Jacques Tourneur w/Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, 97 min, 35mm

We pay tribute to Kirk Douglas – one of the last movie stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood who passed away this month – with a three of our favorite of his films.

In OUT OF THE PAST, Kirk Douglas plays a shady businessman who hires a private eye (Mitchum) to track his girlfriend (Greer) who has shot him and stolen $40,000. Of course this is Mitchum’s movie but, without the brilliant foil of Douglas’ charming heel – a role that he turned into a veritable cottage industry – OUT OF THE PAST would be just another great film noir and not the exemplar of the genre that we now know it as.