(1947, directed by Jacques Tourneur)

- inducted 2018 –

“Although I couldn't name a favorite film noir, Out of the Past is nevertheless one of those movies that I would never, ever part with if consigned to the proverbial desert island. When I think of what we mean by the phrase “film noir,” chances are THIS is the film I'm thinking about. It’s got everything encompassed by “noir”: deep and telling shadows, an inescapable past leading to a bitter doom, and the most fatal of femmes fatale. Robert Mitchum’ Jeff Bailey is the very model of a morally compromised noir hero, one who is tangled in the web of a criminal past, one whose easy morals lead him into a downward spiral. The film builds him out of shadows and into shadows he is consigned.

“While you could make an argument that this is cinematographer Nicolas Musuraca’s film--never was the dangerous world of the post war era so beautifully shot--I think this is Jane Greer’s film. She totally dominates the men in the film. Her Kathie Moffat remains the gold standard for dangerous women. You can have your Barbara Stanwycks, your Audrey Totters, or your Jeanne Moreaus, Jane Greer is a dame to kill for. She devours Robert Mitchum AND Kirk Douglas. From the moment she appears, backlit by the Mexican sunlight, she's every promise ever made by duplicitous women. Men? They're pawns to her, a means to an end, and she plays them mercilessly. Here's the touchstone, though: One of my problems with Barbara Stanwyck's Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity is that she’s such an obvious monster that I have a hard time believing that sad sack Fred MacMurray would kill for her. With Kathie Moffat, though, you believe it from the instant you see her. Kill, sell your soul, anything she asks.”

~ Christianne Benedict