Analysis of the Movie Out of the Past

The movie Out of the Past directed by Jacques Tourneur fits within the traditions of film noir because it has some similar themes associated with it, such as doomed love. Robert Mitchum plays the doomed, double-crossed , ex-private eye as Jeff Markham. The femme fatale is played by Jane Greer as Kathie Moffat, who is trying to escape her future. Kirk Douglas as Whit Sterling plays the ruthless gangster czar in the film. The formal cinematic elements in the movie are used to vividly describe the movie. You can see that the lighting is very shadowy and dark. The composition of the film leaves the audience feeling trapped within Jeff's problems. For example, when Jeff starts his journey from Mexico to San Francisco we the audience start to follow him too and seem to end up with thinking about his problems. Out of the Past does not only fit film noir, it shows us a unique story line of how the past meets present.

Character Analysis

Jeff Bailey, the protagonist of the movie, is like a typical noir charcter in that he is a sardonic private investigator. He is used by Kathie and is betrayed by her. He seems to be an almost tragic sort of character, a look of gloom always on his face. He seems at first to be an introverted sort of character but he puts his love for Ann ahead of himself which ultimately leads to his demise in that he sets up Kathie and pays for it with his life.

Kathie is very much so the typical femme fatale that you'd find in film noir. She is a seductress. She relies on her sexuality to get what she wants. She is the possession of an older extremely wealthy husband, who buys her in a way. She is a murderer and she is ruthless. She also seems to lack any sort of morality. Greedy and self indulgent, she always tries to make people feel bad for her when she gets herself into a tight or compromising situation. Her manipulative ways help her hide from Whit with Jeff for awhile, but soon enough Jeff sees what kind of person she really is, a lethal