Out of the Past Reviews
February 12, 2021
Out of the Past permits the viewer to experience both the immediate drama ... and, at the same time, recognize the presence, which shines through the imagery, of another, even more resonant level of meaning.
August 14, 2020
An archetypal film noir featuring bright white lights, extra dark shadows, heavy rain, perpetually lit cigarettes, and a generous portion of flashback storytelling.
Full Review
| Original Score: 10/10
April 6, 2020
[Jacques] Tourneur's pacing and tempo is flawless, and [Robert] Mitchum in a trench coat and full of taciturn machismo is on par with Bogie, who owned the trademark.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
June 28, 2019
The players acquit themselves histrionically if not morally. Mitchum, [Kirk] Douglas and the Misses [Jane] Greer and [Rhonda] Fleming are all commendable.
June 20, 2018
As an antidote to post-prandial lethargy it will do yeoman service...
January 25, 2018
Fairly well played, and very well photographed (by Nicholas Musuraca), the action develops a routine kind of pseudo-tension.
April 7, 2015
Essential viewing for the noir fan and the kind of movie that could make a neutral third party into a noir fan in the first place.
Full Review
| Original Score: 9/10
March 14, 2015
In a genre full of desperate characters scrambling and plotting to grab their slice of the American dream, Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past (1947) is a hard-boiled tale of betrayal with an unusually haunting quality.
September 17, 2014
Out Of The Past is undeniably a film noir, and rightly regarded as one of the genre's best.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
September 4, 2014
'Maybe we thought the world would end,' Mitchum muses, during a short-lived spell of happiness in Mexico. 'Maybe we thought it was a dream.' A dream? In his trench coat and fedora, he's clearly not a man destined to die quietly in his bed.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
April 7, 2014
Each change of angle and shift of light evokes an inner disturbance; the actors seem to push through the dense shadow as through water, revealing fast people in slow motion ...
February 11, 2012
[VIDEO ESSAY] One of the best-loved '40s era contributions to the film noir genre, Director Jacques Tourneur's "Out of the Past" (1947) is a definitive model.
Full Review
| Original Score: A+
August 16, 2011
Few films noir were better than this.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
July 9, 2011
Jacques Tourneuer's most accomplished film and a great sampler of film noir, sort of a textbook both visually and thematically.
Full Review
| Original Score: A-
May 2, 2010
Out of the Past should be considered a prototypical example of how to do noir the right way--shadowy corners, double crossings aplenty, a luscious femme fatale, and, of course, murders.
Full Review
| Original Score: 88/100
September 19, 2008
What makes "Out of the Past" stand out among the film noir classics is that it has better actors, a better screenplay and it doesn't look like it was made on the cheap.
Full Review
| Original Score: A
August 9, 2007
Beautiful thriller, with haunting direction.
April 18, 2007
Direction by Jacques Tourneur pays close attention to mood development, achieving realistic flavor that is further emphasized by real life settings and topnotch lensing by Nicholas Musuraca.
April 18, 2007
The most delicate and nuanced of film noirs, graced with a reflective lyricism that almost lifts it out of the genre.
February 18, 2007
Original Score: 5/5