Cassandra Lewis

“A guy can’t even get shot in his own apartment by a dame without the whole town starting to buzz…” from Jacques Tourneur’s 1947 film noir classic, Out of The Past.

Out of the Past has just been added to my list of top ten favorite film noir movies. The writing is sharp and witty and the storyline is perfectly crafted. You can see how contemporary Hollywood films have tried to copy the shape of this film’s plot. The 1947 classic is about how a former private eye, played by Robert Mitchum, can’t escape his shady past, even when he creates a new identity and life for himself in small-town America. The story moves through Bridgeport, California, to Lake Tahoe, to Acapulco and San Francisco. Cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca illuminated each frame with a stunning contrast between light and dark. You can look at this film as you would a Caravaggio painting.

For the past few years I’ve been hooked on film noir. I hope to see every film noir classic at least twice before I turn thirty. Luckily, I have plenty of time and film noir only spans a period of eighteen years: 1940-1958.

The gateway film that provoked my addiction was Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Circle Rouge, which is technically considered neo-noir because it was made in 1970. This film has complex characters and raises philosophical questions about the darker side of human nature: Are we destined to do bad deeds simply because we’re human? And what is the meaning of justice if we’re all criminals? It’s the most layered heist film ever made. It has everything you’d ever want in any style of film: surreal story sequences, emotional intrigue, believable yet surprising characters, along with the suspenseful acts of crime.

Sometimes it’s best to return to the past for answers and inspiration, especially for great films.