Tonight was fun! I went back to the Armer Theater at CSUN for a special Monday night screening of the classic film noir "Out Of The Past" (1947), which stars Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer. Our host and lecturer for the evening was Professor Schultheiss, but Professor Tim was there also as were two other "regulars" from our beloved Thursday Night Cinematheque Retrospectives, so it was a mini-reunion. It was great to see Professor Tim, who had been a weekly fixture in my life from September 2009 until last May, when his tenure as the Cinematheque host came to an end. Speaking with him tonight, however, there is a possibility he may be called back, as the programming of the new Cinematheque has not been as successful and nothing is scheduled at the moment for future retrospectives.
We shall see. But it was a blast to see everyone. I spent nine years at the movies with these guys. :)
Professor Schultheiss is an awesome lecturer himself. He hosted a smaller version of the Cinematheque before Professor Tim took the helm, and in the three times I have attended his latest screenings, he has always delivered an interesting and insightful introduction to the scheduled film. Following his lecture on the making of "Out Of The Past" and it's critical reception, we were well warmed up to watch it for ourselves. I actually own the dvd, but had never seen it on the big screen. This was my third viewing.
Prof. Schultheiss described "Out Of The Past" as the quintessential Film Noir after presenting a lengthy checklist of elements required for the genre, of which "OOTP" checked every box. It is generally considered one of the great films of it's type, with it's doomed protagonist (Mitchum) and it's Femme Fatale from Hell (Greer). It has a script that took three writers to complete, one (the author of the book it was based on) to provide a basic screenplay, a second to whittle it down and write shorter lines of snappy Noir dialogue. The second writer failed at that task and so a third was brought in, one Frank Fenton, who rewrote every line of dialogue into a cohesive patter that has all the provocations and comebacks - all the verbal jibes between characters - that gives a Noir it's tension. Noir characters don't converse; they joust. And never more competitively than in this film.
Mitchum - who I must not let you forget had a deodorant named after him - plays an ex-Private Eye who has left the game to live a quiet, less dangerous life in a small town on the outskirts of Lake Tahoe. There he has found a new girl, wholesome and honest who loves and believes in him. He is now the proprietor of a gas station in town, that he runs with the help of a deaf-mute teenager who will later become a pivotal figure in the plot.
One day, a man from his past arrives in town looking for Mitchum. He has a score to settle and makes Mitchum an offer on behalf of his millionaire boss, an offer that Mitchum - given the secrets he holds from his investigative days - has no choice but to accept. Now Mitchum must explain his past to his new girlfriend, who is innocent to the dark corners of big city life.
Once upon a time, he had been hired by the Millionaire (played by Kirrrck! DOUG-lasss!, said with clenched jaw) to track down the Millionaire's girl, a dame on the run who has stolen 40 gees of Kirk's money. Nobody does that to Kirk Douglas (say it with me!), except for Jane Greer, who has the "face of an Angel" as the script says, but the soul of a devil. As soon as she enters the bar in Acapulco where Mitchum has tracked her, she has him on her hook, and we are talking about Robert F-for-freaking Mitchum, whose deodorant stops even the worst perspiration and resultant b.o. Robert Mitchum never sweats anything.
Except for Jane Greer, who has his number right up to the last act of the movie.
Or does she? The three-screenwriter script has so many twists and turns that you need a roadmap to keep up. Greer's loyalty is constantly shifting, from Mitchum to her lord and master Douglas who she is on the run from. Greer's performance is the axis of the film. You never know which way she is gonna run to save her own skin, and she will go to any length to do so. ///
That's all I will tell you because as always I don't want to give any spoilers, but if you like Film Noir and have not already seen this famous example, then I highly recommend it for inclusion in your upcoming motion picture schedule (pronounced "shedge-yool" as always).
You've also got Rhonda Fleming in a smaller role as a major double-crosser to add to the recommendation. ////
Two Huge Thumbs Up for "Out Of The Past", which has an 8.1 rating on IMDB. Don't miss it.
I had a nice hike at Aliso this afternoon. It was great to get up there for the first time in a few weeks. At work these days, even an Aliso hike is difficult to schedule. But now I am off until Friday, so I'll see where else I can go.
See you in the morning. Big Love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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