Joaquim da Silva Fontes, Significação e Estabilidade do Género no ...

writers like Dashiell Hammett (who, as seen above, had also used his direct experience as a
private eye to give his Black Mask thrillers a sense of authenticity), Mainwaring published
his first crime novel, One Against the Earth in 1933, under his real name. Since then, this
productive author used the pseudonym Geoffrey Homes on all of his novels and the
majority of his screenplays.
Dick Powell, who was previously known for light comedies and musicals and only
later on for his noir production Murder, My Sweet, was originally announced to star in the
role of the doomed detective hero, but it was Robert Mitchum who eventually played the
part of protagonist Jeff Bailey. In fact, both Dick Powell and John Garfield turned down
the part (it is also believed that Tourneur had asked Humphrey Bogart to play the lead
character in the film but he simply had to refuse as Warner Bros would not loan him out to
RKO), and so this became Mitchum’s first starring role.
Regarding acting and performances styles, Tourneur’s Out of the Past is receptive
to this approach as it contains a superb trio of actors who became iconic symbols, but also
because of their capacity for character adaptation. First, Robert Mitchum’s gloomy affinity
with tragedy is well-adjusted to the plot and is defining in this film. Mitchum’s sad-eyed
expression seemed to be ideal for the world-weary defeatist Jeff Bailey he plays.
Apparently, the kind of disdain that Mitchum expressed for acting was conceived as a
crafty stratagem – one only needs to note the way he inflects the smallest moment with
ironic longing, or the way he invests smoking a cigarette with multiple interpretations.
Mitchum can be both hero and villain (just like George Brent in The Spiral Staircase, or
his role in Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter, or Joseph Cotten in Shadow of a
Doubt, and so many others) and in this film he plays one of his greatest roles (he was often
underrated as an actor), that of a convincingly cynical private eye. Fujiwara underlines the
actor’s ability to get across emotions:
His talent lies in total self-absorption in the scene, his ability to convey emotion
and urgency with the subtlest means, a glance, for example, or by a change in the
tone of his voice. His acting (...) has strong affinities with Tourneur’s direction.
The quality that Tourneur particularly prized in [him] is the ability to show that [he
is] listening. (Fujiwara 1998:138)
Second, Jane Greer’s place among noir’s greatest femmes fatales is established in
Out of the Past, in her compelling characterisation of Kathie Moffett. This role alone
(when she was just 22 years old) has made her an important noir actress and indeed she is
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