Out of the Past (1947; USA; B&W; 97m) ***** d. Jacques Tourneur; w. Daniel Mainwaring; ph. Nicholas Musuraca; m. Roy Webb. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Steve Brodie, Richard Webb, Virginia Huston, Dickie Moore, Frank Wilcox, Mary Field, Paul Valentine, Ken Niles, Oliver Blake, James Bush, John Kellogg. A private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double-crosses and duplicitous dames. Classic film noir is brilliantly structured and immaculately directed by Tourneur with crackling dialogue. Mitchum and Greer give standout performances as opportunistic lovers thrown together by fate. Douglas is the sleazy gambler making up the triangle. Cross follows double-cross and it hangs together until its ironic final twist. A masterclass in film-making. Mainwaring adapted his own novel “Build My Gallows High”, which was also the UK title of the film on its original release. Remade as AGAINST ALL ODDS (1984). [PG]