Although I would have wanted to watch cat people or i walked with a zombie, Out of the Past became my first Jacques Tourneur film. Robert Mitchum chews cigarette butts, walks about with a snarly downbeat face and dishes out lines that ooze the muderous cynicism characterizing most of film noir. Kirk Douglas, Jane Greer, Rhonda Fleming, Paul Valentine, and Dickie Moore lend able support as Roy Webb's music guides us to the eye of this whirlpool of love, lust, deceit, treachery, and death. Filmsite.org has more detailed coverage and preserves most of the crackling dialogue including this little gem:
Jeff: Meta always talked about you like you were the ninth wonder of the world.
Eels: She skipped one.
Jeff: For me, it must be the eighth.
Eels: All women are wonders because they reduce all men to the obvious.
Meta: So do martinis.
Other favourites would be Joe couldn't find a prayer in the Bible (Whit Sterling/Kirk Douglas) and You know, a dame with a rod is like a guy with a knitting needle (Jack Fisher/Steve Brodie)
No comments:
Post a Comment