Out of the Past
RKO Radio Pictures | Release Date: December 1, 1947 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
85
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Chicago ReaderDave Kehr
The most delicate and nuanced of film noirs, graced with a reflective lyricism that almost lifts it out of the genre. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Out of the Past is one of the greatest of all film noirs, the story of a man who tries to break with his past and his weakness and start over again in a town, with a new job and a new girl. Read full review
100
The DissolveKeith Phipps
Out Of The Past is undeniably a film noir, and rightly regarded as one of the genre’s best. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesPhilip K. Scheuer
The players acquit themselves histrionically if not morally. Mitchum, [Kirk] Douglas and the Misses [Jane] Greer and [Rhonda] Fleming are all commendable. Read full review
80
The New YorkerRichard Brody
The intricate story moves through New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Mexico, and picturesque points in between, but Tourneur cooks up shot-by-shot surprises that outdo those of the screenplay. Read full review
50
TimeStaff (Not Credited)
Fairly well played, and very well photographed (by Nicholas Musuraca), the action develops a routine kind of pseudo-tension. Read full review
70
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Out of the Past is a hardboiled melodrama [from the novel by Geoffrey Homes] strong on characterization. Direction by Jacques Tourneur pays close attention to mood development, achieving realistic flavor that is further emphasized by real life settings and topnotch lensing by Nicholas Musuraca. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBosley Crowther
The style is still sharp and realistic, the dialogue still crackles with verbal sparks and the action is still crisp and muscular, not to mention slightly wanton in spots. But the pattern and purpose of it is beyond our pedestrian ken. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Out of the Past is cinematic perfection, a Hollywood classic that's as great and as enjoyable as its reputation has promised. Read full review
90
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Quintessential noir. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesMichael Wilmington
If you have any taste for film noir -- that Chandler-esque American style that had its heyday in the '40s and '50s -- this film is a must: one of the classics of the genre. [02 Jun 1987, p.8]
60
The New YorkerPauline Kael
A thin but well-shot suspense melodrama, kept from collapsing by the suggestiveness and intensity that the director, Jacques Tourneur, pours on.
80
The Observer (UK)Philip French
The script is dense, subtly shaped, and bristles with stylised, often witty hard-boiled dialogue and voice-over narration, eg: 'I never saw her in the daytime. We seemed to live by night. What was left of the day went away like a pack of cigarettes you smoke.' Read full review
100
San Francisco ExaminerBob Stephens
Past, an inestimable collaboration by Tourneur and Mitchum, is not just one fine noir film among many. It has been a guage for the genre, even a template, over the last 50 years. Read full review
100
The TelegraphRobbie Collin
They don't come sourer or sexier than Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past (1947), a pretty much perfect film noir. [26 Jul 2014, p.4]
100
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
Beguiling and resolutely ominous, this hallucinatory voyage has two more distinctions: as the only movie with both a deaf-mute garage hand and death by fishing-rod, and as one of the most bewildering and beautiful films ever made. Read full review
100
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
This quintessential film noir catapulted contract player Robert Mitchum into superstardom and set the standard for the genre for years to come. Read full review
80
Total FilmStaff (Not Credited)
There's much to relish here: a script which mixes pungent humour and tension, the pervading atmosphere of corruption and obsession, and a perfectly judged, tragically stoical performance from the sleepy-eyed Mitchum, not to forget Nicholas Musuraca's suitably shadowy cinematography. Read full review
90
The AtlanticChristopher Orr
Out of the Past is more than just an exemplary noir. It exceeds its genre even as it typifies it. Read full review
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