Out of The Past is the favorite of the three film noirs that we watched so far. I won’t give an overview of the plot since we all watched it and knows what happens. The characters are what really do it for me. Jeff is the typical noir detective but adds his own unique demeanor and witty personality. He’s calm no matter the situation, and is so suave and funny, you cant help but find him likable. This makes us feel sorry when he does risk his life and job for a woman. Speaking of Kathie, she also turns out to be very likable. Yes, she is the femme fatale and yes, she does betray Jeff. But she is extremely beautiful, cute, and did seem legitimately happy when she was with him. Their relationship was very believable. When she pulls off those adorable teary puppy-dog eyes and acts all innocent, how can you not feel sorry for her when she gets slapped by Whit. Of course, this is part of her innocent-act to get guys as well as the audience to side with her so she can get her way.

Even the supporting characters like Meta and Whit were great. Whit was charismatic, always smiling, and wasn’t made out to be a complete ass like most “antagonists” are. Meta was sweet and caring and wanted nothing more to be with Jeff. She even gave him a chance to see Kathie one more time to see if he truly fell out of love with her. Meta trusted him enough to know he would do the right thing and come back to her. That is true love and Jeff did not deserve a dame like that. I think he knew this which is why the blind kid nodded with she asked if Jeff was running away with Kathie. We know this wasn’t true but I feel he said yes anyway because the kid knew that Jeff didn’t deserve her after all he did and would want her to move on to someone better.

This film shares a lot of similarities with Double Indemnity. Both are told in flashbacks. The main characters are smooth/witty talkers. They are clam under pressure. They fall for the pretty girl at first sight. The femme fatale starts off as an innocent, happy woman then later states how much she hates her lover and wants the detective to help in exchange for her love. We soon find out that killing is not a hard thing to do for these ladies. Both protagonists make a rash decision (that’s not totally out of character) to break the rules to be with her. At the end, the main character’s morality is tested when they have to choose between the right thing to do or stay with the beauty. Ultimately we find out that deep down they are a good person despite all the rules they broke and do the ethical choice by ending it with her. Walter Neff’s choice by framing her with Nino and then shooting her to get himself off the hook is debatable whether that was the most “ethical” choice, but we can probably all agree that she deserved it.