Geoffrey Homes (1902–1977)

There is huge disagreement among film buffs, scholars, the general public, and marketers about what is and isn't film noir. (I'm of the more selective school that says that a film isn't noir just because it's in black-and-white and it's about crime. To me, noir, in a vast oversimplfication, means one thing about the protagonist: he's screwed. If your hero survives or wins the girl and solves the case, then there's a good chance it's not film noir. But, as I said, there's a lot of argument about that.

One thing no one seems to argue about, one film everyone seems to agree is not only film noir but the quintessential film noir is OUT OF THE PAST (1947). Everything people do agree on about noir is in this film, and in it just about perfectly. It's in my top ten films of all time list, and lots of other people's, too.

OUT OF THE PAST is based on the novel BUILD MY GALLOWS HIGH, by Geoffrey Homes (a pseudonym for Daniel Mainwaring). It is as noir as the film, at least. It's plot is roughly the same, but it is a bit more tangled, more intricate, with a pair of antagonists who were combined in the film. The main character, Red Bailey (Jeff in the film), is a former private investigator caught up in the wreckage of a ten-year-old case, with revenge and a femme fatale of the first order dogging his heels. Homes writes poetically, yet with Hemingwayesque strength. The book is no longer than it needs to be, but is rich and evocative. If you've seen the film, the book will strike you as having been perfectly captured in the film, even with the plot adjustments. The same sense of place, of topography, of architecture fills the book. It's a wonderful book, now in my top ten favorite crime novels.… (more)

Plants from space are replacing people.

Maybe I would have liked it if I hadn't read the book. I can't tell. During the time when suspense might (or might not) have been building, the adaptation is so close to the book that I couldn't really separate the two. The best thing about the book is the ending, and yet they felt the need to mess it up in both movie versions. In the 70s, they gave it a mindless zombie movie ending. But in this version, they don't even bother to replace it with anything. There's just... no ending. The last 20 minutes of the movie is nothing but flailing gibberish.

Concept: B
Story: C
Characters: C
Dialog: D
Pacing: C
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: C

Enjoyment: C plus

GPA: 2.3/4… (more)