Out of the Past: “The Third Man” (1949)

The Vienna depicted in Carol Reed’s The Third Man no longer exists. It is a maze of sewers, back alleys, political gamesmanship, and lies. Nothing remains except for abandoned bourgeois flats, decrepit buildings and an amusement park devoid of any…

Out of the Past: “The Blue Dahlia” (1946)

After making his name in elevating pulp novels to a higher art form with his series of detective novels starring Phillip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler heard Hollywood calling. After a number of films based on his work, Chandler was given the…

Out of the Past: “Ace in the Hole” (1951)

After splitting with his writing partner, Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder was let loose with little interference from the Hollywood studios to write and direct the uncompromisingly unsympathetic Ace in the Hole. In this follow-up to the wildly successful Sunset Boulevard,…

Out of the Past: “The Maltese Falcon” (1941)

It is not made of gold or bedazzled by jewels; if you saw it in a pawn shop you wouldn’t give it a second glance. But, it is the stuff that dreams are made of and worth its weight in…

“Out of the Past” Series Introduction

If you were, per chance, to walk down the corridors of your mind you’d find pleasant memories of your youth and family get-togethers, but eventually the wrong turn would be made and you would end up in the darkest recesses…