While watching Out of the Past, I noticed two main points- a. the heavy use of outdoor settings and b. the inclusion of more non-white actors/characters. Mainly, what does it mean for a film in 1947, with a mainly white cast and white director, to feature a scene in a black jazz bar? What does it mean for Jeff Markham/Bailey to receive crucial information from Eunice at this bar? And what does it mean for Jeff and the owner/manager of the bar to be old friends?
For this week’s film scene analysis, I reference the scene at 16:00, where Jeff Markham looks for Eunice Leonard at a black establishment:
This sequence of scenes, starting with a close-up of the trumpet player and band, acknowledges and highlights the increasing prominence of black Americans in the 1940s-1950s. The scene in the jazz bar portrays a thriving black community, alive with culture, wealth, and jazz (that will establish America’s musical presence on international stages). The scene features pairs of wealthy couples dancing, drinking, and relaxing, with Eunice and her husband sitting at a table. Here, Markham’s back is to the camera, while the focus is on Eunice and her husband. The couple is well-dressed, and our attention is brought to Eunice’s flowery hairpiece. The hairpiece is a light color, along with the neckline details on her top and her gloves on the table. We can imagine these details as white or a light pink, in contrast to Markham’s solid black overcoat as a man firmly in the working class. In total, the scene and clothing are meant to highlight Eunice Leonard and her husband’s wealth as a mirror to a growing black community.
Furthermore, director Jacques Tourneur uses the working hierarchies in the scene to speak on black Americans in the workforce. Firstly, Eunice describes a close working relationship between herself and Kathie, describing how Eunice would have left with her boss and asking if Markham was hired by Whit. It’s clear that Eunice is somewhat protective of Kathie, hesitant to tell Markham details about her whereabouts if he intended to harm her. However, Eunice used to work for Kathie, in some capacity, reestablishing the power dynamic between races during Eunice and Kathie. Secondly, this scene features two other black characters to note: the owner that shows Markham to Eunice’s table and the waiter that serves the table. Here, we see a socioeconomic relationship between three black characters (the owner, the patrons, and the waiter) that also exists between races. In featuring three separate economic classes in this scene, the director highlights that black people are gaining socioeconomic footholds in the economy. At the same time, many lower-paying jobs (the waiter in Out of the Past, the janitor in Double Indemnity) are taken by people of color where the workers are still taken advantage of by a white capitalistic structure, even in a black establishment.