Editing Out of the Past (section)

==Background and production==
[[Daniel Mainwaring]] wrote ''Build My Gallows High'' while on retreat after writing six movies in one year. He was also slightly burned out on detective fiction, having written several novels featuring a sleuthing reporter named Robin Bishop.<ref>Smith, Kevin Burton. "[https://thrillingdetective.com/2021/04/30/robin-bishop/ Robin Bishop]", ''The Thrilling Detective''. Accessed April 15, 2025.</ref> He read a poem by an African-American writer that provided the title for the novel.<ref name=Flinn>Flinn, Tom. "DANIEL MAINWARING ON "OUT OF THE PAST"." ''Velvet Light Trap'', vol. 10, 1973. 44–5.</ref> 

One scholar deduced that the poem in question is "Haman" from Benjamin Cutler Clark's ''The Past, Present, and Future'' (1867).<ref name=Scruggs>Scruggs, Charles. "Out of the Black Past: The Image of the Fugitive Slave in Jacques Tourneur's ''Out of the Past''." ''[[African American Review]]'', vol. 44, no. 1, 2011. 97-113, 329.</ref>{{rp|111}} The poem is about [[Haman]]'s machinations and includes the line, "At length a gallows high he swung, upon which all were to be hung..."<ref>Clark, B (Benjamin Cutler). ''[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Past_Present_and_Future/PSl_SHCcoYsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=gallows&pg=PA51&printsec=frontcover The Past, Present, and Future. In Prose and Poetry]''. Toronto: Adam Stevenson, & Co., 1867. 51.</ref>

A [[Script coverage|script reader]] at [[RKO Pictures]] recommended the novel as a "worthy addition to the rough, tough school of [[Raymond Chandler|Chandler]], [[James M. Cain|Cain]] and [[W. R. Burnett|Burnett]]...presents an almost perfect story for an actor like [[Humphrey Bogart|Bogart]]". [[William Dozier]] approved the purchase for $20,000, which included Mainwaring as screenwriter.<ref name="uni"/>{{rp|73}} [[Gallup, Inc.|Gallup]]'s Audience Research recommended RKO change the title to ''Out of the Past''. [[Warren B. Duff|Warren Duff]] was unsure about Mainwaring's first draft. One of the problems was The Kid narrated the film, which convoluted the structure. Duff paid James M. Cain $20,000 to re-write it, but the second draft was so flawed Duff hired Mainwaring back to finish the screenplay.<ref name=Flinn/>

''Out of the Past'' was produced by [[RKO Pictures]], and the key personnel—director [[Jacques Tourneur]], [[cinematographer]] [[Nicholas Musuraca]], actors Mitchum and Greer, along with [[Albert S. D'Agostino]]'s design group—were long-time RKO collaborators. Although the studio focused on making [[B-film]]s during the early 1940s, the post–[[World War II]] ''Out of the Past'' was given a comparatively lavish budget.<ref name=schatzbmovie/><ref name=crafton/><ref>{{cite web|last=Hagopian|first=Kevin|url=https://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/filmnotes/fnf00n4.html|title=Out of the Past|publisher=[[New York State Writers Institute]]}}</ref>

[[John Garfield]] and [[Dick Powell]] turned down the lead.<ref name="uni">Richard B. Jewell, ''Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures'', University of California, 2016.</ref> [[Kirk Douglas]], in only his third credited screen performance, plays a supporting role but a central part in the story as Mitchum's [[antagonist]]. The next time Mitchum and Douglas played major roles in the same picture was in the 1967 [[Western (genre)|Western]] ''[[The Way West (film)|The Way West]]'', alongside [[Richard Widmark]].<ref>Server, Lee. ''Robert Mitchum: "Baby I Don't Care"''. St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2002. 408.</ref>

Musuraca also shot Tourneur's 1942 RKO horror film ''[[Cat People (1942 film)|Cat People]]''.<ref>[https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27177-CAT-PEOPLE?sid=7d9d4b04-916d-4f7d-8e26-df49f5a296c1&sr=10.298055&cp=1&pos=1 "Cat People (1942)"], catalog, [[American Film Institute]] (AFI), Los Angeles, California. Retrieved June 5, 2022.</ref>