|
|
 Broadway at Himmelman Place between Mason and Taylor streets. |
Director Jacques
Tourneur's 1947 crime drama Out of the Past is widely regarded as
the exemplar of film noir classics. Robert Mitchum is the gumshoe turned
gas station owner from Bridgeport, California who's double- and triple-crossed
more times in 97 minutes than most chumps are in a lifetime. Kirk Douglas
is the antagonist, Jane Greer the femme fatale. While other film directories
and noir guides note that Tourneur's San Francisco is an ersatz one, a
Hollywood backlot version of the City, Mister SF's exclusive detective
work has uncovered an authentic location. An insert shot shows Mitchum's
character pulling up in a cab in front of 962
Broadway for a meeting with secretary Meta Carson, played by Rhonda
Fleming. Our Lady of Guadalupe Church,
906 Broadway, is visible in the shot, as are the INS Building and the Bay Bridge. However, all of the buildings on the left of
the frame in the scene are gone. A few years after Out of the Past was
filmed, portions of Broadway between Powell and Mason were excavated for
the Broadway Tunnel. Another location, 114 Fulton Street, would be somewhere
in the middle of Civic Center,
if it existed at all..
Detail
I
|
|
Copyright 2003 Hank Donat |