Fresh and Exciting

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Iconic Film-Noir from Director Anthony Mann with Incredible Impressionistic Cinematography from John Alton. At the Beginning of the Post-War entries in the Genre it set a Stylized Template that would be Imitated for Years.Not Enough can be said about the Alton Look of the Film. Silhouetted Darkness in front of Glaring Light gives the Impression of Another World Separated from but Linked to Reality in a Disturbing Dimension of a World Out of Sync. A Place of an Underworld that Preys Upon the Innocent.Included in this Ground-Breaker of a Movie are Dennis O'Keefe Dragging on a Cigarette throughout as a Tough as Nails Treasury Agent, Charles MaGraw as a Sweaty, Immoral Thug, and Wallace Ford as the "Schemer" a Pulp Name if there ever was one. Also, Not to be Denied and making an Impression as an Italian American is Alfred Ryder, very Convincing as an Every-Man doing His Bit for His Country.This is one of those that all Film-Noir are Compared. It is Definitive and Dramatic with some Hard Bitten Violence and Hard-Boiled Dialog. The Setting of the City is Unmistakably Noir and the Atmosphere is Chilling and Disturbing.The Opening where, in the Post-War World is another of those Contemporary Boasting that the Government, along with Dedicated Agents and the Latest Technology is a Force that is Leading the World Toward Democracy and Decency is a Flawed Pretension that is the Movie's Greatest Weakness. A Dated Technique that is a Bit Much for Modern Audiences.That this Jingoism can be Ignored and listed as Inconsequential in the end is a Testament to the Raw Power of the Film, which is so Substantial as to make the Lesser Parts Rendered Remote and can be Forgiven.This is Simply One of the Best of the Genre and Images from the Great John Alton Frame are Used Frequently to Illustrate the Look of Film-Noir.

Two Treasury agents are assigned to infiltrate a counterfeiting ring, taking them from Chicago to LA.This is arguably the best of the 'undercover' movies so popular at the time. That's thanks mainly to director Mann who gets the most out the screenplay, along with cameraman Alton who manages a forbidding world of shadows and half-light that mirror the moral world our agents must enter. In fact, a couple of visuals look like the underside of a wrecking yard at midnight. The screenplay (Higgins) too, manages to avoid many clichés of the genre, along with a few riveting surprises. I like the painstaking way the screenplay sets up the agents' (O'Keefe & Ryder) credentials as counterfeiters. Though you may need a scorecard at times to keep up with the many players who drift in and out.Frankly, O'Keefe would not be my first choice for a role like this. He's a little too clean-cut and movie star looking. But I have to say he delivers a fine performance that makes you forget the handicaps. Then there's Lassie's mom, June Lockhart, who makes the most out of what amounts to a cameo appearance. And what would an underworld picture of the time be without the great jut-jawed Charles McGraw. Here he gets to menace everyone including the audience. I hope there's a special place in Hollywood heaven for unsung guys and gals like him.All in all, it's a stylish thriller deserving of its reputation as a noir classic. Meanwhile, I'm checking the few bills in my wallet.

T-Men (1947)The official "government" voice of god narration is overwhelming here, and for me it kills the film. The photography is dramatic to the point of desperation--almost to make up for the stiffness of the rest of it, and I'm okay with a dull movie as long as it looks good. It doesn't make this a good movie, however, just one with lots of amazing scenes, well shot.There is, of course, an important narrative here, as "T-Men" go after bad guys, going undercover and so on. Some of the scenes, as the narrator blabs on, are amazing--really terrific light, all different parts of the city including Chinatown, some steam baths, lots of dark interiors, a boxing ring, etc. There is some good roughing up going on, tough talk back and forth, and a gradually trust/distrust game as the T-Men infiltrate a counterfeiting ring.The director is the admired Anthony Mann. Mann's noirs and westerns are both laced with a darkness that makes them really good, a cut above most of the others at least in the way he avoids blandness. That's worth a lot. And when this movie really gets going (after about half an hour, when the narrator recedes, though never disappears), it gets better.

This is a fun movie, in a campy sort of way. Two undercover "T-men" (United States Treasury Agents) attempt to uncover a counterfeiting ring as a narrator describes the technical details of the laborious process they use to do it... at great detail, in other words, repetitively, like thus: "He trailed him, shadowing, hiding, keeping hidden, shadowing, trailing..." and so on.This movie would be little better than an Ed Wood movie except for the cinematography and the directing. Almost all of the acting is completely covered up by the continuing narration until later in the movie, when the actors finally have time to present their characters without someone telling us what to think of them. Even after they are given room to act, however, they have to deal with such cheesy and dated lines as, "Are you out of your whim-whams?" and "Have you ever spent 8 nights in a steam bath looking for a man?" However, it's all in the fun of film noir, even if it is removed from the existential angst and is more like a crime periodical sort of story. A viewer still gets that rich sense of chiaroscuro and guns flashing out of the dark still pack a punch.--PolarisDiB