Very disappointing...

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

A different way of telling a story

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

A film extremely different from the style we are used to seeing, even more noticeable since we are talking about a movie from the 1940s. Initially, the film even looks like it will have a conventional narrative and development, but that's not what happens. As the movie progresses, let's get acquainted with a set of uniquely interesting characters with the most different motivations. The trajectory of the character of James Mason is also surprising, because when we are waiting for something concrete happen to the character, the truth is that he spends the whole movie walking in flight in difficult circumstances because he is seriously injured, stopping in various places, which also present themselves to us and reveal it as something unique. The film ends, little by little, by entering a kind of almost existentialist "tone", difficult to define, something not to be expected in the first 20 minutes. The actors have excellent performances, both main and secondary, the latter having an extremely important component in the film, which enriches the same. Of course there is the starring James Mason (who claimed to have been his performance in this film the best of his entire career) and debutant Kathleen Ryan, who also has a great and credible performance. In short, everything will surprise us throughout the progress of this film. All, with one exception: practically from the beginning, the film has a tragic atmosphere, leaving from the outset the assumption that the end of the film can only be tragic. A little-known film, directed by master Carol Reed, which is a true pearl of cinema. A film that is a true case study. Very good.

After a daring Belfast bank robbery, a wounded Irish nationalist leader becomes the object of an intense police manhunt across the city. This is one of the great director Carol Reed's very best films and a landmark in the suspense/crime genre. It is beautifully filmed in black and white with brilliant use of light and shadow, expert camera movement and inventive visual effects. Virtually every shot is a work of art. The cast, headed by James Mason as the IRA leader, is magnificent. Mason gives one of the best performances in his legendary career and he considered this his favorite role. Kathleen Ryan, who would do anything for the man she loves, is also memorable as Mason's girl and Robert Newton is another standout (his scenes in the pub where Mason is being hidden are among the highlights of the film). Every part, large and small, is perfectly played, with most of the supporting players, including rebel gang members Cyril Cusack and Dan O'Herlihy, recruited from Dublin's legendary Abbey Theatre. Reed's crisp direction, the terrific script and outstanding editing help to build the tension all the way to the incredible climax . It is one of the masterpieces of British cinema. The picture was the very first film to win the BAFTA Award as the Best British Film of the Year.

The film starts with a great premise. When a robbery goes wrong, James Mason gets wounded and separated from his cohorts. The film is devoted to the police and Mason's loving girlfriend attempting to find him.The IRA is referred to as the organization and no further attempts are made to explain its function. I found this to be a major flaw. Instead, we are introduced to a myriad of characters where treachery, love, financial gain and insanity seem to abound here.Robert Newton portrays a crazed artist attempting to paint Johnny (Mason) as he is near death. Her love for Mason is so great and knowing that he has killed a man in the failed robbery, the woman plans an end to both of their lives so that she may go with him.The poverty of the area is well shown with the abundance of children in most scenes.

Atmospheric and visually impressive story that is metaphoric and at times mesmerizing. Most film buffs are bewitched by this and rant endlessly about its greatness and maybe so. It sure is complex and uncompromising in a lot of ways but it takes a great amount of effort on the viewers part to sustain the wonderment for such a lengthy film. It could have been just as powerful and not as plodding and heavy going if it was a bit thinner. The great hypnotic and hallucinatory images and the stylish touches keep things together albeit at a very slow pace and there are some interesting and some irritating characters. Wildly cinematic allegories and parables aside, it is unapologetically European and pure film noir to be ethnocentric, is almost always American. The British efforts somehow seem more maudlin and self conscious and their urban milieu is inevitably physically war-torn rather than pathological and therefore a separation and categorization of of the two types of the noir style is necessary.The cultural separation is significant and therefore this should be labeled as an excellent example of foreign film-noir.