T-Men (1947)

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

T-Men is a wonderful film. Although Mann utilises many of the semi-documentary school's technical contrivances (the opening legend, authentic backgrounds, off-screen narration, tight editing) and much of its philosophic outlook (rugged hero, tight-lipped, unexpressive; refined villain, his voice carefully shaded to suggest every nuance of depraved elegance), he has yet managed to inject the film with a distinctly personal style. Our first indication that the picture is being directed by an unusually imaginative artist with both an expressive visual flair and the editing know-how to sustain it, comes in the restaurant scene where "The Schemer" makes contact with a photographer's girl. Instead of the usual flat establishing long shot with the hero walking up to the entrance, cut to the interior and pan, Anthony Mann has treated the sequence almost surrealistically; - with an opening shot of the restaurant's neon sign, rapid cut to its swinging door as O'Keefe strides through, tracking shot following the investigator into the interior - a confused medley of sight, sound and voices, - rapid pan as O'Keefe jostles his way to a telephone booth, closing the glass door so that a reflection of the whole dizzying scene swings into focus. Obviously, neither Hathaway, Keighley, nor any other of the semi-documentarists would have handled the scene this way, although heretofore it appeared that Mann was directing the film along established lines - or so it seemed at the time. On a recent re-viewing of the film, however, I found that even in earlier scenes, Mann had been more daring than Hathaway in his choice of low angles, longer takes (the first interview with the unctuous gang-leader, - beautifully composed and photographed), and the remarkable no-dialogue sequence where a tip-off is passed to a crooked detective in the locker-room of a Turkish bath; - an intensified use of natural sound taking the place of both dialogue and music. (As is usual in this type of film, the composer - here, Paul Sawtell - is relegated to providing a few bars for the brass section to play under the credits). There follows a wonderful montage of low-angled long shots as Treasury agents try to trace "The Schemer" through his known addiction to Oriental herbs.

I didn't realize that director Anthony Mann and cinematographer John Alton were considered to be a famous film noir team until very recently, and when I did it just happened that I had two of their partnerships in my house at the same time: "T-Men" and "Border Incident." "T-Men" came out in 1947, right about the time a docu-drama sub-genre of film noir emerged. These films were always fictional recreations of true stories and had an element of the newsreel about them -- stentorian voice-over narration giving us little history lessons about some social problem or other and prologues featuring montages of real locations that gave the films the patina of a social service. But once this obligatory beginning to "T-Men" is disposed with, the film settles into a tight and suspenseful story about two treasury department agents who infiltrate a counterfeit money operation. It's obvious why Mann and Alton were such a great combination -- the compositions and chiaroscuro cinematography in this film are its greatest assets. There are some real surprises (like the death of a major character) and some memorable set pieces (like a murder in a Turkish steam bath). I don't know that it joins the ranks of my favorite noirs, but it certainly earns its place as a more than respectable addition to the genre."T-Men" was rather inexplicably nominated for a Best Sound Recording Oscar in 1947, even more notable because there were only three entries in that category that year (the winner was "The Bishop's Wife").Grade: A-

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) ** (out of 4) Anthony Mann directed this documentary style look at two government agents trying to bring down a counterfeit ring. On a technical level this film is quite an achievement due in large part to the wonderful B&W cinematography, which really makes you feel like you're going through all the steps with these guys. Mann's direction handles the material quite well but I could never really get involved with the film. The narration really got on my nerves after a while and I think it would have been better without it. The performances are good but overall the film just didn't work for me.