T-MenRating:
Release Date: 30 April, 2002 Retail Price: $5.99 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Complete Cast (12 total) |
T-Men Reviews
The First Film of Mann's Great Noir Trilogy
"T-Men" represented the first of the great film noir trilogy combining the unique talents of director Anthony Mann and cinematographer John Alton. Their efforts revealed that in the film noir genre with its emphasis on gritty realism, with authentic street locations often in the darkness of late evening, that it was possible to achieve films of high quality at a low cost. The Mann-Alton trilogy was the product of Eagle-Lion Studios, one of the smallest in Hollywood, but known for top suspense dramas producing optimum bang for dollars
invested.
The other two films in the trilogy that followed "T-Men", which debuted in 1947, were released one year later. "He Walked by Night" was, like "T-Men" a noir docudrama while "Raw Deal" was a thriller about a prison escapee's adventures.
Starring in both "T-Men" and "Raw Deal" was Dennis O'Keefe. The tall, athletically constructed actor's forte was the ability to combine ruggedness with a street-smart demeanor that enabled him to reveal smoothness when the occasion warranted it. This blend made him a natural for the lead role of a United States Treasury Agent posing as a criminal syndicate tough guy.
Reed Hadley narrates the hard-hitting semi-documentary set on the streets of Los Angeles. Much of the action occurs in Ocean Park in seedy hotels and mob hangouts. The film is based on the actual Shanghai Paper Case that occurred shortly after World War Two with the film being made soon after its solution. Adventure script specialist John C. Higgins kept the action moving at a brisk clip, as did director Mann, while Alton's brooding photography invigorated some of the city's seamiest spots with chilling drama in generating perpetual viewer curiosity.
The Washington office was able to piece together a sketch of a conduit passing counterfeit checks in Los Angeles. O'Keefe and partner Alfred Ryder are dispatched to Los Angeles to track the wanted individual down and ultimately blend into the organization before assisting the Treasury Department in shutting down the enterprise. To provide pedigree they assume bogus identities and masquerade as former mob operatives in Detroit, where so much of the counterfeit money has been sent.
When O'Keefe arrives in Los Angeles he capitalizes on the two clues pertaining to the mystery counterfeit conduit of digesting Chinese herbs and taking frequent steam baths by tracking him down. O'Keefe notes that he lost eight pounds in the process after taking steam baths in so many Los Angeles spots.
Veteran character actor Wallace Ford delivers one of his finest efforts as the counterfeit mob legman known appropriately as Schemer, who has settled in Los Angeles after a previous underworld stint in Detroit. At that point he sends for partner Ryder and they use Schemer's contacts to become members of the mob. In the process they encounter the mob's brutally sadistic enforcer Charles McGraw, whose manner is reminiscent of Neville Brand in "D.O.A.".
One of the film's most fascinating scenes emerges when Agent Ryder's wife June Lockhart is vacationing in Los Angeles and the girlfriend with whom she is traveling approaches Ryder when she sees him with Wallace Ford. Since his mob identity is that of a single man he seeks to bluff his way through the potentially fatal encounter when Lockhart, realizing the circumstances, tells her friend that she is crazy and that her husband is "taller and better looking" than Ryder.
film noir
the best of anthony mann this era bought the best story lighting decor and filming made america the cinema giant
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