T-Men

The film is very episodic and does not realy hang together, but some of the shots are superb. The opening murder of an informant has one of the bext scenes where a murderer literally is absorbed by the darkness. The execution in the steam room is filled with horror. Anthony Mann showed all his potential as a director with this little B film. It is throughly recommended.


UNEXPECTED NOIR GEM ON DVD   May 31, 2002
VCI Entertainment, a small video company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is releasing DVDs of "RAW DEAL" and "T MEN," two forgotten noir B movie classics directed by Anthony Mann.

Allegedly taken from a closed Treasury Department file (the "Shanghia Paper" case), "T Men" (1947) is a clever crime drama that's shot in a documentary style for added realsim. The meticulously detailed set-up is kind of slow going, but the payoff is gangbusters (literally). Dennis O'Keefe and Alfred Ryder are Treasury agents who go undercover, disguised as mobsters, to infiltrate a ring of Detroit based liquor cutters known to be using bogus revenue stamps. The gang's savage leader has already killed a fellow T Man. For the agents, there is almost a perverse emphasis on how they must shut down all normal human feelings to successfully accomplish their missions -- even to the point of standing by while a fellow agent is executed in cold blood. There's no question about the dark noir terrain in this terrific little thriller that is all the more effective thanks to John Alton's brilliant, precise, geometrically composed cinematography.

A surprisingly gripping film with a stunning climax. Definitely worth considering if you're looking for those forgotten noir gems.


An overlooked B-movie crime thriller   October 23, 2000
If and when you see this film, ignore the tiresome, moronic narration at the beginning and end that was obviously tacked on by the studio, and enjoy the middle 96% of this tough, well-made, B-movie classic. Before he found fame as a director of westerns, Anthony Mann directed shoestring-budget B-crime thrillers, of which T-Men is the best (better than Raw Deal, much better than Railroaded.) The pseudo-documentary approach combines with John Alton's brilliant underlit noirish cinematography to create a potent brew; engaging, almost mesmerizing. You hate to see the story come to an end. A B-movie masterpiece, one of the great ones of the forties.


Mann/Alton team exceed themselves in this noir gem   August 2, 2000
Starting with what must have been a standard postwar script praising the feds (this time, the treasury department), the team of director Anthony Mann and director of photography John Alton turned this into one of the most memorable and seminal films of the noir cycle. The budget was shoestring but their love for their craft must have been extraordinary, because shot after shot triumphs as a little cinematographic wonder -- an object lesson in how to let pictures talk. As T-Men Dennis O'Keefe and Alfred Ryder plunge deeper into the counterfeiters' world, the action becomes increasingly edgy and violent, belying the syrupy patriotic music that puts us to sleep every time we flash back to Washington, D.C. As good as Mann's (and Alton's) other films can be, T-Men shows off their talents to exhilarating advantage. This is a must-see -- even a must-buy -- for anybody interested in this unparalleled and unforgettable decade of film history.


An Unknown Gem!   November 24, 1999
What starts out as another Hollywood movie promoting the FBI and other government law enforcement agencies quickly becomes a hard-hitting film noir that exposes the underbelly of an undercover government agent. Dennis O'Keefe and Alfred Ryder must become as bad as the villians they are after in order to infiltrate a ruthless gang of counterfeiters. Watch for Charles McGraw in one of his most sadistic roles as Moxey - the thug who loves to inflict pain. A little known classic by Anthony Mann (who directed all of those great 1950's Jimmy Stewart westerns).