T-Men

Eagle-Lion Films presents "T-MEN" (15 December 1947) (92 min/B&W) (Fully Restored/Dolby Digitally Remastered) -- Deception is the theme that resonates throughout the story of Mann's film and he cleverly delivers that premise of duplicity right into the lap of the audience --- Treasury Agents Dennis O'Brien (Dennis O'Keefe) and Tony Genaro (Alfred Ryder) are put on the case of cracking the major counterfeiting ring that spans between the mob in Los Angeles and Detroit --- O'Brien and Genaro are assigned to begin in Detroit where they research the local crime history and create their undercover identities of two hoods from a defunct Detroit gang.

Wallace Ford gives a standout performance --- His Schemer Burns was outstanding. This has to be an all-time favorite noirs from director Anthony Mann.

Under the production staff of:
Anthony Mann [Director]
John C. Higgins [Screenplay]
Virginia Kellogg [Story\
Aubrey Schenck [Producer]
Turner Shelton [Associate producer]
Paul Sawtell [Original Music]
John Alton [Cinematographer]
Fred Allen [Film Editor]

BIOS:
1. Anthony Mann [aka: Emil Anton Bundesmann] - [Director]
Date of Birth: 30 June 1906 - San Diego, California
Date of Death: 29 April 1967 - Berlin, Germany

the cast includes:
Dennis O'Keefe - Dennis O'Brien aka Vannie Harrigan
Mary Meade - Evangeline
Alfred Ryder - Tony Genaro aka Tony Galvani
Wallace Ford - The Schemer (as Wally Ford)
June Lockhart - Mary Genaro
Charles McGraw - Moxie

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 5 Stars
Performance: 5 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 5 Stars
Overall: 5 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 92 min on DVD ~ Eagle-Lion Films ~ (10/18/2005)

Anthony Mann with no budget and not much of a script creates a terrific little thriller. There are simply classic sequences thanks to some brilliant cinematography.

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.

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.