T-Men (1947)

the audience applauded

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

There's a good chance the film will make you laugh out loud, but if it doesn't, there's an even better chance it will make you openly sob.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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-

Anthony Mann directed this thriller taken from a real life account of two treasury agents(played by Dennis O'Keefe & Alfred Ryder) who go undercover in a counterfeiting ring in order to bust it up, because it has been using dangerously high-quality paper that could fool the public and undermine the economy. They will learn though, that getting in the gang is one thing, but getting out alive quite another, especially when someone from your past recognizes you... Based on "The Shanghai Paper Case", film contains director Mann's usual flair for telling exciting and dramatic thrillers, giving lesser-known actors a chance to shine in leading parts.

***SPOILERS*** Trying get to the bottom of a major counterfeit ring Treasury Agents O'Brien & Genaro, Dennis O'Keefe & Alfred Ryder, are giver cover by the Treasury Department as two members, Harrigan & Galvani, of the defunct Detroit River Gange in order to infiltrate the city's notorious Vantucci Mob that's involve in a major counterfeiting printing operation. This illegal counterfeit racket is draining millions out of the US Treasury flooding the streets of Detroit and it's surroundings with millions of counterfeit 10 20 50 and 100 dollar bills.It doesn't take long for the two agents to get taken in by the mob boss Carlo Luigi Vantucci, Anton Kosta, as members of his gang in that they schooled themselves in the Detrot's Mob history and knew as much about it, and how it operates, as boss Vantucci did. Finding a L.A connection to the Vantucci's mob counterfeit operations Agent O'Brian aka hoodlum Harrigan goes to the West Coast to establish an eyes and ears infiltration of the L.A Mob connected with Vantucci headed by suave and very well dressed mobster "Shiv" Triano, John Wengaf.The key that connects both the L.A and Detroit mobs is this counterfeit expert called The Schemer, Wallace Ford, which is obviously a street, not legally given or Christened, name. The Schemer gets in a lot of hot water with his bosses back in Detroit in them being snookered into believing by Agent O'Brian and later Genero that he's going to rat them out. The Scheamers L.A Boss of Bosses Dragon-Lady Evangeline, Mary Meade, is also told that he's been shooting his mouth off in public about her, together with Triano & Vantucci, counterfeit operations while under the influence of alcohol as well as strong Chinese herbal stimulants. This of course is a lie concocted by O'Brian & Genero but it does get The Schemer to open up to them about what he knows about his higher ups that includes a secret little black book, that he has hidden in a public locker, that can hang all of them.Evangeline not taking any chances in The Schemer ratting her and her ultimate boss, the really big cheese in this whole operation, out the well known antique dealer and philanthropist Oscar Grffney has him steamed to death as he's locked in a local Turkish Bath House steam-room by her top henchman Moxie, Charles McGraw. It was in fact Evangelines overreaction to undercover agents O'Brian & Genero accusations to The Schemers loose lips that eventually had her Gaffney & Co. end up behind bars of underground, in a grave, at the end of the film. The Schemer did in fact finger Agent Genaro when he was spotted by his wife Mary, June Lockhart, as he and Agent Genero, known to The Scheamer as hoodlum Galvani, were walking through an L.A fruit and vegetable market.Agent Genero ended up getting gunned down by the "Shiv's" hoodlums only to cover his fellow agents, O'Brian, true identity and cluing him, who was forced to watch his friend and fellow Treasury Agent get murdered, in to where to find the late Schemer's little black book. It was the black book together with a raid of Evangeline's and big boss-man's Gaffney's docked freighter, where the entire underground counterfeit operation was being conduced, that finally put an end to this whole multi-state & city counterfeit ring. The raid also landed Agent O'Brian in the hospital with at least two slugs in his gut but fortunately, unlike his partner Agent Genero, he survived to live another day.

This is a fun movie, in a campy sort of way. Two undercover "T-men" (United States Treasury Agents) attempt to uncover a counterfeiting ring as a narrator describes the technical details of the laborious process they use to do it... at great detail, in other words, repetitively, like thus: "He trailed him, shadowing, hiding, keeping hidden, shadowing, trailing..." and so on.This movie would be little better than an Ed Wood movie except for the cinematography and the directing. Almost all of the acting is completely covered up by the continuing narration until later in the movie, when the actors finally have time to present their characters without someone telling us what to think of them. Even after they are given room to act, however, they have to deal with such cheesy and dated lines as, "Are you out of your whim-whams?" and "Have you ever spent 8 nights in a steam bath looking for a man?" However, it's all in the fun of film noir, even if it is removed from the existential angst and is more like a crime periodical sort of story. A viewer still gets that rich sense of chiaroscuro and guns flashing out of the dark still pack a punch.--PolarisDiB