Odd Man Out (1947)

Awesome Movie

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A heist gone wrong and the manhunt that follows, provides this movie with its basic plot and a great deal of suspense. The real focus of the story, however, is on the "conflict in the hearts of the people" who are caught in the fall-out from a political struggle and how, in such an environment, basic human charity can become one of the first casualties. The fact that the action is set in Northern Ireland and involves the conflict between the IRA (Irish Republican Army) and the government is purely academic as similar reactions would be likely to be found in any people who unintentionally find themselves involved in any similar type of conflict.In a terraced house in Belfast, a small group of men under the leadership of Johnny McQueen (James Mason) discuss a plan to carry out a robbery at a local mill in order to raise funds for their organisation. Johnny, who had previously been sentenced to 17 years in prison for gun smuggling had escaped after serving only 8 months and, as a wanted fugitive, had spent the last 6 months indoors to avoid being recaptured. Kathleen Sullivan (Kathleen Ryan), who lives in the house with her grandmother, is deeply in love with Johnny and together with Johnny's second-in-command, Dennis (Robert Beatty), tries to persuade him not to take part in the heist. Kathleen and Dennis share the view of the rest of the gang, that after such an extended period of inactivity, Johnny simply isn't fit enough for the job. Johnny, however, feels it's his duty to be involved and is determined to carry on as planned.On the day of the robbery, Johnny immediately experiences some disorientation as he travels to the mill and finds it hard to adjust to being out in the city traffic. The robbery goes ahead smoothly and the rest of the gang get back to the getaway car successfully but as they shout to him to get in the car, Johnny becomes dizzy and pauses before being accosted by one of the bank's employees who's brandishing a gun. The two men wrestle and their struggle ends with Johnny injured and his assailant dead. As the getaway car speeds away, Johnny hangs on with the help of a couple of the gang members and desperately tries to get in but fails and is left lying in the road when the gang's driver, who's afraid of being caught, refuses to stop to pick his leader up.At this stage, it becomes clear that Johnny is seriously wounded and when he manages to pick himself up, stumbles off down an alley and hides in an air-raid shelter. Exhausted, bleeding and realising that the manhunt for him is closing in, he feels trapped and incapable of going any further until Dennis finds him and by taking action to attract the attention of the police, gives Johnny the opportunity to try to make his way back to Kathleen's house. This proves to be the beginning of an arduous journey during which he encounters a whole variety of characters who either don't want him around when they realise who he is or try to exploit him in various ways. Kathleen meanwhile makes arrangements to escape to a new life with Johnny but when she tracks him down, encounters some problems in putting her plan into action.James Mason gives a remarkable performance as a man whose fate was decided when his idealism led him into a violent political conflict and the high risk of becoming a killer. Interestingly though, some facets of his personality and behaviour also display some more noble qualities and surprisingly make him a more sympathetic character than anyone would normally expect a killer, criminal or terrorist to be. Kathleen Ryan also makes an indelible impression as the woman who bears the burden of falling hopelessly in love with Johnny and with great dignity and determination, does everything within her power to ensure that he gets away from the city for a better life somewhere else. The high quality of Mason's and Ryan's work is also well complemented by the other cast members who all do exceptionally well in their various roles.It's noticeable that as Johnny's efforts to escape his pursuers become ever more desperate and dangerous, the darkness and bad weather that engulf the city, symbolically, make it appear increasingly claustrophobic and threatening and the ways in which this is portrayed on-screen are visually impressive, technically brilliant and extremely rich in atmosphere.

I was born and brought up in Belfast. Thus I find it very irritating that all the actors in this film speak either with English accents or with accents from the Republic of Ireland. I don't recall hearing one Northern Irish/Belfast accent. It portrays a Belfast which seems to have been manufactured entirely in Hollywood where everyone is misty-eyed about 'The Organisation,' clearly meant to be the IRA, and its perceived struggle against the tyranny of the forces of law and order. Despite this the performances, locations, filming, music and the entire atmosphere are mesmerising. Belfast has never looked so beautiful. Worth seeing for that alone.

It's just after the war in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and James Mason, as Johnny, has escaped from prison after spending years there. Now he's holed up in an apartment. With the help of four or five fellow members of "The Organization," he plans the robbery of the pay office of a mill.Unfortunately, after his prison experiences, Mason's nerves are shot. He's subject to dizzy spells. The woman who loves him, Kathleen Ryan, tries to dissuade him from leading the robbery, but Mason insists.It doesn't go well. In a scene filled with suspense and verisimilitude, Mason stumbles when leaving the mill, tangles with an armed guard and kills him, while he himself is seriously wounded. Mason manages to hang on to the getaway car for one or two blocks, then falls off onto the street and lurches into an alley to escape the police who have now been alerted. Mason is a revolutionary, a thief, and now a murderer but our sympathies are largely with him.That scene in which he falls from the car is exquisite. Dan O'Herlihy and Roy Irving are trying to hold him, his legs hanging outside, but his wounded body slips from their grasp and he rolls over and over in the middle of the road. The driver, Cyril Cusack, speeds on for another block before screeching to a halt. The three men sit in the motionless car and shout angry accusations at one another while they stare back at Mason's body, uncertain of whether to back up or cut around the block and pick him up. As they unleash their anger and indecision, Mason disappears into a maze of brick alleys and shabby housing.For the rest of the film, Mason may be the central figure, hallucinating and bleeding to death as he's wanders alone on the cobblestone streets, tugged this way and that by frightened citizens who don't want to get involved, dumped in a field full of discarded bathtubs and toilets, or locked away in the private booth of a pub run by a nervous owner, but he's essentially passive. The people into whose lives he staggers all have different plans for him. The weather meanwhile changes from sunny afternoon, to twilight, to rain, and then to a generous snowfall.There isn't space enough to list all the virtues of this superb film, but Carol Reed's direction is magnificent. The photography by Robert Krasker captures the slick streets and the stark poverty of the city's poor with a dispassion that's almost clinical and, in addition, adds dramatic shadows and lighting techniques that adumbrate Reed's later "The Third Man".The cast could hardly be bettered. O'Herlihy and Cusack are fine as the two stupid and impulsive gang members who are out searching for Mason among the brick ruins but decide to stop at the local whore house for a drink. Robert Newton, as a tempestuous artist, wants to save the dying light in Mason's eyes. W. G. Fay as the priest wants to save his soul. Elwyn Brook Jones as the medical-school drop out wants to save his body. F. J. McCormick as the weaselly Shell wants to schlep Mason to the church in hopes of being given a reward by Father Tom, a reward of renewed faith that Shell somehow confuses with material wealth. ("The Pope has a lot of money, and a man's got to live.") There's a comic element that surfaces in this prolonged tragedy from time to time. Much of it stems from the unpretentious folk poetry that ordinary Irish speech is sometimes transformed into. It's colorful, innovative, and not in any way forced. Nobody is a caricature. Nobody is Barry Fitzgerald. These actors, even in minor parts, have real faces and the complex personalities to go with them. Father Tom, the priest, is the most admirable character, a white-haired old gnome who speaks common sense in a way no one else does, except perhaps Dennis O'Dea as the Police Inspector, who has a stony face and an arid voice but who sees not "good and bad" but "innocence and guilt." I can't recommend this too highly.

This film noir directed and produced by Carol Reed received critical acclaim on both sides of the pond in 1948; Best Film editing in America and Best British Film of the Year. James Mason plays Johnny McQueen, the leader of an underground Irish organization. A precisely planned heist will put much needed funds in the coffers to keep the group going. Members of the gang feel that Johnny is not ready to pull the job off, because he has been hold up inside hiding too long. The crime is underway and things go sour and Johnny is wounded and doesn't make it back to the hideout. He will roam and hide in the underbelly of a snowy Belfast. The local police put on an all-out search with intent to capturing the revered Johnny McQueen. Suspenseful and dark. A real strong cast that also features: Robert Newton, Cyril Cusack, Kathleen Ryan, Denis O'Dea, Kitty Kinwan and Dan O'Herlihy.