Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

T-Men (1947)

Anthony Mann made several superior "B" pictures as he transitioned his way into becoming a "name" film director. Three, in particular, deserve elaboration as they are among the finest films noir ever made. The first*, He Walked By Night (1947), Mann was an uncredited assistant to Director Alfred Werker with lensing by the highly original John Alton. Immediately thereafter, Mann was getting his due credit as director of the superb dark police story T-Men followed up by the equally stylish and gritty Raw Deal (1948).

T-Men is the story of the "Shanghai Paper Case," a tale based on true events lifted from the files of the US Treasury Department. It concerns counterfeiting of US currency and moves between locations in Los Angeles and Detroit and back again.

Treasury Agents O'Brien and Genaro (Dennis O'Keefe and Alfred Ryder) go undercover to penetrate a gang passing counterfeit currency printed on almost perfect paper. Their plan begins in Detroit with illegal liquor stamps passed by the Vantucci gang, which seems to be coming from the same source as the fake cash.

To establish their bona fides, the two T-Men research a Detroit gang that had been stamped out and become the last surviving members. After a brief but brutal testing period, they are accepted into the Vantucci gang. They also get a lead on the Schemer who is supplying the stamps from the West Coast. O'Brien goes to LA to ferret out the Schemer (Wallace Ford) and does so through lurking around steam rooms and Chinese herb dealers, places Schemer had been known to frequent. Genaro covers for O’Brien by saying he had to skip town and implying that his partner performed a recent mob hit. The story holds up, for the time being…

Schemer, once on top, has fallen to a mid-level position and O’Brien uses this as leverage to get more information out of the disgruntled hoodlum. The Treasury has provided a pair of perfectly engraved plates – the printing was the weak spot in the counterfeit they are investigating – and the gang is interested in pursuing a partnership using the perfect paper and perfect plates. Lots of posturing, maneuvering, dealing, and backstabbing take place as O’Brien withholds the plates trying to find out who is the power behind the counterfeiting ring and the source of the paper. There are a couple of brutal murders, including one of a Treasury Agent who gets discovered but allows O’Brien to maintain his cover. Such dedication to duty is seldom seen. How the rest of the story plays out I’ll leave to your viewing pleasure.

The team of Director Anthony Mann and Cinematographer John Alton was one of the fortuitous coincidences in film history. When you view a product of their collaboration, such as T-Men, you are viewing some of the most indelible images ever created in film. The harshly lit profiles protruding from inky shadows are a real revelation, as are the strongly geometric frame compositions. What this pair has done is to make a superior film from some fairly pedestrian material, rising above the mediocrity that is so often churned out by Hollywood. The actors are all competent B players but the direction coaxes top performances out of the whole cast and the cinematography makes T-Men a real delight to watch again and again.

Like many films of the era, it has a narrator in the person of Reed Hadley, another familiar B player. The combination of the eloquence of the cinematography and direction with the piquant narration creates a film noir of considerable value.

The T-Men DVD is from VCI Entertainment. It is presented in 1.33:1 format, slightly cropped from the original 1.37:1 academy format. The print is pretty good, with a little wear but it is very good to watch nonetheless. Particularly since it can be obtained for around $6.00 from Deep Discount DVD and similar outlets. An interesting DVD extra is “Dark Reflections,” an analysis of film noir by Max Allan Collins. This is a two part feature; Part 1 is on T-Men while Part 2 is included on the companion video disk for Anthony Mann’s Raw Deal.

Viewers who like gangsters, police dramas, or film noir will want to put T-Men at the top of their viewing list.

Other gritty and stylish films noir I recommend include

He Walked By Night

Double Indemnity

The Killing

Happy viewing!

*The chronology of these early Mann films is disputed by my friend Stephen Murray - (see comments section)

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening