T-Men [Special Edition] [Blu-ray]

Director: Anthony Mann Anthony Mann

Overview

The moodily evocative docudrama T-Men stars Dennis O'Keefe as Dennis O'Brien, a treasury agent determined to bring a counterfeiting ring to justice. O'Brien and his partner Tony Genaro (Alfred Ryder) go undercover to gain the confidence of the ruthless Detroit mob responsible for the phony money. The plot, compelling though it is, takes second place to the film's stylish set pieces, superbly directed by Anthony Mann and brilliantly photographed by John Alton. Among the film's most famous moments is the scene in which two-bit hood Wallace Ford is bumped off in a steam bath by sadistic hood Charles McGraw, not to mention the harrowing vignette wherein O'Keefe, posing as a crook, must stand by silently as his partner Ryder is murdered. One of the finest examples of the film noir form, T-Men proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that a film didn't need to have a lush budget, brilliant Technicolor and Clark Gable to score a hit with postwar moviegoers.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/10/2017
UPC:	0851968007187
Original Release:	1947
Source:	Classicflix
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Language:	English
Time:	1:32:00
Sales rank:	20,455

Special Features

Audio Commentary by Biographer & Producer Alan K. Rode; Into the Darkness: Mann, Alton and T-Men; Featurette with Cinematographer Richard Crudo, film critic and author Todd McCarthy, Writer and Film Historian Julie Kirgo, Film Historian & Director Courtney Joyner and Biographer & Producer Alan K. Rode; A Director's Daughter: Nina Mann Remembers: An Interview with Nina Mann; Plus: A 24 page booklet with an essay by author Max Alvarez featuring stills, posters and other production material

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Dennis O'Keefe	Dennis O'Brien/Vannie Harrigan
Mary Meade	Evangeline
Alfred Ryder	Tony Genaro/Tony Galvani
Wallace Ford	Schemer
June Lockhart	Tony's Wife
Charles McGraw	Moxie
Jane Randolph	Diana
Art Smith	Gregg
Herbert Heyes	Chief Carson
Jack Overman	Brownie
John Wengraf	Shiv
Jim Bannon	Lindsay
William Malten	Paul Miller
Elmer Lincoln Irey	Himself
Reed Hadley	Narrator
Vivian Austin	Genevieve
James Seay	Hardy
Lyle Latell	Isgreg
John Newland	Jackson Lee
Victor Cutler	Snapbrim
Tito Vuolo	Pasquale
John Parrish	Harry
Curt Conway	Shorty
Ricki Van Dusen	Girl on Plane
Irmgard Dawson	Hostess on Plane
Robert B. Williams	Detective Captain
Anton Kosta	Vantucci
Paul Fierro	Chops
Louis Bacigalupi	Boxcar
Trevor Bardette	Rudy
William Yip	Chinese Merchant
Al Bridge	Agent in Phone Booth,Agent in Phone Booth
Keefe Brasselle	Cigar Attendant
Leslie Sketchley	Big Guy
George M. Manning	Man
Paul Hogan	Man
Jerry Jerome	Dice Player
Bernie Sell	Dice Player
Ralph Brooks	Dice Player
John Ardell	Dice Player
Sandra Gould	Girl at Phone
Cuca Martinez	Dancer in Club
Salvadore Barroga	Housekeeper
Tom McGuire	Couple at Car
Mira McKinney	Couple at Car
Frank Ferguson	Secret Service Man
Cecil Weston	Woman Proprietor
Frank Hyers	Ollie
George Carleton	Morgue Attendant

Technical Credits

John C. Higgins

Anthony Mann	Director
Aubrey Schenck	Producer
George J. Teague	Special Effects
John C. Higgins	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Anthony Mann's first big success is a tightly written pseudocumentary on undercover Treasury agents, which owes much to John Alton's stunning chiaroscuro camera work. Like Dragnet, which it resembles in the use of the voice-over narration typical of the period, the film was based on an actual Treasury Department case. In his Notes on Film Noir, director Paul Schrader wrote to the effect that noir is not a genre per se, with specific attributes of character and setting, but a style, based on tone and atmosphere. The film is nothing if not a triumph of style over substance, and while the byzantine plot is kept in sharp focus, it's the visual inventiveness of Mann and Alton that's makes it work. Film historian Todd McCarthy included scenes from the film in his acclaimed documentary on the history of cinematography, Visions of Light (1993).

All Movie Guide - Michael Costello