T-Men

1947 | 96 minutes | Rated NR

This crisp 1948 thriller marked Anthony Mann's emergence from B movie obscurity, setting him on the path that would lead to his great westerns of the 50s. Filmed in the pseudodocumentary style made popular by Louis de Rochemont, it's the story of two Treasury Department investigators who go underground to smash a counterfeiting ring. The phony realism isn't Mann's style, but he subverts it with some hallucinatory noir compositions and the strong suggestion that his hero (Dennis O'Keefe) has a much more satisfying life as hood than he does as an upstanding husband. With June Lockhart, Charles McGraw, and Alfred Ryder; cinematography the legendary John Alton. By Dave Kehr

Director: Anthony Mann
Producer: Aubrey Schenck
Cast: Dennis O'Keefe, Alfred Ryder, Mary Meade, Wallace Ford, June Lockhart, Charles McGraw, Jane Randolph, Art Smith, Herbert Heyes, Jack Overman, John Wengraf, Jim Bannon, William Malten, Reed Hadley, Vivian Austin, James Seay, Lyle Latell, John Newland, Victor Cutler, Tito Vuolo, John Parrish and Curt Conway