#37: T-Men (Anthony Mann, 1947)

Released: December 15, 1947

Director: Anthony Mann; Screenplay: John C. Higgins based on a story by Virginia Kellogg; Cinematography: John Alton; Music: Paul Sawtell; Producer: Aubrey Schenk; Studio: Eagle-Lion Films

Cast: Dennis O’Keefe (Dennis O’Brien), Mary Meade (Evangeline), Alfred Ryder (Tony Genaro), Wallace Ford (The Schemer), June Lockhart (Mary Genaro), Charles McGraw (Moxie), Jane Randolph (Diana Simpson), Art Smith (Gregg)

I understand that I’m likely taking another minority position here, but T-Men remains my favorite noir that the dynamic duo of Anthony Mann and cinematographer John Alton ever produced. Raw Deal looks spectacular, as I said in my review, quite possibly the quintessential low budget noir in terms of visuals. But T-Men is the one that I continually return to when I reach for a Mann noir. It is far from a perfect film – in fact, I have one serious issue with the entire production, which I might as well get to right up front. The narration is completely unnecessary, adding a cheesy element that unfortunately dates everything. It would have been even more successful if Mann had managed to shun some of the more conventional police procedural devices – narration and an introduction by Harry Anslinger – but even with such a major complaint, I have no problem labeling this one a masterpiece. The reason that I can do this is that the voice-overs are so superfluous, so detached from the narrative, that the movie works perfectly fine without them. They could be completely removed and nothing would be lost. So I choose to simply ignore them, appreciate the brilliance of the many other elements, and savor this film that put the Mann-Alton team on the map.


T-Men follows the subterranean journey of two Treasury agents who go deep undercover to bust a large-scale counterfeiting ring. Posing as longtime knockaround guys, O’Brien (Dennis O’Keefe) and Genaro (Alfred Ryder) get close to the powerful Vantucci mob in Detroit, using these connections to then move to Los Angeles and get close to the home of the counterfeiting operations. In L.A. they meet a semi-legitimate man known as the Schemer (Wallace Ford) who appears to be at the center of the ring. O’Brien and Genaro both take heat in trying to get close to group, being roughed up and interrogated by Vantucci hoods in order to make sure that they are not agents or stool pigeons. Both men hold up under the strain, which gets them even closer to the gang. Using fake plates and papers provided by the Treasury Department, O’Brien proves that the duo have the resources to be players. But the deeper that the two are pulled into the operation, the more murkier become. Slip-ups and unfortunate coincidences make it increasingly dangerous for the agents and ultimately lead them to deadly showdowns.

Like great undercover movies that have been made since, what T-Men does effectively is blur the line between agents and criminals. It is obvious that O’Brien and Genaro remain on right side of the law, but in order to survive in the underworld they are forced to adopt the outlook and actions of true hoods. This creates interesting scenarios where they are forced to act less as lawmen and more as the criminals they are pretending to be. Things that would have likely been unthinkable to them before they went undercover – spurning a wife, roughing people up, standing by and allowing a murder to take place because to do otherwise would lead to even more killing – are things that they have no choice but to do. The entire film really has a surprisingly vicious quality. Charles McGraw is brutal as the enforcer Moxie, and when he confronts Schemer in a Turkish bath the result is one of the most memorable assassinations in all of noir.


The storyline is the perfect fit for the styles of Mann and Alton. The deeper that O’Brien and Genaro are plunged into the underworld, the darker that Mann and Alton make their surroundings. Alton could do more with less light than anybody I have ever seen. Here and in Raw Deal, it looks like he walked on set with a basic lamp and household light bulb and used this as the only light source in either film. What makes this so impressive is how shrewd he was in placement of light, making the contrasts stark and the shadows downright menacing. Alton and Mann were also masters of camera placement, increasing tension in a scene simply by clever positioning. Just watch scenes like O’Brien trying to surreptitiously recover a counterfeiting plate from under a sink while a hood stands on the other side washing his hands. The camera sits at a low angle, staring directly at the sink, allowing the audience to watch both the frantic movements of O’Brien’s hands under the sink and the action taking place above it. Even more impressive to me is the scene in the Turkish bath, where Schemer’s death is filmed entirely through a port hole in the door.

I know that over the course of the countdown, some folks have remarked that voice-overs like those featured in T-Men are too much for them to take. For the most part, it’s not that I can’t take them, but I agree that they are usually completely unnecessary. I just hope that people can get past it in this case and appreciate what an outstanding movie lays under the voice-overs. It is a truly great film and an important one in the history of noir.

#57: The Narrow Margin (Richard Fleischer, 1952)

Released: May 4, 1952

Director: Richard Fleischer; Screenplay: Earl Felton based on a story by Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard; Cinematography: George E. Diskant; Producer: Stanley Rubin; Studio: RKO

Cast: Charles McGraw (Det. Sgt. Walter Brown), Marie Windsor (Mrs. Frankie Neall), Jacqueline White (Ann Sinclair), Gordon Gebert (Tommy Sinclair), Queenie Leonard (Mrs. Troll), David Clarke (Joseph Kemp), Peter Virgo (Densel), Don Beddoe (Det. Sgt. Gus Forbes), Paul Maxey (Sam Jennings), Harry Harvey (Train Conductor)

- "Sister, I've known some pretty hard cases in my time... you make 'em all look like putty."

For a low budget crime thriller, Richard Fleischer’s The Narrow Margin has acquired a formidable reputation. Just do a quick internet search about the movie and take in some of the superlatives that are showered on it – in a number of instances, it is referred as possibly the best B-movie ever made. While I may stop short of that highest of accolades, I do concede that it would have to be a contender in such a mythical competition. What makes The Narrow Margin such a great movie is that it accomplishes what every low budget film must do in order to succeed: take a simple story, incorporate a believable yet surprising twist, and populate the movie with colorful, memorable characters. And what elevates it even further is the something that cannot be said about many noirs – it’s just plain fun.


Taking place primarily on a train, the story follows the travails of Det. Walter Brown (Charles McGraw) who is charged with transporting the widow of a recently-slain racketeer across the country so that she can testify before a grand jury. Along with his partner Gus Forbes (Don Beddoe), they are instructed to pick up the strong-willed Mrs. Neall (Marie Windsor) and see that she is delivered to the prosecutor without incident. Right from the start it is made clear that this will be no simple job. The uncooperative Mrs. Neall dawdles, leading to a shootout with gangsters sent to silence her. Forbes is killed in the crossfire and it is then left to Brown to complete the transport. Once they make it to the train, Brown realizes that he is essentially battling two equally trying opponents – the gangsters trying to ice his witness and the stubborn Mrs. Neall who is completely ungrateful for the protection provided by Brown. Along the way, Brown befriends Anne Sinclair (Jacqueline White), a young mother traveling with her son and nanny. This association drags Anne into the entire mess, as Brown scrambles to keep everyone safe and complete his job, all the while resisting tempting bribes that are offered at every turn.

It is most often identified for being a “train movie,” which is not surprising, but my favorite moments in the film actually come very early when Brown and Forbes are picking Mrs. Neall up at her apartment. The back and forth between the detectives and the gangster’s wife is as crisp as anything in noir and sets the stage for the moral acrobatics that Brown will play out in his mind throughout the film. Very early on it is made clear that he is upset that the life of his partner – a family man with a wife and children – has been sacrificed so an unappreciative, snobbish trophy wife living off the riches of a criminal can be safely transported. The encounter in the apartment and the ensuing shootout in a shadowy staircase are pure noir, photographed very well by Nicholas Ray favorite George Diskant. The bulk of the action on the train plays more like a conventional thriller than noir, but the snappy dialog and taunting between Neall and Brown keeps it in familiar noir territory.


It’s nice to watch ultimate tough Charles McGraw as a good guy for once, rather than the usual second-rate hoods he plays in so many movies of the era. His Det. Brown is more of a hardened hero, maintaining the cynical outlook that just seems to fit with McGraw’s overall persona. The real treat here, though, is Marie Windsor, who plays Mrs. Neall as hell on wheels. I’ve referred to her as “ungrateful” already in this piece, but even that is an understatement. She openly taunts Brown, as if at any moment she will decide to call the whole thing off and not follow through with her testimony. This is the cause of the distress that haunts Brown, as he does not want to come to the conclusion that his good friend and partner could have potentially died for no reason. Windsor is spectacular, combining sex appeal and pure attitude. She may not follow through on much of what she says, but Windsor’s Mrs. Neall talks as good a game as any other dame in film noir.

There’s a wonderful twist that I have avoided revealing that works quite well, which is to be commended. Too often, a twist like this would not come off nearly well as it does. The number of intense moments that occur in the close confines of the train solidify The Narrow Margin not just as a top-flight noir but also as one of the premier action movies and thrillers of the era also. This is another one that I might ultimately regret not ranking even higher.