That was an excellent one.

Overrated and overhyped

Great Film overall

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

T-Men is a wonderful film. Although Mann utilises many of the semi-documentary school's technical contrivances (the opening legend, authentic backgrounds, off-screen narration, tight editing) and much of its philosophic outlook (rugged hero, tight-lipped, unexpressive; refined villain, his voice carefully shaded to suggest every nuance of depraved elegance), he has yet managed to inject the film with a distinctly personal style. Our first indication that the picture is being directed by an unusually imaginative artist with both an expressive visual flair and the editing know-how to sustain it, comes in the restaurant scene where "The Schemer" makes contact with a photographer's girl. Instead of the usual flat establishing long shot with the hero walking up to the entrance, cut to the interior and pan, Anthony Mann has treated the sequence almost surrealistically; - with an opening shot of the restaurant's neon sign, rapid cut to its swinging door as O'Keefe strides through, tracking shot following the investigator into the interior - a confused medley of sight, sound and voices, - rapid pan as O'Keefe jostles his way to a telephone booth, closing the glass door so that a reflection of the whole dizzying scene swings into focus. Obviously, neither Hathaway, Keighley, nor any other of the semi-documentarists would have handled the scene this way, although heretofore it appeared that Mann was directing the film along established lines - or so it seemed at the time. On a recent re-viewing of the film, however, I found that even in earlier scenes, Mann had been more daring than Hathaway in his choice of low angles, longer takes (the first interview with the unctuous gang-leader, - beautifully composed and photographed), and the remarkable no-dialogue sequence where a tip-off is passed to a crooked detective in the locker-room of a Turkish bath; - an intensified use of natural sound taking the place of both dialogue and music. (As is usual in this type of film, the composer - here, Paul Sawtell - is relegated to providing a few bars for the brass section to play under the credits). There follows a wonderful montage of low-angled long shots as Treasury agents try to trace "The Schemer" through his known addiction to Oriental herbs.

Two Treasury agents are assigned to infiltrate a counterfeiting ring, taking them from Chicago to LA.This is arguably the best of the 'undercover' movies so popular at the time. That's thanks mainly to director Mann who gets the most out the screenplay, along with cameraman Alton who manages a forbidding world of shadows and half-light that mirror the moral world our agents must enter. In fact, a couple of visuals look like the underside of a wrecking yard at midnight. The screenplay (Higgins) too, manages to avoid many clichés of the genre, along with a few riveting surprises. I like the painstaking way the screenplay sets up the agents' (O'Keefe & Ryder) credentials as counterfeiters. Though you may need a scorecard at times to keep up with the many players who drift in and out.Frankly, O'Keefe would not be my first choice for a role like this. He's a little too clean-cut and movie star looking. But I have to say he delivers a fine performance that makes you forget the handicaps. Then there's Lassie's mom, June Lockhart, who makes the most out of what amounts to a cameo appearance. And what would an underworld picture of the time be without the great jut-jawed Charles McGraw. Here he gets to menace everyone including the audience. I hope there's a special place in Hollywood heaven for unsung guys and gals like him.All in all, it's a stylish thriller deserving of its reputation as a noir classic. Meanwhile, I'm checking the few bills in my wallet.

Get by the introductory speech and T-Men picks up steam (literally) going from a Detroit mob to a San Francisco counterfeiting ring. Two treasury agents go undercover and find out all that they need to know, but also find it difficult to stay alive. Tailing one suspect into Chinese herb shops and steam rooms, and then into a restaurant with a South Pacific motif, which is the locale for one of the great scenes in the film, trading samples of counterfeit cash that are folded like airplanes, reaching an agreement about paper and plates (one side has one, the other side has the other), all the little details that could have been a bore aren't because the viewer is constantly drawn in by the quality of the pacing, stellar cinematography, the characters ,and the locations.

This film is rather reminiscent of the excellent Alan Ladd Noir film, APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER (about a postal inspector infiltrating a murderous gang). In this case, the undercover work is done by two Treasury agents--Dennis O'Keefe and Alfred Ryder. I really liked these two as leads because despite being far from household names, the acting was excellent and believable. Also, true to Noir, they weren't exactly handsome guys--more like a tough average man instead of the usual non-Noir heroes.O'Keefe and Ryder play undercover agents who are trying to infiltrate a gang of counterfeiters. It's dangerous work and they can't just arrest people because they have no idea who is in charge. Throughout the film, tough bad guys (such as Charles McGraw) and unflinching but realistic violence is present--as well as an excellent level of suspense. Unlike some Noir films, this one pulls no punches nor does it give way to sentimentality. This is a seldom-seen but exceptional film for lovers of the genre.By the way, I had one minor complain and that was the terrible narration. My score for the film, because of this, is knocked from an 8 to 7. When the film began, a Treasury official gave an introduction that was VERY stilted and he simply couldn't read his lines well. Then, throughout the film, a different narrator spoke on occasion and just wasn't necessary to the film--it was a minor distraction.