T-Men
| T-Men | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Anthony Mann |
| Produced by | Aubrey Schenck |
| Screenplay by | John C. Higgins |
| Story by | Virginia Kellogg |
| Starring |
Dennis O'Keefe Mary Meade Alfred Ryder |
| Music by | Paul Sawtell |
| Cinematography | John Alton |
| Edited by | Fred Allen |
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Production
company |
Edward Small Productions
|
| Distributed by | Eagle-Lion Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $424,000 or $450,000 |
| Box office | $1.6 million (US/Canada) $2.5 million (worldwide) |
T-Men is a 1947 semidocumentary style film noir by director Anthony Mann and shot by noted noir cameraman John Alton. The production features Dennis O'Keefe, Mary Meade, Alfred Ryder, Wallace Ford, June Lockhart and Charles McGraw. A year later, director Mann used the film's male lead, Dennis O'Keefe, in Raw Deal.
The film was identified as a B movie when featured in the 1992 documentary, Visions Of Light: The Art Of Cinematography for its use of lighting and in the discussion about film noir.
The story involved two U.S. Treasury ("T-men") agents who go undercover in Detroit and then Los Angeles in an attempt to break a U.S. currency counterfeiting ring.
The agents try to join the gang by posing as counterfeiters from out of town. They eventually join the gang but the stakes are set even higher when one of the agents is killed by the gang while the other undercover T-man watches in horror.
The film was the first of a series of film noirs from Eagle Lion. Edward Small provided the finance and Eagle Lion took 25% of the profits.
The film was successful at the box office.
The New York Times film critic, Bosley Crowther, gave the film a positive review, "Hand it to Mr. Small's craftsmen: they have turned out a cops-and-robbers film in this new 'semi-documentary' format which, for action, is one of the best ... Made in part on locations in Detroit and Los Angeles, it does have a look of reality not often encountered in such films ... And Anthony Mann has directed the action, of which there is more than enough, with a fine sense of melodramatic timing and a good eye for sharp, severe effects."
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Wikipedia