The Undercover Man
| The Undercover Man | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Joseph H. Lewis |
| Produced by | Robert Rossen |
| Screenplay by | Sydney Boehm Jack Rubin |
| Based on | article "Undercover Man: He Trapped Capone" by Frank J. Wilson |
| Starring |
Glenn Ford Nina Foch James Whitmore |
| Music by | George Duning |
| Cinematography | Burnett Guffey |
| Edited by | Al Clark |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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85 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Undercover Man is a 1949 American crime drama film noir starring Glenn Ford. This was one of a number of noirs directed by Joseph H. Lewis, who went on to helm Gun Crazy and The Big Combo. The drama also features Nina Foch and James Whitmore.
Frank Warren is a treasury agent assigned to put an end to the activities of a powerful mob crime boss. The agent struggles to put together a case but is frustrated when all he finds are terrified witnesses and corrupt police officers. Although most informants end up dead, Agent Warren gets critical information about the mob from an unlikely source.
The film was based on an article entitled "He Trapped Capone," the first part of the autobiography Undercover Man by Federal Agent Frank Wilson, which was serialized in Collier's in 1947.
Many details were fictionalized. The time-frame was changed from the Prohibition era to the post-war era. Chicago became an unnamed, fairly nondescript big city. Capone was referred to only as the shadowy "Big Fella" and only photographed from the rear, and was a more diversified mobster rather than primarily a bootlegger (reflecting the change in US organized crime following Prohibition's repeal). And of course, IRS Criminal Investigator Frank Wilson became IRS Criminal Investigator Frank Warren.
Nevertheless, the film authentically portrayed the efforts of Wilson's team to put together a tax evasion case against Capone, and, in many respects, despite the name changes and nondescript settings, the film is a far more accurate depiction of the investigation than later films on the same subject like The Untouchables.
As one example, in The Untouchables the judge presiding over Capone's trial abruptly changes juries in the middle of the case, something that would never happen in real life. What actually happened was that the judge switched jury panels just before the trial began, and this incident is accurately portrayed in The Undercover Man.
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Wikipedia