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Odd Man Out [1946]


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Who said the Brits can't make films?
Review date: 2008-11-12 Rating: 10 out of 10

This is the finest British movie ever made. The Third Man is great, but this is greater. And the music is incredibly moving (by William Alwyn). Buy the film, buy the music on CD, and marvel.

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Reviews


Who said the Brits can't make films?
Review date: 2008-11-12 Rating: 10 out of 10

This is the finest British movie ever made. The Third Man is great, but this is greater. And the music is incredibly moving (by William Alwyn). Buy the film, buy the music on CD, and marvel.

Magnificent
Review date: 2007-11-03 Rating: 10 out of 10

I had never seen this film before although I have always been fond of James Mason. But this is a magnificent film to add to my classic film collection. Mason's performance, especially the scene in the artist's studio, is superb and the ensemble cast is especially good. How did Robert Newton manage to play a drunk whilst not being his usual drunken self?

And the lighting....the crisp black and white imagery beautifully directed by Carol Reed contributed to the sense of hopelessness and impending doom.

I suppose it was set in Belfast and I'm pleased they played southern Irish accents rather than heavy Belfast - not good for authenticity perhaps but easier on the ear for a non Irish audience.


My Best Film
Review date: 2007-07-22 Rating: 10 out of 10

I first saw Odd Man Out in the cinema in 1947. The story has been well covered by other reviewers although the IRA is never mentioned, always the Organisation At the time the film was made the IRA was dormant;some believed that the gun was gone from Irish politics. So it was felt safe to make a film of F.L.Green's book. There are memorable scenes in the film but the best is the scene in the Crown snug. Johnny knocks over a glass of "Guinness" and faces form his pain appear in teh bubbles; unforgetable

A sad, great film by Carol Reed
Review date: 2007-06-12 Rating: 10 out of 10

This is a powerful, tragic movie which is hard to forget. It tells the story of Johnny McQueen (James Mason), an IRA chief in Northern Ireland. He was sentenced to 17 years for robbery but broke out and now has planned to rob a mill to steal money for the cause. He leads three other men and things go wrong. He shoots and kills a clerk and is shot himself. During the chaotic escape he falls from the getaway car and is left on the street. He's seriously injured and probably is bleeding to death. All that evening and night, increasingly dazed and weak, he struggles to find someplace to go and rest. Please note that elements of the plot are discussed.

Odd Man Out is really two stories. One is McQueen's. The other is that of Kathleen Sullivan (Kathleen Ryan), the young woman who loves him and is determined to find and save him. She knows he's terribly hurt and that he'll be hanged if he is caught. She won't let that happen. Despite her Catholic faith and the sympathetic counsel of her elderly priest, she'll shoot Johnny and then herself if she must.

Those Johnny McQueen encounters during the cold and sleeting night may want to help him or may want the reward for his capture, but none want to give him shelter. A prosperous, fat madam welcomes Johnny's team and learns where they left Johnny. Then she turns them in and listens as they're shot down in front of her establishment. Two sisters find Johnny lying in the road and take him into their house. They bandage him but cannot keep him, and send him out again into the rain. A crazed painter (Robert Newton) finds him in a bar and takes him to his studio, where he wants to paint the dying face. All the while the police are slowly narrowing their search. At last Kathleen finds him. He is so dazed he can only know that he is with her now and is safe. As they stand against an iron fence, police with flashlights move toward them. Kathleen has a gun, but she finds she cannot use it to take Johnny's life and then her own. So she does what she must. She fires two shots, knowing the police will shoot down both of them.

So is this film Carol Reed's attempt to tell a story of redemption or the power of love or the fragile strands humans rely upon? Who knows. I'm not comfortable analyzing a film like Odd Man Out. All I know is that it is bleak, sad and great.

It was shortly after this film and, a year earlier, The Seventh Veil, that Mason left Britain for Hollywood. He always seemed to me to be one of the best film actors to come along. At the end of his life, in his last role in a movie, he starred at 76 in The Shooting Party. Mason was just as subtle and magnetic an actor then as he was in Odd Man Out.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Fay Compton
Kathleen Ryan
Cyril Cusack
Robert Newton
James Mason

Creators:
James Mason (Primary Contributor)
Kathleen Ryan (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Network
Manufacturer: Network
EAN: 5027626250942
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Black & White, PAL, Special Edition,
Release date: 2006-08-28
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 110 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1946
Language: English (Original Language)

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