Odd Man Out (1947) dir. Carol Reed
Starring: James Mason, Robert Newton, Kathleen Ryan, Robert Beatty, Elwyn Brook-Jones

****

By Alan Bacchus

I recently had a chance to watch John Ford’s 1935 classic The Informer, a story of a reluctant IRA informant rattled with guilt over his responsibility for the death of his compatriot. Carol Reed’s Odd Man Out makes for a great companion piece. Reed’s portrait of a wounded IRA leader stumbling through Belfast looking for refuge from the British authorities plays like a surreal Homer's Odyssey version of John Ford’s story.

At the top Jimmy McQueen (James Mason), the recently escaped leader of the clandestine ‘Organization’ of Northern Ireland, is plotting a bank heist to help fund the further activities of their war against the British. After the heist goes awry McQueen is stranded from his colleagues, stumbling away from the authorities. As McQueen’s men scramble to find him the British hunt is intensified, and one by one McQueen’s men are captured.

Throughout the day McQueen stumbles from one situation to another encountering the citizens of the town he’s sworn to help. Unfortunately his presence in the various bars, cabs, or flats he moves through is met with fear and hostility more than anything else. The only one looking after McQueen’s best interests is his girlfriend who yearns to reconnect with him and save him from British authorities or the opportunistic vultures of his own people.

While The Informer was unabashedly sympathetic to the IRA, Reed’s film is not so clear cut. The explicit non-use of the name IRA in favour of the innocuous term ‘The Organization’ suggests some trepidation on Reed’s part not to make a political statement. Despite some opinions of other critics, from these eyes Reed walks a fine line between condemnation of the IRA movement and patriotic support.

At every turn in McQueen’s journey he’s met with schemers and subverters looking to capitalize or profit on having knowledge of McQueen’s whereabouts – a particularly negative treatment of Irish nationalism. Whereas in Ford’s picture, other than the lead character’s betrayal at the beginning, there’s a familial feeling of collectivism and support for each other.

Of course, Reed’s picture could be classified tonally as a noir as opposed to Ford’s elegant melodramatic treatment of his story. Made in 1947 Odd Man Out is as tense and unsettling as the noir genre demands. Visually, Robert Kraster’s contrast and shadowy photography seems like a practise run for Reed/Krasker’s cinematic visual perfection of The Third Man a few years later.

Arguably Reed reaches farther than he did in The Third Man in terms of visual image as metaphorical storytelling. Watch the changing environment as McQueen’s state becomes more dour. At the beginning, it’s bright and cheerful, reflecting the optimism of McQueen’s plan. After he’s shot and begins to wander the city for help, sun turns into rain, then fog, then snow – the full gamut of weather conditions like a one’s life flashing before one’s eyes the moment before death.

While the narrative is directed by the movements of McQueen throughout the day, arguably his presence is a mere prop for Reed to craft his rather compartmentalized individual scenes and set pieces. Each new sequence is dominated by a new scene-stealing supporting character. The woman who betrays McQueen’s two men for instance, who at first think they’re in the company of a friendly supporter when in reality she's a backstabbing traitor. Or the crazed painter who desires to find McQueen in order to paint the emotion of man near death is as treacherous a portrayal of patriotism as anything I can think of.

Films like Odd Man Out and The Informer survive well these many years not only because of the filmmakers' superlative eye behind the camera but these complex and intellectually challenges reactions of their characters to their intense situations.

The Third Man (1949) dir. Carol Reed
Starring: Joseph Cotton, Orson Welles, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard

****

By Alan Bacchus

"The Third Man" might just be the absolute greatest film noir ever made. A stunning potboiler about an American man investigating the death of his friend in post-War Vienna. Carol Reed’s contrasty black and white skewed frames, sharp political wit and one of the great third act reveals in history make the film essential viewing for anyone who likes watching movies.

The political jungle of post-war Vienna is seen from the point of view of Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton). As the narrator (an omniscient one in the British version and Joe Cotton in the American) tells us, Vienna is divided into four quarters, British, American, Russian and French, with no one speaking the same language. Out of greed and necessity a black market for almost anything has emerged and with it all the nefarious smarmy characters we expect from a film noir.

Martins arrives in Vienna summoned for a job by his friend Harry Lime, unfortunately immediately discovering Harry was recently been hit by a trolly and died. But as Holly meets and questions the supposed witnesses to the event shifty eyes, and inconsistent recollections point to a conspiracy. With investigative sleuthing Holly uncovers a plot which involves illegal black market pencillin, and eventually, the discovery, of well… it can’t really be a spoiler 60 years later can it?…. Harry Lime himself still alive having faked his own death.

Graham Greene, the great novelist and screenwriter, is careful to unfold the story. Everyone seems to be on edge and untrustworthy of anyone. The antagonists in the story, a trio of black marketeers, are sophisticated and blend in with the refined polish of their British pursuers. The primo of polish is Harry Lime, when he’s eventually revealed, played by Orson Welles as one of the most famous villains in film history. When we first see Welles, he gives Holly, and the audience, a devious little smirk, before disappearing off into the night. And his dialogue with Joseph Cotton on the ferris wheel is one of the great exchanges in cinema. Cotton and Welles, two old pals from the Mercury theatre, Radio, Citizen Kane and Magnificent Ambersons, bounce the lines off each other with natural ease with Welles using his body language and subtle innuendos in conveying Lime’s threats to Martins.

Carol Reed’s nighttime shooting of Vienna embellishes all the noir-ish texture of genre. The desolate streets and underground sewer systems which the characters chase each other through are lit with harsh contrasty light placed low to the ground creating long ominous shadows and highlighting the rough cobblestoned streets. It’s unnatural but a distinct exaggerated expressionistic aesthetic.

I’ve never heard this said, but I can’t help but think the starkness of Welles’ own “Touch of Evil”, made years later, was influenced by “The Third Man”. If not by the stylish camerawork, then the use of the city locale as a character or the distinct and discongruous musical choices of Anton Karas and Henry Mancini.

"The Third Man" is available on Blu-Ray from the Criterion Collection