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ODD MAN OUT is the kind of film that stays within your film memory long after you've seen it--as in my case, writing this from a memory seared by the experience of watching JAMES MASON in one of his greatest roles as Johnny McQueen, on the lam from the law after a botched robbery ends in the death of a man and he becomes a hunted animal.

Visually, the film is the dark and shadowy kind of film noir that has him stumbling into the cold and snowy landscape, wounded and intent on protecting himself from the elements and the mob of people who want to see him dead. Mason's predicament is much like Victor McLaglen's in THE INFORMER, where he finds himself an outsider with little chance of survival in a world where danger lurks everywhere for anyone caught in a web of intrigue and espionage.

While the IRA is never mentioned, we understand that this is the criminal organization Johnny led and his fate is more or less sealed once he is on the lam.

Brilliant direction by Carol Reed, an anguished performance by the wounded fugitive, JAMES MASON, and wonderful support from Kathleen Ryan and Robert Newton, makes this a superior character study of the good and evil in mankind.

Well worth seeing and probably one of Mason's most memorable roles.

"Odd Man Out" is far more than just a very good "cops and robbers" movie, although it can hold its own with most. Beneath that is a deep psychological drama as Johnny McQueen, an IRA rebel, wounded in a holdup, is pursued by police, his own gang, and several unsavory characters. McQueen becomes less of a man and more symbol to his hunters. He is viewed as a martyr, meal ticket, and art project. Robert Newton is excellent in his role as a half-mad artist who wants to hold Johnny just long enough to paint the expression in the eyes of a dying man. Intensely suspenseful, set in the working-class neighborhoods and slums, the gray atmosphere compliments the plot perfectly. One of James Mason's finest.

In the Northern Ireland, Johnny McQueen (James Mason) is the leader of an underground organization that needs funds to keep it in action. Johnny was in prison and has broken jail. His hideout for the last six months is in the house of Kathleen Sullivan (Kathleen Ryan), who has fallen in love with him, and her grandmother.

Johnny plots a factory heist to raise funds but the scheme does not work as planned and Johnny is wounded and kills a man. The clumsy driver of the runaway car panics and leaves Johnny on the street. The police organize a manhunt with a great number of policemen while Johnny's gang seeks him out. While trying to reach the hideout, Johnny is helped and betrayed while Kathleen and a priest try to find salvation for him.

"Odd Man Out" is a film about human reactions, feelings and emotions in a large scale manhunt. The plot is politically neutral and never makes any reference to the IRA or to Belfast and that is clear in the very end. Johnny McQueen may belong to IRA or to a mafia and this is not important for the film.

Carol Reed uses a magnificent camera-work associated to angles and shadows to disclose a gloomy thriller without redemption. The Brazilian DVD released by Cult Classic Distributor has no synchronization between images and subtitles and it is very difficult to follow the dialogs. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Condenado" ("The Condemned")

Odd Man Out is a terrific piece of cinema. It is set in Ireland and stars James Mason as Johnny McQueen; leader of an underground Irish organization that engage in a robbery that will enable the organisation to steal the funds it needs to continue it's activities. However, the heist goes sour. Events conspire against him, and Johnny ends up wounded and alone in the city of Belfast. The police then launch a huge manhunt to find the criminal and lead him to justice, and what follows is a desperate struggle by Johnny, and Johnny's friends, to get him to safety. Before the film starts, it claims that it is not about the state of Ireland at that time, but rather the effect that the state of the country has had on it's people; and that is exactly what the film does. The neutral people in the film are caught between whose side to be on; helping the police will keep them out of jail, and for some, make them feel like they are doing the right thing; but nobody wants to get on the wrong side of Johnny's "organisation", as that could also be detrimental to your survival. All of the characters in the film have some affiliation to the state, be it good for them or, more commonly, bad for them.

Odd Man Out is an adventure. It's an adventure about one man's struggle to get from point A to point B. Like all good adventure films, he meets people along the way; some that will help him, some that won't. It's exciting in this respect, but the film isn't only an adventure. As he did in his other masterpiece; The Third Man, Carol Reed succeeds in giving a thriller a great substance. That's one of things that's great about this film; on the surface, it's entertaining and therefore can be enjoyed by anyone, but if you take a look under it's skin, the film has depth also; which firmly places it in the "film buff" category of films. Odd Man Out clearly highlights the paranoia, values and fears of the era, and these are explored through the main character.

Odd Man Out is one of the best directed films that I've ever seen. Carol Reed is an excellent director, and one who is worthy of more acclaim. Here, he indulges in many tricks with the camera, including a terrific sequence that sees our hero see multiple images in a puddle of spilled beer. Reed pulls all of these tricks off, and none look out of place. Considering that this movie was made in 1947, it's a piece of technical wizardry. Reed also uses many different cinema styles at different times to further his story. The film is dramatic at certain points where the characters are interacting, but at the other end of the spectrum; it's very cinematic at certain times, most notably in the scenes that see Johnny being chased through the streets of Belfast. These scenes are extremely atmospheric and very aesthetically pleasing. Despite indulging in many different tricks and styles; the film is never gratuitous. Where another, lesser, director might have gone over the top; Reed doesn't, and it keeps the film very much on the level, which is to his, and this piece of art's credit.

Overall, Odd Man Out is a masterpiece that is on par with, if not better than The Third Man. It's a shame that it has seemingly been forgotten as this movie can surely take it's place among the best of all time. A glorious must see.

Odd Man Out is an almost flawless movie that is such a tribute to great acting, writing, and storytelling. In a time when there are so many blow em' up action movies with actors showing the talent levels of my radio this movie can show you that there can indeed be great films that don't involve huge explosions, and that much gunplay, and also this movie proves that so much of a story can develop within a five mile radius, if not that big, and show you just how intense human drama can be. James Mason, in one of his best performances ever plays Johnny McQueen, an IRA member who is hunted by the law. After he is shot his friends seek help, having to leave him alone, in order to find someone that will help him. He must run after the cops almost find him. What ensues is a movie that is not pro-IRA or pro-Britain but an incredible character-driven movie in a movie you would not expect to find one. The movie takes place all over the city, as Johnny McQueen and all of those associated with him have an incredible adventure, not to mention his love interest. The acting is beyond phenomenal, these actors give these characters a great amount of depth, and they seem to realize the backdrop of the conflict at hand, and play the scenario perfectly.

This time does not exist anymore, the conflict of which this movie takes place in might, but fifty years later attitudes, traditions, and conventions of the day have changed a lot. This movie is almost an incredible time capsule, capturing the feeling of the time, and the conflict of the time without telling any names, you know the organization that the movie is talking about but no name is mentioned, and a name really doesn't need to be mentioned. This movie is all around phenomenal, in the message it conveys, and the way it conveys it. Odd Man Out uses this conflict to portray an idea of peace, an idea to stop killing, and to stop violence. In this film the movie lends the conflict to senselessness, by the end of the film the goals of both sides seem like a moot point, and that all that happened as a result of the conflict was a lot of violence, murder, turmoil, and nothing achieved. I cannot say enough that the one key to the success of the film is the acting. James Mason is in top form as the gunman that wonders around the unnamed town, the supporting cast is nothing short of spectacular, the acting makes this movie.

By some critics this was called the best British movie in the Post World War 2 era, for a number of years. In the immediate years following the war that is hard to debate, odd man out is quite a spectacle, a phenomenal film without question. The movie is so many things: a great character study, a brilliant film exploring man's own problems with it's own kind, a sad movie, a love story, and a movie that exemplifies the way movies should be made, obviously I give this movie a glowing endorsement. Many people say that movies in this time had shallow characters, that were unoriginal, and unrealistic. This movie shows just the opposite, and if you were to watch most mainstream movies today you would find that accusation true of most modern movies, but this movie shows just how strange, and sometimes remarkable we are, and shows very mush, in it's own way how different we are, and I love movies like this where the characters are what make the movie, the plot is important too, but it is the unique and unexpected characters that make this movie so much more than a standard movie, this movie is a classic. This is a movie that is almost mesmerizing, engrossing to the point you almost forget where you are, few movies achieve that, this is definitely an achievement for British cinema, and an achievement for cinema overall.