Un líder nacionalista irlandés herido intenta evadir a la policía tras un robo fallido en Belfast.Un líder nacionalista irlandés herido intenta evadir a la policía tras un robo fallido en Belfast.Un líder nacionalista irlandés herido intenta evadir a la policía tras un robo fallido en Belfast.
- Dirección
- Guión
- Reparto principal
- Nominado para 1 premio Óscar
- 4 premios y 2 nominaciones en total
Reseñas destacadas
Essentially what Reed and Company have done is create a dark and gloomy urban landscape and made it seductive, even precious to us, by making us care about the people we meet there. Not that these are especially likable people. Many of them aren't, but they're presented fairly and, till near the end, without too much melodrama; and the way they're offered to us, which is to say their environments, vastly warmer and more enticing than the cold night streets the bleeding fugitive is staggering through, create a series of dramatic contrasts between the real world most of us have to move through, and the more imaginative, safer worlds of our homes, where we can retreat to, and imagine we are something else. The wounded Johnny McQueen can afford no such luxury on this bitter night, as each little warm nest offers, for a brief while, a ray of hope that this time he will come in from the cold for good, get warm, rest a little, have his wounds taken care of, and maybe even, if he gets really lucky, find himself a warm bed to sleep in.
Alas, this is not Johnny McQueen's night. Some of the people he encounters treat him decently enough for a while, till they figure out who he is, and then calculation sets in, and selfishness wins out in the end. The film is full of the kind of nocturnal yearnings anyone who has ever lived in a cold city feels as he walks the streets, whether to a pub or train station, home or restaurant, wondering what on earth he is doing out on a night such as this. One goes past this little rowhouse on a sidewalk, or that little walk-down cafe, and looks in the window, sees the people inside, and wishes one were there. Yet cold nights have their pleasures, and even rain has a beauty, as puddles reflect the light of streetlamps and rain-streaked windows make rooms that much more inviting.
Odd Man Out takes these moods, and the musings that accompany them, and raises everything to the max. Johnny isn't merely a man walking down a street, he's a hunted criminal. As we feel as he does, everything comes more intensely into focus than it would normally; as a phone booth can look like the most wonderful place in the world when the snow starts falling. The film makes us see and feel things as we seldom do in normal life, and the result is a kind of compulsive aestheticism that may well be accidental. Anything is or can be beautiful under the right circumstances, and all interior places are inviting when the temperature drops, one hasn't eaten in hours. I suspect that this wasn't the film-makers' intention, that they were hunting bigger game, looking for larger meanings, and the trappings of their picture were intended perhaps as incidental pleasures, or maybe not as pleasures at all. But it is precisely these things,--the visual tropes, not the philosophical and theological underpinnings--that I find most interesting and gratifying about the movie. In the end films have their own meaning, and this one makes me more attentive to the smaller things in life rather than the larger issues; to snow, rain, beer, to boots and overcoats, to the thin white blankets of snow that drape cities on winter nights.
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.
The Republican forces signed a truce out of sheer exhaustion, peace was necessary or there would have been no country left. Later on for goals like getting those six counties into the fold. Remnants of the IRA carried on, but with less and less public support. Remnants like the one James Mason is a commander of.
He's escaped from prison and the scars internal and external still show. His group is planning a robbery of linen mill payroll for money for the 'cause.' Unfortunately Mason kills a man, and is wounded himself and left behind by his fleeing comrades.
There's a big price on his head before for being a fugitive and now with murder added to it, the authorities will shoot first. The rest of the film is Mason's desperate struggle to stay alive and reach help and finding it not available.
James Mason said that Odd Man Out was his favorite film role and he credited Carol Reed's direction in giving him a career role. Best in the supporting cast is Robert Newton as the mad artist looking to paint him in the throes of death. The part calls for the kind of scenery chewing Newton was famous for and Carol Reed gives him just enough encouragement to get it right.
Odd Man Out led to James Mason's American screen contract with MGM after one more British production. It holds up very well today as a film about a man fighting for a cause that was losing enthusiasm among its believers, Mason included.
While this film does feature an `organisation' that bares more than a passing resemblance to the IRA of the time and it is set in a town in Northern Ireland (unnamed in the film, but Belfast in reality) but this is not a film that is about the troubles per se; in fact it is surprising in just how non-partisan it manages to be throughout. The film goes the usual route of having the main IRA-character being either `too crazy for the IRA' or `too good for the IRA', the latter being the case here; however despite this it isn't anti-British or pro-IRA, in fact it is more about the characters and the dark landscape than about the politics.
Reed uses the same skills as he later would bring to the classic The Third Man - the dazzlingly dark streets, the imaginative shots and the photography. The actual plot is a little thin if you read the summary, however what it does do well is tell a tale of a man adrift among roughs and friends until true love is his release and redemption. For this reason, Mason actually doesn't have that much acting to do. He is quite understated in comparison to the lively and colourful support characters. His accent is way off for Northern Ireland; he tries a Southern accent but still his distinctive voice shines through. He gives a good performance but is surprisingly in the background for a leading man.
The support cast is better and is where the story really happens - in the hearts of the `normal' man. They have much better accents and characters and mannerisms that will be familiar for those who of us who are from Northern Ireland! The characters range from the good hearted to the greedy to the apathetic. The film never judges any of them but lets them be played out in their own way, it works well for this reason. The downside is that the support cast is almost more important than the banner star; the upside is that the film is never dull and is colourful throughout. The narrative takes a dramatic (if slightly melodramatic) turn at the end, but still produces a strong climax to the film, but it is the support cast and Johnny adventures through the dark streets of Belfast that makes the film move.
However to say that is the only driver is to do a disservice to the direction and photography. While the film doesn't really capture the spirit of Belfast, it does portray it as the prison that Johnny would view it as, and it does it with a great deal of style and imagination. Some scenes show great imagination - witness the faces in the beer bubbles or the pictures haunting Johnny in the art gallery.
Overall this is a great film, although narrative tends to take second place to the feel of the film, the style and the colourful character. Not near the class of Third Man but certainly a stylish and enjoyable film for those who enjoyed it's bigger brothers.
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.
¿Sabías que...?
- CuriosidadesJames Mason called this his best performance of his career, and his favorite Sir Carol Reed film.
- PifiasWhilst Johnny is on the lam, there's a relentless heavy downpour. However, as Kathleen is looking for him during this time, there's no rain at all.
- Citas
Johnny McQueen: I remember. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I understood as a child. But when I became a man, I put way childish things. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become a sounding brass or a inkling cymbal. Though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faiths so that I could remove mountains and have not charity... I am nothing.
- Créditos adicionalesOpening credits prologue: This story is told against a background of political unrest in a city of Northern Ireland.
It is not concerned with the struggle between the law and an illegal organisation, but only with the conflict in the hearts of the people when they become unexpectedly involved.
- Versiones alternativasThere is an Italian edition of this film on DVD, distributed by DNA srl, "TRENO DI NOTTE PER MONACO (Night Train to Munich, 1940) + ODD MAN OUT (Fuggiasco, 1947)" (2 Films on a single DVD), re-edited with the contribution of film historian Riccardo Cusin. This version is also available for streaming on some platforms.
- ConexionesFeatured in Performance (1970)
Selecciones populares
Detalles
Taquilla
- Recaudación en todo el mundo
- 65.759 US$
- Duración1 hora 56 minutos
- Color
- Relación de aspecto
- 1.33 : 1