Back home

Odd Man Out

218 votes

Producing House

Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robbery.

movie

Status: Released

Released Date: 1947-01-30

Runtime: 116 mins

Director: Carol Reed

Writer: F.L. Green

Spoken language: English

Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Original title: Odd Man Out

Production Companies: Two Cities Films, J. Arthur Rank Organisation

Production Countries: United Kingdom

Reviews

G

Geronimo1967
This is very much an example of less is more from Carol Reed. James Mason is super as ("Johnny") who leads an IRA cell that decides to rob a textile mill to secure continued funding for their operations. As they make good their escape, he is shot, seriously wounded and has to try to secure medical care whilst being pursued by a determined constabulary and by his loving gal "Kathleen" (Kathleen Ryan). What helps this film to stand out, it that it attempts to deal in a far more sophisticated fashion with the goings-on, brutal at times from both sides, as the net tightens around the fugitive. The characters - especially a superb Robert Newton ("Lukey") - add oodles to the gritty realism of this struggle to escape and to pursue, as does the eery Belfast photography and the snow. How effective is the snow!? The dialogue is sparing, much of the performance - and our appreciation thereof - relies on the gently evolving storyline with Mason doing much of the heavy lifting as he lurches around his city seeking help and safety. Reed doesn't take sides - we must draw our own conclusions, and that isn't an easy thing to do - that's another clever aspect of this production. At times it is quite scary, tense and suspenseful but at it's heart it is about a great cast and a strong story - we get to decide who is right, wrong or ....
2022-07-07

J

John Chard
That's the duty of all of us. Johnny McQueen is an IRA leader who breaks out of prison and for 6 months hides out at the house of adoring Kathleen. Here he plots a robbery of a Belfast mill to fund his underground organisation, the robbery doesn't go to plan and Johnny kills a man in a struggle outside the mill, he himself is shot and fails to make the getaway with his accomplices... If ever there was a film that defines the statement of film on canvass then this is it, it's a gorgeous piece of work relying on striking imagery and dialogue driven smartness to realise the demise of Johnny McQueen. We watch (and listen intensely) as Johnny lurches through the back streets of Belfast knowing he is dying, he has most of the city looking for him, be it the law, or friends, or those that want to cash in on him, his destiny is not so much carved in stone, but more like written in blood in the snow. The amazing feeling I got with this film is that I felt like I was dying as well, and I think that is one of the film's great strengths, director Carol Reed and cinematographer Robert Krasker put you into the mindset of McQueen, the doom hangs heavy, the distortion and hallucinogenic free fall for the last reel hangs heavy on the viewer, it's a stifling masterclass. Some of the shots are beautiful, especially once the snow starts to fall to accentuate the Victorian backdrops, but consistently we also get moist and misty cobbled streets lit by gas lamps, providing moody shadows of humans and buildings alike. While Krasker offers up his photographic atmospherics, Reed excels with scenes such as portraits forming together in front of McQueen, or faces appearing in spilled beer bubbles; images wrung out of McQueen's feverish mind. James Mason as Mcqueen is brilliant, and yet he doesn't get long periods of dialogue here, the script doesn't call for it, yet the performance is simply wonderful, with just one look of desperation Mason acts out of the top draw. There are a number of great characters in the film, like borderline insane artist Lukey (a bountiful turn from Robert Newton), or bum for a pound Shell (F.J. McCormick), no character is merely a walk on part, they all add weight to this clinically structured piece of work. The score by William Alwyn is right on the money and integral to realising the film's thematic heart, and the ending is noir nirvana, it took me 5 minutes to digest it fully during the close credits. A haunting and poetic piece of work, that rare old beast that is bleakly beautiful. 9/10
2013-11-02

Recommendations

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
3.3

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

1982-05-21

Juliet Forrest is convinced that the reported death of her father in a mountain car crash was no acc

The Crow
3.8

The Crow

1994-05-11

Exactly one year after young rock guitarist Eric Draven and his fiancée are brutally killed by a rut

Glengarry Glen Ross
3.6

Glengarry Glen Ross

1992-09-10

Times are tough at Premiere Properties. Shelley "the machine" Levene and Dave Moss are veteran sales

Chopper
3.4

Chopper

2000-06-21

The true and infamous story of Australia's notorious criminal Mark 'Chopper' Read and his years of c

The Cell
3.1

The Cell

2000-08-18

A psychotherapist journeys inside a comatose serial killer in the hopes of saving his latest victim.

The Bank Job
3.4

The Bank Job

2008-02-28

Terry is a small-time car dealer trying to leave his shady past behind and start a family. Martine i

El Mariachi
3.4

El Mariachi

1993-02-22

El Mariachi just wants to play his guitar and carry on the family tradition. Unfortunately, the town

Blue Velvet
3.8

Blue Velvet

1986-09-19

The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related

Strangers on a Train
3.8

Strangers on a Train

1951-06-27

A charming psychopath tries to coerce a tennis star into his theory that two strangers can commit th

Black Gravel
3.5

Black Gravel

1961-04-12

Tensions rise when a U.S. military base is built in a small village in post-war Germany.

Redhead
2.8

Redhead

1962-06-29

Bored with her marriage, Franziska decides to travel to Venice.

Oldboy
4.1

Oldboy

2003-11-21

With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks

Pulp Fiction
4.2

Pulp Fiction

1994-09-10

A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up bo

Pink Flamingos
3.1

Pink Flamingos

1972-03-17

Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against Connie & Raymond Marble,

The Shining
4.1

The Shining

1980-05-23

Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and

Nowhere
3.4

Nowhere

1997-05-09

In Los Angeles, a colorful assortment of bohemians try to make sense of their intersecting lives. Th

Murder, My Sweet
3.6

Murder, My Sweet

1944-12-14

After being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply compl

The Brasher Doubloon
3

The Brasher Doubloon

1947-02-06

Mrs. Elizabeth Bright Murdock hires Marlowe to find an old rare coin, the Brasher Doubloon, that bel

Lady in the Lake
3

Lady in the Lake

1946-12-19

Private eye Phillip Marlowe wants to get out of the detective racket and into crime writing. But whe

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
3.6

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

1998-05-22

Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo drive a red convertible across the Mojave desert to Las Vegas