Released: 1947

Dir.: Anthony Mann

While working in home video distribution for 8 years, then another 15 years working at a video store, one thing remained constant; what almost everybody wanted was the newest releases. Anything older than three weeks was completely unacceptable, no matter how good the film was, it was old news. End of story. So, the very thought of something in black and white, from a bygone era, was unthinkable. It’s old, artificial, corny and…boring. Oh, they thought they knew classic movies. I’d have a Humphrey Bogart movie playing, and a customer would come in, smile, and say, ‘I know this one, Casablanca!’ They were almost always wrong; Casablanca wasn’t about prospecting for gold. These people were really missing out.

Just because something is old, doesn’t mean it’s not worth your attention. So, I give you Anthony Mann’s 1947, film noir classic, T-Men.

Admittedly, T-Men is indeed an old-fashioned police procedural, with the Reed Hadley narration of authority, and co-operation of the U.S. Treasury Department. However, underneath the plain brown wrapper, is a tough, dirty crime thriller about two undercover Treasury agents infiltrating a gang of counterfeiters.

Dennis O’Keefe and Alfred Ryder are special agents O’Brien and Genaro who infiltrate the Vantucci gang in Detroit, earning their confidence, hoping to find out who are the leaders of the much larger counterfeiting ring. Soon O’Brien is pointed to Los Angeles, and a mysterious figure known only as the Schemer (Wallace Ford). O’Brien heads out to the coast alone. Using a counterfeit bill printed on plates seized by the government, and likely not recognizable to the crooks, O’Brien flushes out Schemer after taking a beating from Schemer’s goons.

O’Brien’s bill is of exceptional quality, so obviously Schemer and his organization are interested, and would like to see the plates. Once O’Brien’s background checks out with the gangsters, he dangles the back plate in order to get a sample of the gang’s paper so he can print a sample for them. The gang obliges by giving him 4 sheets, 3 of which end up at the Treasury lab for analysis. O’Brien is smooth and can talk his way through any situation, even though the west coast mob are a lot tougher than Detroit, as well as more unpredictable.

Not everything goes as easily as it sounds. O’Brien takes a few beatings along the way and is always under the watchful eye of Moxie (Charles McGraw), the gang’s chief enforcer and all-around thug. Moxie never trusts O’Brien, as O’Brien picks off rungs on the way to the top of the organization.

What separates T-Men from other police procedurals is its sheer grittiness and unpredictability. The film portrays undercover work at its most dangerous. O’Brien and Genaro are deeply entrenched and have to keep their guard up constantly for long periods of time. You can’t help but ask yourself how people can do this kind of work, the stress must be murder, as well as the temptation. There is little way of knowing what is going to be waiting around the next corner, and if you’ve already seen the picture you know what I mean.

Of course, if you love the noir look, T-Men is beautiful, with John Alton’s clever use of low angles, deep night-time wide shots, composition, and source lighting. Coupled with dingy, rundown apartments, and unfriendly steam baths, you are as deeply entrenched as O’Brien and Genaro, with no obvious way out. At the beginning of the film, noir legend Charles McGraw emerging from the shadows to kill an informant has become an iconic film noir image. From that moment you’re trapped, but in a good way. The film starts as a slow boil, then never lets up, by the last 30 minutes there is no way to take your eyes off it.

That’s something I like about classic movies, they build the tension, unlike today, where you get pummeled by ‘explosives’ right off the bat. The fun is the trip to the final confrontation, gaining character and information along the way, without a wasted minute. I suppose that’s why most noir films are 95 minutes or less. It’s a simple story structure, nothing new, but it works. T-Men is the whole package, and yes there’s even a dame or two.

T-Men is the second of three noir films Anthony Mann made for Eagle-Lion Films. The first being Railroaded, the third, Raw Deal. All three are worth a look.

T-Men can be streamed on Tubi, as well as other streaming services, and YouTube.