Odd Man Out (1947) User Reviews

One of cinema's finest achievements

[The_Void · 8/10 · 8 September 2004]

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.

Early British noir is a visual masterpiece...James Mason at his best...

[Doylenf · 8/10 · 1 January 2007]

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.

...and not have charity...

[blanche-2 · 9/10 · 1 December 2007]

James Mason is the "Odd Man Out" in this 1947 film directed by Carol Reed, also starring Cyril Cusack, Robert Newton, Wilford Brambell and Kathleen Ryan. Mason plays Johnny McQueen, the well-known head of the Irish Republican Army in Belfast. Though he has just escaped from prison, he plans a mill robbery to get funds for his organization and insists on going along with his colleagues. He ends up killing a man and becomes badly wounded himself. Fleeing the scene, his colleagues are unable to get him completely into the car and he falls out.

What follows is a fascinating and gut-wrenching journey as Johnny, half-dead, wanders the rainy and snowy streets trying to get back to his girlfriend's (Ryan) place. People want McQueen for a variety of reasons - the police's are obvious; his clergyman wants to provide comfort and help him make his peace with God; an artist (Robert Newton) wants to paint him (shades of "Road to Perdition"), his girlfriend wants to get him aboard a ship to escape, an old man wants the reward...and some people don't want any part of him and would rather he just died in the street, well away from them. As he becomes weaker, he is treated like a sack of flour.

Carol Reed, as with "The Third Man" uses the filming locations to great advantage to create a gloomy atmosphere full of shadows and dark streets. One almost feels the cold and wet. This is one of James Mason's best performances - his Irish brogue is flawless and his suffering magnificent. As opposed to many in the cast, he underplays, making everyone around him seem hyper - as indeed, at the sight of him, many of the characters are.

A very powerful and thought-provoking film that won't leave you with very good thoughts about humanity, if you had any.

A Snowy Night In Belfast

[telegonus · 10/10 · 20 November 2001]

One of the most beautifully directed (Carol Reed) and photographed (Robert Krasker) films I have seen. The story revolves around the attempts of various citizens of Belfast to either aid, comfort or kill a wounded revolutionary gunman. A great deal has been written about this picture, concerning mostly its meaning, and I'm going to (heretically) skip over these issues and focus instead of why I think the film works so well as a piece of art rather than try to figure out what it's saying.

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.

A great film, largely overlooked

[iron-5 · 15 June 1999]

"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.

One of the best movies ever made

[jaybob · 10/10 · 23 October 2000]

This is the film that brought James Mason to the attention of Hollywood. His Bravura performance as a wounded IRA leader hunted by the police, & various others for good & evil purposes Is of award caliber. Carol Reed`s direction is further proof a what a master director should be, This was one of the best movies of 1947 & I think it is one of the best movies of all time. The Oscar went to Gentlemans Agreement in 1947 a good film but does not compare to this or Great Expectations, also a 1947 release.

Human Reactions, Feelings and Emotions in a Manhunt

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 27 December 2011]

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")

Reed's masterpiece

[pdeany1234 · 10/10 · 13 November 2006]

The settings and photography of this film are absolutely outstanding, Johnny's hiding place, Shell's odd room full of canaries, the elaborate Victorian tavern,the snow covering Johnny as he lies unconscious. I love the Third Man but this is by far my favorite Carol Reed production. It is slow and contemplative and transforms essential theological and philosophical concepts into visual media. It is strange and almost at times hallucinatory, but after all Johnny is often hallucinating in his pain and fever and this dreamlike quality is quite appropriate -- the slow thoughts of a man before he dies, as he tries to figure out what it was about and where he may be going. Reed does so much with film without dialog -- his close-ups of faces, his soft, dark streets and odd angles turn very difficult concepts and feelings into a visual masterpiece. I am always surprised to see how little commentary, what short shrift this excellent film is given

I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal

[JamesHitchcock · 7/10 · 28 July 2017]

This is the first of three films noirs, all containing the word "man" in their title, made by Carol Reed during the forties and fifties; the others are "The Third Man" and "The Man Between". It is the only one of the trilogy to be set in the UK, the other two taking place in continental Europe. The action takes place in an unnamed "Northern Irish city" (for which read Belfast) and features an unnamed "illegal organisation" (for which read the IRA). We may think of Northern Ireland's "Troubles" as something dating only from the late sixties, but the province was never entirely free of political violence after partition in the early twenties. It was a brave move to make a film about this subject in 1947, especially one which does not take sides politically, as the IRA were cordially loathed in Britain, not only for their terrorist activities but also for their openly pro-Nazi stance during the recent war.

Johnny McQueen is a leading member of the organisation who has recently escaped from prison. He and his cell are ordered to rob a factory to obtain funds. The raid, however, is bungled and a cashier is killed and Johnny injured. He is forced to go on the run, while the police organise a manhunt. Various people, including members of his own organisation and his girlfriend Kathleen are also trying to find him, for various reasons.

James Mason (who also starred in "The Man Between") is said to have regarded this as his best film, and others have held it in high esteem, Roman Polanski going so far as to call it his favourite film. It certainly has its virtues, but I have always felt that it also has its faults and I have never rated it as highly as "The Man Between" or Reed's masterpiece, "The Third Man".

Most of these faults come in the second half of the film in which a number of people are searching for Johnny, and not always for the obvious reasons. Kathleen is looking for him because she loves him. A priest, Father Tom, wants to save his soul. A painter, Lukey, wants to paint him because of what he "sees in his eyes". Lukey's friend, Shell, is hoping for a financial reward, either from the authorities or from the organisation, for information about Johnny's whereabouts. Two old ladies take pity on him, but throw him out of their house when they discover who he is and what he has done, although they do not hand him over to the police. A barman takes a similar attitude. From around the halfway mark onwards Johnny, the dominant figure in the first half, fades out of the film, becoming a passive symbol- a symbol of whatever the other characters want to make of him- rather than an active participant in the drama. As a result, the film seems structurally unbalanced, a union of two halves which do not fit neatly together.

Moreover, the acting is variable in quality. Robert Newton plays Lukey as the standard caricature of the artist as an eccentric, possibly mad, Bohemian starving in a garret. F. J. McCormick plays Shell as the standard caricature of the stage Irishman, full of the blarney and speaking little that makes any sense. And, like most stage Irishman, he has a Southern Irish accent. In fact, most of the cast sound as if they come from either England or Southern Ireland. Virtually nobody manages - or even attempts – a genuine Ulster accent.

On a more positive note, some of the cast are better; I am thinking particularly of Kathleen Ryan as the faithful Kathleen and Denis O'Dea as a sympathetic policeman. The cinematography is excellent. Reed is able to conjure up a vision of Belfast- many scenes were shot on location in the city- as memorable as the visions of New York or Los Angeles conjured up by the great masters of American noir. We see the city in all its moods- the robbery takes place in bright sunlight, but later scenes were shot in shrouding fog or driving rain. The closing scene takes place in a snowstorm. There is also a fine dramatic musical score from William Alwyn.

When I said that the film does not take sides politically, I meant that it is neutral on the question of whether Northern Ireland should remain part of the UK or be united with the Irish Free State (as it was in 1947). On the question of political violence I think it does take sides. Even early in the film Johnny finds himself at odds with his organisation- a possible explanation of the title- because he has come to believe that non-violent political action might achieve more than armed struggle. Although Johnny tends to fade out in the middle of the film, he returns to prominence at the end. He knows he is dying; if he does not receive medical treatment his wounds are likely to prove fatal, but if he goes to the hospital he will be arrested and hanged for the murder of the cashier.

He begins to quote from that famous passage in St Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, including the words "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal". He may be delirious, but in his delirium he gives voice to an idea which he has instinctively known, and has been struggling to express, since the beginning of the film, namely that the rhetoric of men of violence, including members of his own organisation, who lack charity in their hearts is hollow and worthless, of no more significance than a tinkling cymbal. Although this is not, in my view, Mason's finest film, it is nevertheless a fine, highly expressive, individual performance. 7/10

Too Exhausted To Help

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 27 May 2007]

Odd Man Out takes place in a period bad for the cause that the Irish Republican Army is espousing. It's after the end of the civil war in Ireland which in many ways was far bloodier and nastier than the original war for independence following the formation of the Dail by the members of Sinn Fein who withdrew from the British Parliament.

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.

Tense and dark

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 9 April 2018]

The next time you're in the mood for a tense, well-acted, rather unsettling drama, check out Carol Reed's overlooked British drama Odd Man Out. While it received a BAFTA for Best British Film, hardly anyone in America has ever heard of it.

James Mason stars as the head of an Irish rebellious group, and he's been staying with his girlfriend, Kathleen Ryan, for six months, hiding from the police since his escape from prison. While in the middle of a robbery with his fellow members, Robert Beatty, Cyril Cusack, and Dan O'Herlihy, James gets shot. The rest of the movie both moves quickly and drags, as James tries to stay alive and away from the police. Kathleen helps hide him, but he's losing blood and there are several witnesses who could, at any point, give him up.

James Mason gives a fantastic performance, and it's a credit to his talent that he'd able to carry a movie while spending most of his time with very little energy because of a gunshot wound. He's truly magnetic-and it doesn't hurt that he looks incredibly handsome-and easily gains the audience's sympathy even though he's a criminal. If you're a James Mason fan, you're definitely going to want to rent this one. Just keep in mind it's heavy, and pretty violent for its time.

Unusual and Interesting Film

[ian_harris · 8/10 · 14 January 2005]

Very unusual film, this. Haunting. I'm not a big fan of James Mason but he is excellent in this.

An unnamed organisation (the IRA) in an unnamed Norhern Irish city (Belfast) carry out an armed robbery that goes wrong. Johnny ends up shot, dying and on the run. The movie tracks the multiple stalking of this wounded, dying creature. Everyone wants a piece of him for different reasons.

Why the IRA and Belfast aren't named I don't know - perhaps the politics of the time caused this.

Some aspects of the movie have dated somewhat, but much of it remains gripping and fascinating.

Harold Pinter refers to it constantly in his play Old Times and you can imagine that a young Pinter would have been influenced by this movie.

Check this one out, for sure.

The great Carol Reed

[trimmerb1234 · 7/10 · 5 August 2017]

Carol Reed directed some of cinemas best. The classic "Third Man" is superbly shot in night-time just post-war Vienna with a compelling, driving script by Graham Greene and a star performance from Orson Wells.

Odd Man Out gets the full Third Man treatment - the great direction, the photography, the location shooting, a starry lead. But not a coherent story or tone. Some of it is frankly crass and irritating. Robert Newton - once again - plays a wild-eyed boisterous drunk as per "Outcast of the Islands. The dying of IRA martyr figure "Johnny" (Mason) is infinitely drawn out for almost the length of the film against which Newton's shorter but still overlong OTT turn as the drunken artist is a comic diversion which sits very uncomfortably with the body of the film. So too the whimsical elderly comic nark who craftily tries to turn Johnny in for the £1000 reward (£50,000? in today's money). The extravagant scene towards the end where Johnny tries loudly (it should have been troubled and feverishly) to square his actions on behalf of the IRA with his Catholic faith descends into bathos. The film is visually splendid, full of incident, characters and performances, indeed too much. But Mason is off-form and gives a dialed in performance as if not being convinced by the whole thing.

There may well be a great film inside here, waiting to be edited and perhaps 30 minutes removed. Robert Newton was a great actor, it's not his fault here but the removal of the entirety of his scenes would be a good start and distinct improvement.

Thought-Provoking Criminal On The Lam Melodrama

[ShootingShark · 5/10 · 24 July 2005]

Johnny McQueen, the head of a criminal organisation in a city in Northern Ireland, stages a raid on a mill's payroll. It goes badly wrong, a man is killed and Johnny is wounded. With the police hunting him in force and a reward on his head, Johnny is forced to flee through the city at night, unable to trust anyone.

This movie has an interesting amoral dramatic structure - it puts a bad man (a terrorist, robber and killer) in the lead, and then asks you to sympathise with him. It does this by emphasising his altruistic qualities (loyalty, friendship, courage) and his suffering - he literally bleeds to death for almost the whole film, the night is bitterly cold, he's slowly losing his mind and almost everyone is out to get him. The drama comes from the other characters' relationships with him - those who love and admire him (sweetheart Ryan and friend Beatty), those who want to exploit him (informer Delaney, hobo McCormick and artist Newton) and those who don't want to get involved with him (cabbie Tomelty and bartender Hartnell). In the end though, I can't empathise with McQueen no matter how much he suffers (unlike, for example, Alex in A Clockwork Orange, who is much worse), because he's responsible by his own actions for the mess he's in. The "Organisation" is of course a nom-de-guerre for the Irish Republican Army (and the unnamed city probably Belfast) but the film doesn't make the mistake of addressing political issues - it's purely a drama, full of compassion and insight into human nature. Very well made and acted, with great moody photography by Robert Krasker and terrific sets by Roger K. Furse and Ralph Brinton. Written by F.L. Green and R.C. Sheriff, based on Green's novel.

Kafkaesque allegory about the limits of man's compassion

[howard.schumann · 25 August 2003]

It is the winter of 1946-47. Johnny McQueen (James Mason) is a revered leader of the Irish Republican Army in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Recently escaped from prison, he plans to rob a mill to provide funds for the organization though his colleagues urge him not to be involved. Awarded Best British Film at the British Academy Awards and nominated for an Oscar for Best Editing, Odd Man Out, directed by Carol Reed (The Third Man), is the story of a botched robbery that leads to murder and the attempt of a seriously wounded man to elude capture. Pursued by "The Inspector" (Dennis O'Dea), Johnny is helped by Kathleen Sullivan (Kathleen Ryan), a young IRA woman who loves him and tries to smuggle him out of the city. He wanders helplessly in the dark streets and alleys of Belfast, buffeted by rain and snow, living in cellars with derelicts, constantly exposed to danger, looking more like a walking zombie than a revolutionary. The tone of the film is dark and Kafkaesque with its thin line between reality and nightmare.

Johnny is one of Mason's best roles especially during the early part of the film but he is submerged in the second half by a string of exaggerated supporting characters that include a demented painter Lukey (Robert Newton) who wants to paint his death mask, a priest (W.G. Fay) who wants to save his soul, sisters Rosie and Maudie (Fay Compton and Beryl Measor) who give him shelter but force him out, and con man Shell (F.J. McCormick) who wants to use him to make money. Odd Man Out is not a political film or even a suspense thriller but a surreal allegory of the limits of man's compassion. When Lukey looks at Johnny and says, "I understand what I see in him. The truth about us all", we can see ourselves -- running for our life, scared and alone, awaiting the encroaching night.

"Odd Man Out" Is a Winner!

[JohnHowardReid · 10/10 · 3 August 2008]

Who will ever forget the theme music for Odd Man Out? In an inspired departure from the norm, director Carol Reed asked the composer to write the score from the shooting script and record it, so that Mason could walk in time to the beat. It's no accident that Reed is the man behind two of Britain's most memorable movies so far as music is concerned. The other, of course, is The Third Man, to which this film bears more than a passing resemblance. In both movies, there is a thin, shadowy line between heroes and villains. Both Johnny McQueen and Harry Lime have their admirers and lovers. In both films, their admirers let them down badly, but the lovers remain faithful until the end.

On the other hand, both films have a distinctively different noir atmosphere. Odd Man has an almost 19th century flavor as the camera tracks down deserted streets, criss-crossed with occasional horse-drawn carriages. Then suddenly the heroine is thrust into a hall jammed with American servicemen, dancing to strident, frantic bursts of music. She leaves quickly, and as she closes the door it's almost as if she's shutting the modern world behind her in favor of a romanticized past, an aura of lost causes, Romeo and Juliet trysts, and death as the culmination of love and desire. The end of the enigmatic Christ-figure, Johnny McQueen, is always in sight, even as the story twists and turns into unexpected dead-ends and alley-ways, introducing a number of well-rounded, intriguing characters, superbly enacted by Fay, McCormick, Ryan, Cusack, O'Dea, Hartnell, Newton and company.

Although a number of critics selected Odd Man Out as one of the best films of 1947, the most important honors in 1948 Great Britain were the National Film Awards. These were selected by picturegoers themselves who voted in the annual Daily Mail polls. The number of voters in 1948? 2,781,751! The people's choice? The Courtneys of Curzon Street, followed by Great Expectations and then Odd Man Out.

Well played, super movie.

[d94rc · 10/10 · 22 September 2001]

James Mason gives the performance of a lifetime as a dying IRA-man.

There's little I can say to add to others' description of the movie except for a few historical notes:

The city _is_ Belfast. It was shot on the streets - according to my Grandfather most outside scenes had huge audiences. The Bar which McQueen ends up in is the Crown Bar, on Great Victoria Street. The exterior of the actual bar is seen although a replica of the inside is seen. This is an architecturally beautiful bar and well worth a visit!

Mason wins the viewers' pity for a dying rebel. Remember, this is the 'old' IRA and not the latter-day thugs we are familiar with. From the outset you feel sympathy for the man and this increases as you are taken through the last hours of his life.

It is hard to get on video, though BBC2 (UK) usually shows it round Christmas. Set your video!

Odd but beautiful film

[Eleanordent · 6/10 · 30 May 2013]

I was born and brought up in Belfast. Thus I find it very irritating that all the actors in this film speak either with English accents or with accents from the Republic of Ireland. I don't recall hearing one Northern Irish/Belfast accent. It portrays a Belfast which seems to have been manufactured entirely in Hollywood where everyone is misty-eyed about 'The Organisation,' clearly meant to be the IRA, and its perceived struggle against the tyranny of the forces of law and order. Despite this the performances, locations, filming, music and the entire atmosphere are mesmerising. Belfast has never looked so beautiful. Worth seeing for that alone.

That's the duty of all of us.

[hitchcockthelegend · 9/10 · 4 March 2008]

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

Technically brilliant but badly dated

[watkins39 · 7/10 · 10 July 2002]

Carol Reed fans who are looking for another Third Man will be disappointed by this earlier picture, which has some great cinematography and stylish touches but lacks a story or enough interesting characters. It begins promisingly by focussing on the tensions within a rebel gang in Belfast but, after the inevitable heist, degenerates into an episodic ramble though the city streets, James Mason playing a mannequin's role as a wounded man incapable of sustained dialogue or action. Robert Newton goes to the other extreme, overacting his part as an eccentric artist, though there are good performances elsewhere in the cast. People who know more than me about film-making will appreciate this film for it's cinematic technique, but it dates very badly as a piece of entertainment.

Odd Man Out

[Scarecrow-88 · 10/10 · 3 August 2009]

Remarkable thriller about the results of a mill robbery gone awry as an escaped agent working for "the organization"(..IRA;the robbery was to fund their underground group's efforts), bleeding badly from a gun shot wound and barely able to move around without stumbling(..in his scuffle with a mill employee, he shoots the innocent man, killing him), and the reluctant assistance of many citizens who help him as police search every corner of Northern Ireland for his whereabouts.

I think what makes this so compelling is Carol Reed's phenomenal use of sets in creating such a lively environment, recreating a crowded Belfast, as streets swell with all kinds of people. The magnificent eclectic cast of characters and the incredible story of how Johnny McQueen(James Mason), the chief leader of this renegade political group who have been selling weapons to people in the city, having escaped from prison and struggling with "lightheadedness", is able to remain free from the authorities due to the often unintentional aid of others(..most neither siding for or against him)are definite reasons to check this one out.

Carol Reed(The Third Man) directed with a sure hand, perfectly able to capture a city gripped by the activities of McQueen and his crime organization. You witness how others seek to benefit from McQueen since there's a price on his head. The film's emotional core, however, is Kathleen Sullivan(Kathleen Ryan)and her fearless devotion and love for McQueen, willing to sacrifice her very life to find him. WG Fay is a delight as Father Tom, a beacon of trust for many in his community, attempting to offer spiritual refuge to those in need. FJ McCormick is derelict Shell, seeking, at first, to profit for informing others of McQueen's location, later recanting such feelings to help him. Mason proves here just why he'd become such an amazing actor for many decades to come. The use of rain and snow is very effective as we witness McQueen trying to forge his way to some type of freedom, ducking into alleyways or behind bushes, at times, seeking rest as his body slowly slips away. The presence of the police creates quite an intensity as we wonder just how long McQueen can escape capture.

Haunting and intriguing drama competently directed by Carol Reed, being one of the hallmarks of post-war British cinema

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 13 September 2020]

¨Odd man out ¨(1947) is an exciting adventure in unbearable suspense with James Mason as an IRA hit man on the run was Reed's first real independent effort, and he had gone to the big production company ¨Rank¨ to do it . This is a suspenseful drama set in the Twenties about Johnny McQueen (James Mason in the title role) , is the IRA-like group's leader who has been hiding the past six months since his getaway from prison at a home occupied by his tragic sweetheart named Kathleen Sullivan (Kathleen Ryan) who loves him . Later on , Johnny along with hot-headed fellow-rebel Dennis (Robert Beatty) and others planning a hold-up to get money . The next day, Johnny , Nolan (Dan O'Herlihy) and Murphy break into the mill office and hold the clerks at gunpoint to demand the money. As they leave with the money, Johnny is confronted by an armed cashier . Johnny is shot in his upper left arm before he returns fire and shoots the cashier . The escape driver , Pat (Cyril Cusack), drives off but Johnny falls from the rapid car . Then the wounded IRA gunman on the run through a Belfast permanently coated with snow and pelted by rain ; along the way regarding the people who help and hinder his getaway.

An intelligent and powerful effort by Carol Reed and a decent example of the respectable quality of the British cinema which achieved splendor and apotheosis in late 40s . Carefully crafted film with notable interpretations , plenty of thrills , intrigue , twists and turns . Director Reed carries out an engaging studio of an IRA rebel on the lam , by realizing a restrained , tasteful making , as he explores admirabily a controlled Belfast environment , especially lower classes , he has a special ability to elicit remarkable acting from his actors and a nice skill for delving psychological depths without sacrifice narrative coherence . And providing a sophisticated analysis of the intersection between realities of Irish and British people with their implacable cops pursuing the unfortunate injured man. All the thrilling events are compellingly built up and leading to an agonizing and surprising final . Interesting and moving script from F.L. Green and R.C. Sherriff , supported by Carol Reed himself . Main starring James Mason is perfect , he gives a magnetic as well as strong acting , he broke right away from his run of regency cads . And great support cast responds masterfully to the particular demands of the director by delivering enjoyable and memorable portraits , such as : Robert Newton , Cyril Cusack , Fay Compton , Robert Beatty, Dan O'Herlihy. And remaining support cast is frankly excellent , such as : Denis O'Dea, Eddie Byrne , Maureen Delaney , F.J. McCormick, William Hartnell and brief appearances from Noel Purcell , Geoffrey Keen , Guy Rolfe ,among others .

It contains and evocative and atmospheric musical score by classy composer William Alwyn with usual musical conductor Muir Matheson . As well as an adequate cinematography in black and white with plenty of lights and shades in expressionist style , being magnificently photographed by Robert Krasker -subsequently a great cameraman for superproductions- by adding greatly to the mounting tension . The motion picture was splendidly directed by Carol Reed , being one of his most engrossing films showing understanding of character and realized in the middle of his best period . Reed once considered to the greatest British director , had his clay feet , mercilessly exposed by the auteurist critics of the 60s . Now stripped fo his old and inflated reputation it is posible to appreciate better his virtues . Reed worked for important producers as Alexander Korda and J. Arthur Rank . For Reed, who would wisely decide to start producing his own films in order to have more control over them, finding his niche was still a challenge into the 1940s . He was only too well aware that the film director led a team effort--his was partly a coordinator's task, harmonizing the talents of the creative team. The modest Reed would admit to his success being this partnership time and again. So he gravitated toward the same scriptwriters, art directors and cinematographers as his movie list spread out . There were more thrillers and some historical bios: Kipps (1941) with Michael Redgrave and The Young Mr Pitt (1942) with Robert Donat . He did service and war effort fare through World War II, but these were more than flag wavers, for Reed dealt with the psychology of transitioning to military life. His Anglo-American documentary of combat , The True Glory (1945), won the 1946 Oscar for Best Documentary. With that under his belt, Reed was now recognized as Britain's ablest director and could pick and choose his projects. He also had the clout--and the all-important funds--to do what he thought was essential to ensure realism on a location shoot, something missing in British film work prior to Reed . And , of course , his greatest hit was ¨The third man¨with Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten . ¨Odd man Out¨rating : 7/10 . Well worth seeing . Better than average , though overlong .

Johnny McQueen - not Norman Main

[theowinthrop · 10/10 · 28 January 2007]

In his later years, when James Mason was interviewed on television or in magazines, he was inevitably asked what role of all of his films he thought his best one - and he gave an honest but unexpected answer. Instead of choosing his best recalled roles in A STAR IS BORN (Norman Main) or Uncle Nicholas in THE SEVENTH VEIL or Captain Nemo (TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA) or the Marquis of Rohan in THE MAN IN GRAY or Humbert Humbert in LOLITA or Van Dam in NORTH BY NORTHWEST, he chose Johnny McQueen, the doomed IRA man in ODD MAN OUT. It certainly was a good performance - whether it is his best performance or his star turn with Judy Garland in A STAR IS BORN remains for individuals to guess. But it certainly is compelling. It is also a serious allegory on the abandonment of a Christlike figure.

Johnny McQueen does not start out Christlike - he is a gunman planning a bank robbery with his gang (including Cyril Cusack) for funds for the IRA. But there are a series of problems that arise in the bank robbery, culminating in Johnny killing the manager of the branch and getting seriously wounded. His co-conspirators (in their panic) abandon him to get away. They are the first people in the city of Belfast who will continuously abandon or dump or try to use Johnny in the next twenty-four hours, while the police (Denis O'Dea) and his loyal girlfriend Katherine (Kathleen Ryan) and his priest Father Tom (W.G.Fay) try to find him before it is too late. But O'Dea is seeking him for eventual trial and execution, while Ryan and Fay want to get him out of Belfast back to Eire.

What happens is like a repudiation of the story of the Good Samaritan, with Johnny as the injured man passed by "good" people. Nobody who Johnny stumbles on wants to touch him. A pair of women whose home he stumbles into doesn't want the husband of one of them to see him. William Hartnell, as a bartender, is angry when Johnny is dropped off at his pub - he hides him until he can be dumped into the street. There are also others who would briefly protect him for their own reasons. Robert Newton is a mad painter who wants to have him as a subject (he'd be the face of Christ curiously enough). As poor Johnny is increasingly disoriented by his loss of blood and lack of care, he hallucinates at this point - and actually has a brief religious moment thinking he is talking to Father Tom. But the latter is unable to speak clearly in Johnny's delirium. Still Johnny is able to recall what his religious faith meant when he was a youth. It is this sequence that is usually considered the highpoint of the story.

Given the long history of sectarian strife in Ireland and Belfast in particular ODD MAN OUT does a remarkable job at being fair minded. No hint of religious bigotry rears it's head - it is just a matter of sympathy with an underdog who can't protect himself, in a sea of indifferent hostility. The tragedy is played out with inevitability - and yet the film's conclusion mingles a sense of triumph with the tragedy, as Johnny finally is brought "safely home."

Good, but loses momentum in second half

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 4 July 2019]

This film gets off to a very strong start, with a (presumably) IRA-led robbery going bad, and then a couple of surprising moments and tension in the aftermath. I loved the mostly Irish cast which lend a realism to what we see, as well as director Carol Reed's truly fantastic use of light and shadow in the streets, which reminded me of 'The Third Man' from a couple years later. We also slowly get used to the idea that the film is not so much about pro-IRA vs. anti-IRA, but rather, about the limits of human compassion, and whether people will help someone in need if it means danger to themselves, which is a wonderful revelation. I watched a bit spellbound and horrified as the leader (James Mason), almost like a Christ-like figure, is cast out and shunned in his hour of need. There is certainly a statement about humanity here, though I don't know, I would have liked to have seen just a teensy bit of pro-IRA sentiment in the locals. The biggest issue, though, is that the back half loses its momentum and lags, wound up a little too much in some of the supporting cast, and I felt like it was about a half hour too long. The ending seemed a little heavy-handed and not all that imaginative either. It's a shame it didn't live up to its better moments, but it's certainly worth watching.

Overlong And Drawn Out

[ArmandoManuelPereira · 4/10 · 4 March 2020]

I read that this was Roman Polanskis favorite film. Though I can't see why. It is, in my opinion, an average or less then average melodrama. Their are to be sure some interesting moments, and some lovely visuals; but ultimately it is an overlong, drawn out affair. Much like the way James Mason dies in the movie.