Directed by:
Anthony MannScreenplay:
John C. HigginsCinematography:
John AltonComposer:
Paul SawtellCast:
Dennis O'Keefe, Alfred Ryder, Wallace Ford, June Lockhart, Charles McGraw, John Newland, Jane Randolph, Keefe Brasselle, Frank Ferguson, Robert B. Williams (more)Plots(1)
Anthony Mann was a poverty-row director with ambition when he transformed this story of undercover Treasury agents (based on a collection of true cases) into a moody, alienated drama about two lawmen living a shadowed life in the underworld where a blown cover means death. Square-jawed Dennis O'Keefe, a former leading man turned beefy B movie tough guy, and Alfred Ryder star as the titular T-men who take over a counterfeiting investigation when their predecessor is killed, posing as street thugs to infiltrate their way into the gang and living the dangerous life of the gangster to the hilt. The documentary-style realism, with its authoritative narrator, location shooting, and stock-shot interludes of shuffling papers and laboratory testing, is given a nightmarish dimension with stark sets lit in claustrophobic shadows, creating an abstract, eerie emptiness. Penned by John C. Higgins (who wrote Mann's previous film, Railroaded!), and shot by the brilliant cinematographer John Alton, T-Men is raw in comparison to the smoother, more handsome studio noirs such as The Maltese Falcon and Out of the Past. Saddled with often awkward dialogue and hackneyed narration, this low-budget gem derives its power from the brutal violence (often offscreen but no less unsettling for it) and spare style, and the desperation in the hard faces of the unglamorous actors. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Dennis O'Keefe
USA
Best movies:
Producers' Showcase (1954) (series)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Fury (1936)
Alfred Ryder
USA
Best movies:
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
True Grit (1969)
T-Men (1947)
Wallace Ford
UK
Best movies:
A Patch of Blue (1965)
Freaks (1932)
The Rainmaker (1956)
June Lockhart
USA
Best movies:
The Gift of Love (1978) (TV movie)
The Yearling (1946)
The White Cliffs of Dover (1944)
Charles McGraw
USA
Best movies:
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
The Defiant Ones (1958)
In Cold Blood (1967)
John Newland
USA
Best movies:
Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
T-Men (1947)
Jane Randolph
USA
Best movies:
Dive Bomber (1941)
T-Men (1947)
Railroaded! (1947)
Keefe Brasselle
USA
Best movies:
A Place in the Sun (1951)
T-Men (1947)
Railroaded! (1947)
Frank Ferguson
USA
Best movies:
The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
The People Against O'Hara (1951)
You'll Never Get Rich (1941)
Robert B. Williams
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
North by Northwest (1959)
A Patch of Blue (1965)
Frank Hyers
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
The People Against O'Hara (1951)
A Place in the Sun (1951)
Al Bridge
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Ralph Brooks
USA
Best movies:
Love Crazy (1941)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
It Started with Eve (1941)
Trevor Bardette
USA
Best movies:
Gone with the Wind (1939)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Gun Crazy (1950)
Reed Hadley (narrator)
USA
Best movies:
Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
Kansas Pacific (1953)
Bachelor Mother (1939)
Russ Conway
Canada
Best movies:
Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
The Heiress (1949)
Curt Conway
USA
Best movies:
Hud (1963)
Columbo (1971) (series)
Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
John Wengraf
Austria-Hungary
Best movies:
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
5 Fingers (1952)
Herbert Heyes
USA
Best movies:
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
One Man Mutiny (1955)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Tito Vuolo
Italy
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Killing (1956)
Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)