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.
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.