'T-MEN' & 'RAW DEAL' - two essential film noir's by Anthony Mann
October 11th 2010 02:23
PAINTING WITH LIGHT
Anthony Mann, the Hollywood director who made over 40 films during his 30 year career, worked his way up in the studio system. First starting with B-pictures, these would lead to him to directing more prestigious and bigger films as his career progressed, such as Fall Of The Roman Empire, Winchester 73 and The Glen Miller Story. For lovers of Film Noir, I comes at you now with a dose of Noir-ish intrigue and post-war fatalism. A real turning point for American cinema's menacing undercurrents of the 40's, Anthony Mann made two essential Film Noirs, back to back during 1947 and 1948.
T – Men, and then - Raw Deal. Both starring Dennis O' Keefe and both shot by cinematographer John Alton (The Big Combo, Elmer Gantry), were two quintessential Noirs that at once represented a maturing in American cinema and also displayed an unseen darkness in films which came out of Noir's post-war expressionistic paranoia. John Alton's cinematography, which would be studied for the five decades that followed, included key Noir visuals that broke new ground in lighting and remain truly something astonishing to behold.
Despite T - Men and Raw Deal's shared director, cinematographer and star, these two beautifully dark and ominous films couldn't be more different in their style and story, yet they still feel indirectly connected. They accumulatively write the book on every dazzling photographic trick in the book and John Alton's virtuoso, absorbing photography sucks you in to these doomed worlds, where our protagonist’s fate is immediately sealed. Alton seems to be the perfect cinematographer to help Mann achieve his overwhelmingly dark vision.
T–MEN:
Dennis O' Keefe plays an undercover policeman, as he becomes enveloped in this world of crime, he himself loses his own sense of values. T-Men begins in documentary fashion, where a real life head of the treasury department Elmer Licoln Irey, playing himself, introduces the characters to us in an absurdly outdated and unnecessary prologue. T-Men is really melodrama posing as documentary, post war realism communicated through expressionism
T-Men was a film belonging to a now dated sub-genre of pseudo documentary film which portrayed gritty realism, real locations, naturalistic actors and a narrator who was usually full of hot air. It introduced us into the film through facts and real cases. The narration here in T-Men seems annoying and unnecessary, as it takes us by the hand and leads us predictably along, explaining what is obvious at times. It also presents the film's key flaw as it's narration often undercuts the dramatic tension. This is a minor distraction though as it's impossible to resist the pull that T-Men eventually has on us in this early story of undercover policemen.
O'Keefe remains a grave figure, caught in a world where right and wrong can no longer be defined by any of his values, where the line between cop and criminal is a blurred one. Even O' Keefe himself can no longer tell what side of the law he is on. The black and white heightens this effect considerably. The photography by Alton reveals countless Noir lighting effects, including, dark figures framed in glowing light, swirling smoke, light and shadow cut through Venetian blinds, wide angle lens distortion, deep focus photography, a gallery of shadow play which all works to conceal and reveal shady men in trench coats and fedora’s and looming figures darkening the reflecting neon streets of the city.
T-Men's visuals triumph over any flaw as the expressionistic imagery completely absorbs you, darker and further down into this heavily breathing beast. The rich blacks and elegant cuts of shadow play reveal visual revelations in even it's saddest of imagery. Dennis O' Keefe's doomed, undercover partner is completely swallowed up by this world and Alton's photography transposes these moments of doom into a strangely dark and beautiful poetry.
The power of T-Men's imagery has never weakened and there are few films that have been shot so evocatively. The real short coming here is the return to Irey's narration, concluding with an irritatingly cheesy voice over which ends the film, ultimately making it feel close to an American propaganda film with it's 'voice of government narration', cheering on the brave men of the treasury who died for their country while under cover. The main allure is Alton's range of technique, his endless wizardry which gives us one of the greatest shot films of all time. In the end the film's pompous narration doesn't stand a chance against T- Men's scathing, black heart.
RAW DEAL:
Raw Deal seems to be, by a decent stretch, the superior of the two films, a never ending moral landscape of conflict, Raw Deal is one of the darkest and greatest Film Noir's ever made. Bleak and fatalistic, Raw Deal relies less on lighting technique used to cover up a stagnating script like T-Men, and feels like a more organic made film. Ironically, Alton doesn't try as hard to impress with his virtuous bag of tricks here, his lighting works more to compliment an already tightly directed film and excellent script. The result is that the photography works possibly even better here, due to it's more organic function. Where T-Men shows us every photographic trick in the book, Raw Deal invents some new ones, ones that have been rarely emulated since.
When Dennis O' Keefe's character, Joe Sullivan takes the rap for a man simply known as Rick, a maniacal pyromaniac who gets his kicks from burning things, in particular the faces of pretty young dames, Rick plans an escape for Joe , who he owes 50 Grand to, being quite certain that this escape will in fact get Joe killed. Joe lands up being a man on the run getting further than Rick expected him to - and not with one woman by his side, but with in fact TWO.
Dennis O' Keefe fits the bill perfectly in both films but Raw Deal focuses even more on this moral conflict than T-Men does ( T-Men being a much more straight forward film). Dennis O' Keefe's expressionless face and hard square jaw contradicts with his sympathetic eyes. The two dames who he goes on the run with may seem to be a variation on the traditional role of the femme fatale, but what they serve to do more importantly is present the film with fascinating and multiple sub-plots, pulling us, and Joe as well, in two different conflicting directions at once.
The first of the females is Joe's girl friend Pat, the second is his lawyer Ann. Pat is the narrator of the film, the tale is one that is told from her point of view. Her narration is moody and always accompanied by eerie musical compositions, these delicious morsels of narration pull us under and ensconce us in a detached urban land scape. Pat is a bottomless hole of insecurity, emotionally demanding of Joe, while Ann is the stronger moralistic lawyer who represents Raw Deal's attempt to veer from this direction of moral ambiguity, but not even Ann is safe from the black hole which all of the character's in Raw Deal sink further into and this love triangle is used to provoke a fascinating split of moral wills.
Anthony Mann's direction seems more confident here than in T-Men. Where Alton chiefly had his stamp of authorship over T-Men, Alton's work doesn't seem to draw so much attention to itself in Raw Deal. Alton's photography is still astonishing, but relies less on technique for it's own sake. Raw Deal is also the more well crafted of the two films, Alton's work here seems more unique also, at times creating such astonishing black and white shadow play that it can be impossible to even tell how it was achieved.
Raw Deal takes a much more enjoyably hard boiled approach to it's style, this is Film Noir at it's very best, complete with comic book flair. It's also the bleakest perhaps of all Film Noirs. The smoke and grit gets right in your face, with a smothering and exhilarating atmosphere which you can practically smell the stench of. In both films Mann and Alton use sullen, static frames to evoke this menace, in fact Raw Deal is so fatalistic, that it's every on screen detail cries out to us.
These two films remain some of the most astonishing in this legendary genre. Remembered for their moody expressionism, these two small films have a major impact and influence on the Noir genre and is a must see for anyone interested in photography and this style of film making.
HERE'S A SCENE FROM RAW DEAL
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
I own The Big Combo, and numerous other noirs, but neither of these.
John Alton, what a legend. Black and white is so much harder to get right.
My favourite b&w DOP is Robbie Muller (although he also works in colour)
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I think I enjoyed T-men a little more than you, but I always dig the narration over films in this genre.
Raw Deal reminds of a Fuller film for its hard edges and unblinking coldness, a must indeed.
Anthony Mann made so many great films in his career, he even managed to make Jimmy Stewart a hard man in some.
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
But my real issue with T-Men is that it's ending amkes it feel slightly like a propoganda film, that aside, t's powerful noir visuals are heads above many others in the noir genre.
While I find T-Men cool, I find Raw Deal utterly brilliant. I like the Fuller comparison, but I feel like Raw Deal has aged like a fine wine, I just cant say the same thing about T-Mrn, even though I still like it
and BRYN - yes I'vve seen that doco - I really think you should check these two out ASAP if you like noir
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
Raw Deal possibly one of the darkest Film Noir's ever - thanks for reading!