Odd Man Out
1946
James Mason stars in this powerful suspense drama as Johnny McQueen, the leader of a quasi-IRA group. When he's wounded in a botched robbery, he becomes the object of an intense police manhunt and must scramble desperately about Belfast in an attempt to escape. Kathleen (Kathleen Ryan), the woman who loves him, also takes off .. Read more
| Starring | James Mason, Robert Newton, Kathleen Ryan, Cyril Cusack |
|---|---|
| Director | Carol Reed |
| Genres | Drama |
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Odd Man Out
James Mason stars in this powerful suspense drama as Johnny McQueen, the leader of a quasi-IRA group. When he's wounded in a botched robbery, he becomes the object of an intense police manhunt and must scramble desperately about Belfast in an attempt to escape. Kathleen (Kathleen Ryan), the woman who loves him, also takes off in pursuit of Johnny, hoping to reach him before the police do. In the course of his flight, Johnny encounters an assortment of fascinating characters, making the film as much a portrait of a city as it is the drama of one man's life.
| Starring | James Mason, Robert Newton, Kathleen Ryan, Cyril Cusack, Fay Compton |
|---|---|
| Director | Carol Reed |
| Studio | ITV DVD |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 51 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Hearing-impaired | English |
| Released | DVD: 07 Jul 2003 Production year: 1946 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (2)
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This is as agonising a piece of cinema as you are ever likely to see. James Mason gives the performance of a lifetime as an IRA man on the run in the backwaters of Belfast after he is fatally wounded during a robbery. Mason conveys his pain and isolation with consummate skill, but his desperate plight is made unbearable by the masterly direction of Carol Reed and the chillingly atmospheric photography of Robert Krasker — the unforgiving landscape is exploited with outrageous camera angles and photographic distortions to fashion a city that is at once forbiddingly cold and worth dying for.
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Superbly crafted but rather empty dramatic charade, visually and emotionally memorable but with nothing whatever to say.
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Most helpful member's review
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8 out of 8 people found this review helpful
Masterpiece
It could have been written by Graham Greene with its themes of salvation, damnation and redemption and it was directed by Carol Reed, who three years later made the greatest British film of all time, The Third Man. There are strong affinities between the two films - the pristine black and white photography of Robert Krasker, the precise sense of place which both films have - this time it's Belfast rather then Vienna - and the tightly plotted narrative which moves inexorably to its tragic conclusion. There are some great performances : James Mason, who is semi-comatose for most of the film, is subtle,sensitive and dangerously romantic; F.J. McCormick is a brilliant Irish lowlife, deceitful and adorable in equal measure and then there is the monumental presence of Robert Newton - without the booze he could have been a great romantic leading man, a bit like a fleshier James Mason in fact - but in this film he is a massive presence, hammy, glorious and totally without fear in his acting. He fills every frame and provokes huge sympathy without playing for it. This is one of the best acted films of all time - there are a host of Irish character actors in supporting parts, including the great Cyril Cusack and Dan O'Herlihy. This is a genuinely great film - complex, engrossing and visually rich; a film which imprints itself on your imagination.It has to be seen by anybody who claims to be interested in film in general and British cinema in particular.It shows that there was a time when we could make truly great films.
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Most recent members' review
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
Count me in!
Carol Reed also directed 'The Third Man' and some of the hype claims that 'Odd Man Out' is as just good. You have to ignore that to really get the benefit of the film, because the mood of moral equivocation, heroes who aren't heroes and a time and place which is effortlessly captured is almost there, but not quite. It's good, even great, but it's just a little behind the perfection of 'The Third Man'. The real problem with this film is that you get James Mason, injured in a robbery, stumbling from one encounter to another, and after a while, it's a bit episodic. The effect isn't as cumulatively powerful as it ought to be.
Nevertheless, Mason himself is on towering form as the troubled hero (in 1946, Hollywood was about to poach him for a second career as the archetypal suave villain). Moreover, you get superb support from Robert Newton as crazed villain, and Reed's willingness to get out on the streets to film. Lots of films from this period are still wedded to the studio. Best of all, the ending is a stunner - you really won't see it coming.
It could be better, but 'Odd Man Out' still has real power, and anyone who like James Mason will think it a real find. -
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James Mason stars in this powerful suspense drama as Johnny McQueen, the leader of a quasi-IRA group. When he's wounded in a botched robbery, he becomes the object of an intense police manhunt and ... -