ODD MAN OUT

This 1947 film is the start of a run of three extremely impressive films directed by Carol Reed, the others being 'The Fallen Idol' and 'The Third Man'.  

It stars James Mason as Johnny, an IRA leader who gets badly wounded during a robbery.  Given that he killed a bank employee (albeit somewhat unintentionally) it's clear that he has to die by the end of the film, which made me fret that the journey getting there might be a bit of a downer.

But I needn't have worried, such is the excellence of everything on view.  

The black-and-white cinematography is stunning, and the visual compositions are such as to suggest that had be been born a few decades earlier Reed would have been an outstanding director of silent cinema.  Some of the scenes of men in silhouette trying to evade capture in the streets of Belfast anticipate what Reed would do even more strikingly in post-war Vienna two films later.

Mason himself doesn't have to do that much other than stagger in delirium from one hiding place to another, but the supporting cast are superb, many of them fine Irish actors.  

In particular I was very taken by Kathleen Ryan as a young woman (also named Kathleen) who loves Johnny.  There's a compelling scene between her and a priest in which she intimates that if Johnny has to die then she will die with him, and he tries vainly to dissuade her.  

Throughout this picture the score rises to the occasion when it needs to, especially in the closing moments, which pack an almighty emotional punch. 

Add to this a flawless screenplay in terms of the dialogue and you have an almost perfect film, my only minor reservation being that we get too much for my taste of a couple of minor characters, a small-time criminal and an eccentric painter, which dilutes the dramatic tension a little.  

Nevertheless it's an outstanding picture, not to be missed.

RATING: ✓✓ Good Times