I didn't realize that director Anthony Mann and cinematographer John Alton were considered to be a famous film noir team until very recently, and when I did it just happened that I had two of their partnerships in my house at the same time: "T-Men" and "Border Incident." "T-Men" came out in 1947, right about the time a docu-drama sub-genre of film noir emerged. These films were always fictional recreations of true stories and had an element of the newsreel about them -- stentorian voice-over narration giving us little history lessons about some social problem or other and prologues featuring montages of real locations that gave the films the patina of a social service. But once this obligatory beginning to "T-Men" is disposed with, the film settles into a tight and suspenseful story about two treasury department agents who infiltrate a counterfeit money operation. It's obvious why Mann and Alton were such a great combination -- the compositions and chiaroscuro cinematography in this film are its greatest assets. There are some real surprises (like the death of a major character) and some memorable set pieces (like a murder in a Turkish steam bath). I don't know that it joins the ranks of my favorite noirs, but it certainly earns its place as a more than respectable addition to the genre."T-Men" was rather inexplicably nominated for a Best Sound Recording Oscar in 1947, even more notable because there were only three entries in that category that year (the winner was "The Bishop's Wife").Grade: A-

Filmed in a no-nonsense, semi-documentary style, 1947's T-Men vividly tells the tale of 2 undercover agents from the American Treasury Department in Washington, DC, who risk life and limb in order to infiltrate a ruthlessly clever organization of currency counterfeiters who have operations in both Detroit and Los Angeles.Moving from one flea-bag hotel to the next, agents O'Brien and Genaro diligently track down "The Schemer", a valued member of the Van Tucci mob, who eventually leads our heroes to Mr. Big.Filled with plenty of hard-hitting action and deadly double-crosses, T-Men is a gritty, hard-edged Crime/Drama that's sure to please any fan of Film Noir.Filmed in stark b&w, T-Men had a running time of 92 minutes.

T-Men might be one of the great film-noirs of the period- certainly a high point for Anthony Mann who already has Raw Deal as one of the masterpieces of the period- if only for one fatal flaw: the narration. While it would probably work well enough in a pulp magazine or wherever a story like this would turn up in print (it seems just about made for it, though despite the presence of the "real" treasury department officials it's fictional), the narrator, who comes off like an even more dead-pan version (and of course less subtly satirical) of the VO in the Killing, disrupts the flow of the story where it could be just excellent without it. Little things pop up that could be filmed just was well, finding out the clues and the details and not overrun with the ham-fisted voice of authority. If it was even done in shorter bits interspersed, fine. But as it is, it's the only big letdown of the movie, making it dated (at least more than usual).And yet, this doesn't detract from what should be a must-see for those who want to immerse themselves in a creative visual style. The team-up of Mann and his DP John Alcott was a match made in shadow-heaven, and their collaboration brings out such a strong style that it's hard to look away. This, plus the performances from Dennis O'Keefe, Wallace Ford, Charles McGrayw, make it a firecracker of a thriller, involving a story of two federal treasury agents out for a big sting with a nest of counterfeiters in Los Angeles and Detroit. When Man directs certain scenes, they pop like you want one of these 'old-school' hard boiled flicks to go. The violence actually isn't very cheap either, at least for the period, and it's a big bang where another director might've gone for the limp whimper. The villains are tough, but like any good soldier undercover the hand is always a little slicker, one step ahead. When it's at its best, T-Men is like the super-cool grandfather to the likes of the Departed.If only for the preachiness, and that stupid voice (who, apparently for good reason, is uncredited), I'd recommend it as whole-heartedly as Raw Deal. As it stands, it's still very good, with the kinds of double-crosses and moments of tension (i.e. the lead-up to the Schemer's demise) that rank with the finest the genre has. Bottom line, you're bound to find one or two of the compositions in T-Men right smack-dab in the examples of textbook film-noir lighting and design: maximum impact of B-movie reaching art. 8.5/10

This is a fun movie, in a campy sort of way. Two undercover "T-men" (United States Treasury Agents) attempt to uncover a counterfeiting ring as a narrator describes the technical details of the laborious process they use to do it... at great detail, in other words, repetitively, like thus: "He trailed him, shadowing, hiding, keeping hidden, shadowing, trailing..." and so on.This movie would be little better than an Ed Wood movie except for the cinematography and the directing. Almost all of the acting is completely covered up by the continuing narration until later in the movie, when the actors finally have time to present their characters without someone telling us what to think of them. Even after they are given room to act, however, they have to deal with such cheesy and dated lines as, "Are you out of your whim-whams?" and "Have you ever spent 8 nights in a steam bath looking for a man?" However, it's all in the fun of film noir, even if it is removed from the existential angst and is more like a crime periodical sort of story. A viewer still gets that rich sense of chiaroscuro and guns flashing out of the dark still pack a punch.--PolarisDiB