T-Men

Anthony Mann: T-Men (US 1947). Dennis O'Keefe (Dennis O'Brien / Vannie Harrigan) and Wallace Ford (The Schemer). Cinematographer: John Alton.

La Brigade du suicide / T-miehet / Al Capones banemän.

    Anthony Mann

États-Unis / 1947 / 92 min / 35 mm Copie unique / VOSTF

d'après une idée de Virginia Kellogg

Avec Dennis O'Keefe, Mary Meade, Alfred Ryder.

    Rétrospective Anthony Mann

    Double subtitles: French / Flemish

    Viewed at La Cinémathèque française, Salle Georges Franju, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy Lignes 14, 6, 6 April 2024.

T-Men = treasury agents.

La Cinémathèque française : " Avec La Brigade du suicide, Anthony Mann franchit un nouveau palier grâce au talent de quelques fidèles collaborateurs : John Higgins au scénario, Armor Marlowe aux décors, Alfred DeGaetano au montage, et surtout le photographe John Alton, dont l'éclairage et la profondeur de champ servent une intrigue aussi dynamique qu'implacable. L'infiltration de deux agents secrets du Trésor américain au cœur d'un gang de faux-monnayeurs revêt une splendeur post-expressionniste, alors que le film suit une voie paradoxalement documentaire (au plus près d'une enquête décrite au scalpel), qui confère à l'œuvre un style unique, parfaitement maîtrisé. "

AA: In 1947 Anthony Mann got started in film noir. After Railroaded, he directed T-Men and Desperate during that same year. He also worked for the first time with the cinematographer John Alton with whom he made five films (T-Men, He Walked by Night, Raw Deal, Border Incident and Devil's Doorway).

T-Men is a police procedural, a gangster film and an undercover agent thriller. It belongs to the trend in film noir that favoured shooting on location, in this case in Detroit, New York, Washington, Boston, San Pedro and Wilmington (CA). The trend was launched by Louis de Rochemont, simultaneous to Italian neorealism and probably inspired by it.

The semi-documentary aspect is emphasized by a semi-official approach. The credit sequence image is the U.S. Treasury Department seal. An officer of the Department introduces the movie, which has been inspired by actual cases. A voice-of-authority narration carries the movie. The documentary aspects of the counterfeiting ring operations are covered in fascinating detail.

T-Men is a hard-boiled gangster thriller, shot in a powerful expressionistic mode, with huge shadows, striking low angle shots, composition in depth, mirror images, revealing reflections and striking two-shots and extreme close-ups. It is a masterclass in the art of cinematography, creating more with less.

The brutality of the violence is remarkable. Extreme pain is observed with cold fury. Torture scenes in film noir were perhaps inspired by Roma città aperta. There is the anthology piece of the steam bath murder of The Schemer (Wallace Ford) by cooking him alive.

Two undercover cops (Dennis O'Keefe as Dennis O'Brien and Alfred Ryder as Tony Genaro) infiltrate the Vantucci gang of counterfeiters. In a harrowing scene, Genaro is exposed and executed before O'Brien's eyes. Mann pursued the same double agent twist in an even more brutal scene in Border Incident. The lethal steam bath in T-Men and the Canyon of Death in Border Incident evoke Shoah imagery.

"35 mm Copie unique" was announced. This print looked like a blowup from a worn 16 mm Belgian source with joins, low definition, low contrast, no black levels, the unique look of John Alton "the prince of darkness" left to the imagination. But the striking composition and mise-en-scène stood out.