T-Men (1947)

Dennis O'Keefe, Mary Meade, Charles McGraw, Alfred Ryder, Wallace Ford ... see more  , June Lockhart , Jane Randolph , Art Smith , Herbert Heyes , Jack Overman , John Wengraf , Jim Bannon , Vivian Austin , Louis Bacigalupi , Trevor Bardette , Al Bridge , Ralph Brooks , George Carleton , Curt Conway , Victor Cutler , Frank Ferguson , Paul Fierro , Sandra Gould , Reed Hadley , Frank Hyers , Elmer Lincoln Irey , Lyle Latell , Tom McGuire , Mira McKinney , John Parrish , James Seay , Bernie Sell , Tito Vuolo , Cecil Weston , Robert B. Williams , Keefe Brasselle , John Newland , Jerry Jerome , Leslie Sketchley , William Yip , John Ardell , Irmgard Dawson , William Malten

The moodily evocative docudrama T-Men stars Dennis O'Keefe as Dennis O'Brien, a treasury agent determined to bring a counterfeiting ring to justice. O'Brien and his partner Tony Genaro (Alfred Ryder) ... read more go undercover to gain the confidence of the ruthless Detroit mob responsible for the phony money. The plot, compelling though it is, takes second place to the film's stylish set pieces, superbly directed by Anthony Mann and brilliantly photographed by John Alton. Among the film's most famous moments is the scene in which two-bit hood Wallace Ford is bumped off in a steam bath by sadistic hood Charles McGraw, not to mention the harrowing vignette wherein O'Keefe, posing as a crook, must stand by silently as his partner Ryder is murdered. One of the finest examples of the film noir form, T-Men proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that a film didn't need to have a lush budget, brilliant Technicolor and Clark Gable to score a hit with postwar moviegoers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi