Odd Man Out

Odd Man Out has been called Carol Reed's first masterpiece, with good reason. Reed's first film after World War II, the 1947 movie is drenched in darkness (both visually and dramatically) and carries a strong sense of isolation and doom. It also made a star of James Mason, playing IRA leader Johnny McQueen, who heads up a bank robbery gone wrong and ends up wounded and alone, stumbling through Belfast at night as the police and his mates alike search for him, and civilians alternately help and betray him. Although set in 19th-century Ireland, the story has much in common with American film noir, and McQueen becomes a tragic figure as he loses blood and becomes delirious—truly an odd man out at the mercy of those with their own plans for him. Reed and his screenwriters don't dwell on the politics of McQueen's mission, focusing instead on the man's passion and vulnerability—along with a rich pageant of characters who cross his path, notably an opportunistic drunk (F.J. McCormick), and an artist who sees the suffering of Christ in his face. The photography is dramatic and atmospheric, with cinematographer Robert Krasker (who went on to win an Oscar for Reed's The Third Man) periodically distorting the image to give us McQueen's point-of-view as he drifts in and out of consciousness. One of the great British films of the 1940s, this powerful drama of one man's long dark night of the soul receives the red carpet Criterion treatment here, with extras including scholarly interviews, new and archival documentaries, a 1952 radio adaptation of the film with Mason, and an essay by film scholar Imogen Sara Smith. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)