Customer Reviews
Who said the Brits can't make films? - By: Mr. T. J. Denman, 12 Nov 2008 
This is one of the finest British movies ever made. It could probably be called a British fim noir. Carol Reed's The Third Man is great, but I think this is his greater film. And the music is incredibly moving (by William Alwyn). Buy the film, buy the music on CD, & marvel.
Who said the Brits can't make films? - By: Ms. S. A. K. Asgard, 12 Nov 2008 This is the finest British movie ever made. The Third Man is great, but this is greater. And the music is incredibly moving (by William Alwyn). Buy the film, buy the music on CD, & marvel.
Magnificent - By: Mr. Derek R. Osbourne, 03 Nov 2007 I had never seen this film before although I have always been fond of James Mason. But this is a magnificent film to add to my classic film collection. Mason's performance, especially the scenein the artist's studio, is superb & the ensemble cast is especially good. How did Robert Newton manage to play a drunk whilst not being his usual drunken self?
And the lighting....the crisp black & white imagery beautifully directed by Carol Reed contributed to the sense of hopelessness & impending doom.
I suppose it was setin Belfast & I'm pleased they played southern Irish accents rather than heavy Belfast - not good for authenticity perhaps but easier on the ear for a non Irish audience.
My Best Film - By: Philip Tierney, 22 Jul 2007 I first saw Odd Man Outin the cinemain 1947. The story has been well covered by other reviewers although the IRA is never mentioned, always the Organisation At the time the film was made the IRA was dormant;some believed that the gun was gone from Irish politics. So it was felt safe to make a film of F.L.Green's book. There are memorable scenesin the film but the best is the scenein the Crown snug. Johnny knocks over a glass of "Guinness" & faces form his pain appearin teh bubbles; unforgetable
A sad, great film by Carol Reed - By: C. O. DeRiemer, 12 Jun 2007 This is a powerful, tragic movie which is hard to forget. It tells the story of Johnny McQueen (James Mason), an IRA chiefin Northern Ireland. He was sentenced to 17 years for robbery but broke out & now has planned to rob a mill to steal money for the cause. He leads three other men & things go wrong. He shoots & kills a clerk & is shot himself. During the chaotic escape he falls from the getaway car & is left on the street. He's seriously injured & probably is bleeding to death. All that evening & night, increasingly dazed & weak, he struggles to find someplace to go & rest. Please note that elements of the plot are discussed.
Odd Man Out is really two stories. One is McQueen's. The other is that of Kathleen Sullivan (Kathleen Ryan), the young woman who loves him & is determined to find & save him. She knows he's terribly hurt & that he'll be hanged if he is caught. She won't let that happen. Despite her Catholic faith & the sympathetic counsel of her elderly priest, she'll shoot Johnny & then herself if she must.
Those Johnny McQueen encounters during the cold & sleeting night may want to help him or may want the reward for his capture, but none want to give him shelter. A prosperous, fat madam welcomes Johnny's team & learns where they left Johnny. Then she turns themin & listens as they're shot downin front of her establishment. Two sisters find Johnny lyingin the road & take him into their house. They bandage him but cannot keep him, & send him out again into the rain. A crazed painter (Robert Newton) finds himin a bar & takes him to his studio, where he wants to paint the dying face. All the while the police are slowly narrowing their search. At last Kathleen finds him. He is so dazed he can only know that he is with her now & is safe. As they stand against an iron fence, police with flashlights move toward them. Kathleen has a gun, but she finds she cannot use it to take Johnny's life & then her own. So she does what she must. She fires two shots, knowing the police will shoot down both of them.
So is this film Carol Reed's attempt to tell a story of redemption or the power of love or the fragile strands humans rely upon? Who knows. I'm not comfortable analyzing a film like Odd Man Out. All I know is that it is bleak, sad & great.
It was shortly after this film and, a year earlier, The Seventh Veil, that Mason left Britain for Hollywood. He always seemed to me to be one of the best film actors to come along. At the end of his life,in his last rolein a movie, he starred at 76in The Shooting Party. Mason was just as subtle & magnetic an actor then as he wasin Odd Man Out.
