With producer Louis De Rochemont starting his distinctive run of film noir docu-dramas @ 20th/Fox (see THE HOUSE OF 92ND STREET/’45), no surprise to find copycat B-pic producer Bryan Foy (late of Warner Bros., now joined with Hollywood insiders Ed Small & Aubrey Schenck) glomming onto this new genre in a distribution deal for British-based Eagle-Lion. The surprise is that this little indie manages to beat the majors at their own game, thanks to the powerhouse combo of director Anthony Mann, really finding his form thru cinematographer John (‘Prince of Darkness’) Alton. The ‘T’ in the title is for Treasury Department and tall Dennis O’Keefe is the undercover agent sent to Detroit (along with partner Alfred Ryder) to sniff out a counterfeiting ring. Posing as former members of the now defunct River Gang (the real Detroit mob was the Purple Gang), they’ve got a set of top-quality hand-engraved paper-money plates to take them all the way up to Mr. Big in L.A. But only if they don’t blow their cover. With pitch black locations; low-life hoods as pals; sweaty steam rooms for reconnoitering & murder; cheap furnished rooms; pay-phones in the hall and suspenseful close calls, they find Wallace Ford (threatening and pathetic) who leads on to violent henchman Charles McGraw & gatekeeper Jane Randolph. The voice-of-God narration (straight out of the De Rochemont pics and his own MARCH OF TIME shorts) is OTT, but the film plays with all its violence & pace intact.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Detroit, Motor Capital of the World, still had trolleys in ‘47. Who knew? ALSO: Fans of tv’s ONE STEP BEYOND can spot an uncredited John Newland working in the L.A. treasury office building, one of his first Hollywood jobs.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: The film did well enough for Mann, Alton & O’Keefe to repeat in next year’s RAW DEAL/’48. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2020/01/raw-deal-1948.html
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