T-Men (1947)

 

Two US Treasury agents hunt a successful counterfeiting ring. 

Straightforward, realistic and unsentimental crime thriller successfully conveys undercover police work with suspense and great on-location cinematography.

Halliwell*: "Tough, well-made crime melodrama which still packs a punch in the traditional vein."

Maltin***: "Semidocumentary-style story...Vividly exciting; director Mann and camerman John Alton went out of their way to use unusual, effective lighting and compositions in this A-1 film." 

Shed No Tears (1948)

A wife convinces her husband to fake his death so they can collect on the life insurance.

Above-average noir drama with an especially ruthless femme fatale; lively and entertaining for what its is.

The Man from Texas (1948)

Tobias Simms is torn between his criminal career as the masked bandit named the "El Paso Kid", and the life of a law-abiding citizen with his long-suffering wife.

Oddly schizophrenic premise stretches this Western's credibility a bit too far: otherwise, it's standard genre fare.

The Furies (1950)

A firebrand heiress clashes with her tyrannical father, a cattle rancher who fancies himself a Napoleon; but their relationship turns ugly only when he finds himself a new woman.

Larger-than-life Western epic in which all figures (and especially Barbara Stanwyck) are tough and ruthless in a world where only these traits seem to count.

Halliwell*: "Interesting but heavy-going Western, more solemn than stimulating despite its Freudian excesses."

Maltin***: "Operatic-style Western saga of love and hate..."

The Breaking Point (1950)

An otherwise moral captain of a charter boat becomes financially strapped and is drawn into illegal activities in order to keep up payments on his boat.

A more adequate and more serious adaptation of Hemingway's To Have and Have Not than John Huston's attempt, but less entertaining; excellent cast and good details.

Halliwell*: "Adequate if slightly humdrum attempt by Warner to atone for what they had done to a Hemingway novel, the infidelity of To Have and Have Not and the unauthorized variation of Key Largo."

Maltin***1/2: "High-voltage refilming of Hemingway's TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT...Garfield and Juano Hernandez give superb interpretations."

T-Men (1947)

Two US Treasury agents hunt a successful counterfeiting ring.