Robert Joyner
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
leethomas-11621
Picaresque film that ebbs and flows. Well-made but at times ebbs for too long. Strangely, though Mason central to plot he does not occupy the screen. It is those around him that the film concentrates on. F.J. McCormick steals the show as Shell and Robert Newton also as an artist wanting to catch the look of death on canvas.
trimmerb1234
Carol Reed directed some of cinemas best. The classic "Third Man" is superbly shot in night-time just post-war Vienna with a compelling, driving script by Graham Greene and a star performance from Orson Wells.Odd Man Out gets the full Third Man treatment - the great direction, the photography, the location shooting, a starry lead. But not a coherent story or tone. Some of it is frankly crass and irritating. Robert Newton - once again - plays a wild-eyed boisterous drunk as per "Outcast of the Islands. The dying of IRA martyr figure "Johnny" (Mason) is infinitely drawn out for almost the length of the film against which Newton's shorter but still overlong OTT turn as the drunken artist is a comic diversion which sits very uncomfortably with the body of the film. So too the whimsical elderly comic nark who craftily tries to turn Johnny in for the £1000 reward (£50,000? in today's money). The extravagant scene towards the end where Johnny tries loudly (it should have been troubled and feverishly) to square his actions on behalf of the IRA with his Catholic faith descends into bathos. The film is visually splendid, full of incident, characters and performances, indeed too much. But Mason is off-form and gives a dialed in performance as if not being convinced by the whole thing.There may well be a great film inside here, waiting to be edited and perhaps 30 minutes removed. Robert Newton was a great actor, it's not his fault here but the removal of the entirety of his scenes would be a good start and distinct improvement.
Leofwine_draca
ODD MAN OUT is a well-remembered Carol Reed film from 1947 with a North Irish backdrop. The film it most reminded me of was the recent thriller '71 in which a British soldier was trapped in a hostile city and fighting for his life. This time around, an utterly sympathetic James Mason is a wounded IRA man struggling to hide from the authorities after a bodged bank robbery at the film's outset.That ODD MAN OUT is a well shot film is obvious. It brings to life the troubles in Northern Ireland in a vivid and heartfelt way without ever preaching or taking sides. Real, fully-rounded characters are what this film is about and it works well because it. A large supporting cast allows Reed to explore various facets of the human condition and the foibles that affect mankind. Robert Newton in particular stands out as the larger-than-life painter who gets involved.The film really belongs to Mason, who gives an impeccable performance even though he doesn't get a great amount of screen time. I was expecting this to be more of a suspense thriller when in reality it's something of a character drama, but the cinematography is very fine and the film as a whole thoroughly involving due to the aforementioned strong characterisation.
morrison-dylan-fan
After having greatly enjoyed director Carol Reed's fantastic Film Noir The Fallen Idol,I was pleasantly caught by surprise,when a very kind IMDb'er sent me a DVD of a Reed film that I had never heard before.With The Fallen Idol still being on my mind,I excitingly got ready to see Reed track down the odd man out.The plot:The plot-Northern Ireland:Staying underground for 6 months after breaking out of jail,Johnny McQueen decides that he will make his first public appearance by joining up with his fellow gang members to rob all of the money from a mill,which Johnny and the gang plan to use as a way to continue to fund their underground activates.Ignoring his fellow gang members clear unease about him not being ready for the challenge, (partly due to him having recently expressed doubts that violence may not be the best way for the gang to achieve their goal)McQueen and the gang set off to rob every penny from the mill.Sucsessfully getting hold of all the cash,Johnny and the gang rush to the entrance door to make their escape.Sadly for McQueen,a cashier gets hold of him and shoots him in the arm,which leads to Johnny fighting back, (despite having to deal with intense pain from the shot) and accidentally shooting the cashier dead.Terrifyed that their leader has lost all sense of time and place,the gang quickly pull McQueen into the back of their getaway car,and head off to their near by safe house.Arguing amongst themselves over what has just taken place,the group fail to hear Johnny fall out of the car.Finding himself completely alone with the blood draining from his body,McQueen realises that he is going to have to do everything possible to stop the townspeople and the police from discovering him as the odd man out.View on the film:Bringing his own novel to the screen with writer R.C.Sheriff,F.L. Green, (who sadly died at age 50 in 1953) smartly takes a neutral position which never glamorises McQueen and his gangs activities,whilst also showing the police to be less then sharp minded,that allows the viewer to form their own opinion on McQueen and the cops who are on his trail.Along with making McQueen's chase from the police being one that goes farther and farther down a enclosing,mud filled alleyway,Green also brilliantly makes each of the distinctive supporting characters fully dimensional by placing each of them in the cross hairs between McQueen and the police,which leads to each of them being deeply torn between doing the "right thing" and reporting McQueen's whereabouts to the cops,and helping their former friend to remain buried within the starless night of the cities underbelly.Closely focusing on the psychological effects that the blistering mill robbery has on Johnny McQueen's mind,director Carol Reed and cinematography Robert Krasker, (who also worked on Reed's The Third Man)use extraordinary special effects to place the viewer in McQueen's dazed,confused and disorientated mind,with Reed and Krasker pushing the effects at the front of the movie at the precise moments that McQueen finds himself struggling to decide on what is real,and what is a figment of his fear driven imagination.Soacking the movie in a black sky laden Film Noir fog,Reed scatters the second half of the movie,in a never ending,extremely stylish snowfall,which along with showing that the snow is unable to hide McQueen and the police's less than "pure" features,also creates a strong sense of a dark,cold atmosphere engulfing the character's lives,with Reed increasing the pressure and continuing to let the snow fall as the character's imperfections are suffocated in the excellent down beat,snow covered ending.Backed by a tense score from William Alwyn, (who also did the score for Reed's Film Noir The Fallen Idol) and joined by a fabulous supporting cast that includes a firm William Hartnell and a stunning Kathleen Ryan,James Mason, (who would reunite with Reed for the 1953 Film Noir The Man Between) gives an extraordinary performance that rips open McQueen's scrambled mind.Being on his own for a good amount of the movie and also being given a minimum of dialogue,Mason uses his astonishingly subtle body language to show the deep rooted destruction take place in McQueen's mind,as Mason goes from showing McQueen brimming with confidence as he rejoins his gang,to realising that there is nothing at all that he can do,to stop from being discovered as the odd one out.
