Odd Man Out

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Odd Man Out

Odd Man Out (1947

1947 in film

The year 1947 in film involved some significant events....
) is an Anglo-Irish

Anglo-Irish

"Anglo-Irish" was a term used historically to describe a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Anglicanism Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until 1871, or to a lesser extent one of the English Dissenters churches...
film noir

Film noir

Film noir is a film term used primarily to describe stylish cinema of the United States Crime film, particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation....
directed by Carol Reed

Carol Reed

Sir Carol Reed was an England film director, most famous for directing The Third Man and Oliver! . He won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Director for the latter....
, starring James Mason

James Mason

James Neville Mason was a three-time Academy Award-nominated British People actor who attained stardom in both United Kingdom and United States films....
, and is based on a novel of the same name by F. L. Green

F. L. Green

Frederick Lawrence Green was a British author who had 14 titles published between 1934 and 1952. He is best known for his 1945 novel, Odd Man Out, which was memorably filmed by Carol Reed in 1947....
.

film's opening intertitle reads:

"This story is told against a background of political unrest in a city of Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

conventional_long_name = Northern Ireland|native_name= Tuaisceart ?ireannNorlin Airlann|motto =|image_map = Europe location N-IRL2.png...
. It is not concerned with the struggle between the law and an illegal organisation, but only with the conflict in the hearts of the people when they become unexpectedly involved."

The city and the illegal organisation are never explicitly named in the film, but the protagonist is a chieftain in an IRA

Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)

The original Irish Republican Army fought a guerrilla war against British rule in Ireland in the Irish War of Independence 1919-1921. Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921, the Irish Republican Army in the 26 counties that were to become the Irish Free State split between supporters and opponents of the Treaty....
-like organization.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Odd Man Out'

Start a new discussion about 'Odd Man Out'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Odd Man Out (1947

1947 in film

The year 1947 in film involved some significant events....
) is an Anglo-Irish

Anglo-Irish

Film noir

Carol Reed

Sir Carol Reed was an England film director, most famous for directing The Third Man and Oliver! . He won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Director for the latter....
, starring James Mason

James Mason

F. L. Green

Plot

The film's opening intertitle reads:

"This story is told against a background of political unrest in a city of Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

The city and the illegal organisation are never explicitly named in the film, but the protagonist is a chieftain in an IRA

Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)

James Mason

James Neville Mason was a three-time Academy Award-nominated British People actor who attained stardom in both United Kingdom and United States films....
plays Johnny McQueen, who is trying to escape from the police

Police

Police are agents or agencies, usually of the executive , empowered to enforce the law and to ensure public and social order through the legitimized use of force....
after an ill-advised bank robbery meant to replenish the organization's coffers. The film follows McQueen, who has been wounded in the robbery, through an increasingly surreal odyssey over a day and a night. The bleak city (almost certainly Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital city of Northern Ireland and the seat of Devolution#United Kingdom Northern Ireland Executive and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly in Northern Ireland....
), with its labyrinth of havens and traps, draws Johnny ever deeper into itself as the night wears on.

Production

Aside from Mason, the supporting cast was drawn largely from Dublin

Dublin

Dublin is both the largest city and capital of Republic of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region....
's Abbey Theatre

Abbey Theatre

The Abbey Theatre , also known as the National Theatre of Ireland , is a theatre located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904, and despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, has remained active to the present day....
. Among the other members of the Organisation are Cyril Cusack

Cyril Cusack

Cyril James Cusack was an Irish people Shakespearean actor, who appeared in more than 90 films....
, Robert Beatty

Robert Beatty

Robert Beatty was a Canadian actor who worked in film, television and radio for most of his career and was especially known in the United Kingdom....
, and Dan O'Herlihy

Dan O'Herlihy

Daniel O'Herlihy was an Academy Award-nominated Ireland film actor....
. On his travels, Johnny meets an opportunistic bird-fancier played by F. J. McCormick

F. J. McCormick

F. J. McCormick was an Irish ethnicity actor who came to fame as part of Dublin's Abbey Theatre. He was also in four films; most famously Carol Reed's Odd Man Out , in which he played the opportunistic Shell....
, a drunken artist played by Robert Newton

Robert Newton

Robert Newton was a noted English stage and film actor. Along with Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the most popular actors among the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially British boys....
, a barman (William Hartnell

William Hartnell

William Henry Hartnell was an England actor, the First Doctor to play the lead role of Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1963 to 1966....
) and a failed surgeon (Elwyn Brook-Jones

Elwyn Brook-Jones

Elwyn Brook-Jones was a British actor....
). Denis O'Dea

Denis O'Dea

Denis O'Dea was an Irish theatre and film actor.He was a leading member of Dublin's Abbey Theatre, where his work led to a number of film roles including the Young Covey in John Ford's The Plough and the Stars and the Police Inspector in pursuit of James Mason's Johnny McQueen in Carol Reed's Odd Man Out ....
is the Inspector on Johnny's trail, and Kathleen Ryan

Kathleen Ryan

Kathleen Ryan was an Irish actress.She was born in Dublin, Ireland of Tipperary parentage and was a spirited and heart warming Irish actress who appeared in British and Hollywood movies between 1947 and 1957....
, in her first feature film, plays the woman who loves Johnny. Also of note are W. G. Fay

William Fay

William George Fay was an actor and theatre producer who was one of the co-founders of the Abbey Theatre.Fay was born in Dublin and attended Belvedere College., Dublin....
-- a founder of the Abbey Theatre -- as the kindly Father Tom, Fay Compton

Fay Compton

Fay Compton was an England actress from a notable acting lineage; her father was actor/manager Edward Compton; her mother, Virginia Bateman, was a distinguished member of the profession, as were her sister, the actress Viola Compton, and her uncles and aunts....
, Joseph Tomelty

Joseph Tomelty

Joseph Tomelty was a Northern Irish character actor and playwright. He worked in film, television, radio and on the stage, starring in Sam Thompson 's 1960 play Over the Bridge....
, and Eddie Byrne

Eddie Byrne

Eddie Byrne was an Ireland actor. Outside Ireland he is probably best known for his minor role as Star Wars characters in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but fans of cult sci-fi might also remember him as the skeptical Inspector Mulrooney in The Mummy and as the kindly Dr....
. A number of non-speaking parts were filled by actors who later went on to achieve a modicum of fame, including Wilfrid Brambell

Wilfrid Brambell

Wilfrid Brambell was an Ireland film and television actor, born in Dublin, best known for his role in the United Kingdom television series Steptoe and Son....
, Dora Bryan

Dora Bryan

Dora Mary Broadbent Order of the British Empire , usually known by her stage name Dora Bryan, is an English actress best known for her role as Roz in the British television series Last of the Summer Wine....
, Geoffrey Keen

Geoffrey Keen

Geoffrey Keen was an England actor who appeared in supporting roles in many famous films....
, Noel Purcell

Noel Purcell (actor)

Noel Purcell was an Ireland film and television actor.Purcell was born in Dublin. He began his show business career at the age of 12 in Dublin's Gaiety Theatre, Dublin....
, and Guy Rolfe

Guy Rolfe

Guy Rolfe was an England actor born in London, England.He made his screen debut in 1937 with an uncredited appearance in Knight Without Armour....
. Few of the main actors in the film actually manage an authentic Ulster

Ulster

Ulster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster. The name is sometimes informally used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, one of the countries of the United Kingdom, although Northern Ireland covers only two thirds of Ulster....
accent

Accent

Accent may refer to:...
.

The cinematographer

Cinematographer

A cinematographer is one photography with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting film crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image....
was Robert Krasker

Robert Krasker

Robert Krasker, A.S.C. was a gifted cinematographer, who worked on more than fifty films in his career.He was born in [Alexandria, Egypt while en route to Australia with his parents, three sisters and elder brother George....
, in his first film for director Reed, lighting cheese sets designed by Ralph Brinton and Roger Furse.

The main set was based on the Crown Bar in Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital city of Northern Ireland and the seat of Devolution#United Kingdom Northern Ireland Executive and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly in Northern Ireland....
; contrary to some sources, it was a studio set built at D&P Studios in Denham

Denham

Denham is a surname, and may refer to:...
, Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a Ceremonial counties of England and Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England home counties Counties of England in South East England England....
, and was not filmed in the real Crown. However, much of the film was shot on location: exterior scenes were shot in West Belfast, although some were shot at Broadway Market

Broadway Market

Broadway Market is a street running from London Fieldsto the Regent's Canal in Haggerston in the London Borough of Hackney, East London, England....
, Hackney

London Borough of Hackney

The London Borough of Hackney is a London borough in East London, and forms part of inner London and North London....
in London

London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
.

Composer William Alwyn

William Alwyn

William Alwyn, Order of the British Empire, born William Alwyn Smith was an English composer, Conducting, and music teacher....
was involved writing the leitmotif

Leitmotif

A leitmotif is a recurring musical Theme , associated with a particular person, place, or idea. The word has also been used by extension to mean any sort of recurring theme, whether in music, literature, or the life of a fictional character or a real person....
-based score

Film score

A film score is a broad term referring to the music in a film, which is generally categorically separated from songs used within a film. The term Soundtrack is often confused with film score, though a soundtrack may also include songs featured in the film as well as previously released music by other artists, while the score does...
from the very beginning of the production. It was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra

London Symphony Orchestra

The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Arts Centre....
conducted by Muir Mathieson

Muir Mathieson

James Muir Mathieson was a British conducting. Mathieson was almost always described as a "Musical Director" because he worked in films.After attending Stirling High School, Mathieson went to the Royal College of Music in London....
.

Reception

The film's reception was mostly rapturous, with direction and acting receiving high praise. However, its arguably sympathetic stance towards an Irish Republican freedom fighter

Freedom fighter

"Freedom fighter" is a term for those engaged in an armed struggle, the main cause of which is to achieve, in their or their supporters' view, freedom for themselves or obtain freedom for others....
- a character that the British and Ulster Unionist Establishment

Establishment

Establishment or The Establishment may refer to:*Establishment , the official sanction and support of a church by a nation's government...
of the time seen as a mere 'criminal' - attracted some criticism in both the Britain and Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

conventional_long_name = Northern Ireland|native_name= Tuaisceart ?ireannNorlin Airlann|motto =|image_map = Europe location N-IRL2.png...
of the era. The film's violent ending also attracted advance criticism from the censors, and had to be toned down in the finished film.

The film received the BAFTA Award

British Academy of Film and Television Arts

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a British charity that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation....
for Best British Film

BAFTA Award for Best Film

This page lists the winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards....
in 1948. It was nominated for the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival

Venice Film Festival

The Venice Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the Lido di Venezia, Venice, Italy....
in 1947, and nominated for a Best Film Editing Oscar in 1948.

Bibliography

The Great British Films, pp 106-109, Jerry Vermilye, 1978, Citadel Press, ISBN 080650661X

Odd Man Out

Plot

Production

Reception

Bibliography

External links