Classic Film Guide

T-Men (1947)

Directed by Anthony Mann, with a story by Virginia Kellogg that was adapted by John Higgins, this documentary-like film-noir taut crime drama details a single case involving the titled ‘treasury men’, whose job (among others) involves tracking down currency and federal liquor stamp counterfeiters. Dennis O’Keefe and Alfred Ryder play two such t-men who go undercover in Detroit and then San Francisco to catch the criminals. First, they pose as former members of the River Gang in order to infiltrate the Vantucci (Anton Kosta, uncredited) gang in Detroit; this leads them to San Francisco and Schemer (Wallace Ford), who is duped into getting them into the counterfeiting operation. Charles McGraw plays the operation's heavy, Jane Randolph (uncredited) an unexpected female one step below the top man. June Lockhart appears very briefly as Ryder's wife, who the undercover agent accidentally bumps into at a fish market. I believe that Evangeline, played by Mary Meade, is the photographer who leads O’Keefe to the counterfeiters expert technician named Miller, played by William Malten (uncredited). Other uncredited actors in the cast include: Jim Bannon as the t-man agent who acts as the go between the two undercover men and their chief, played by Herbert Heyes; Al Bridge as another go between in a phone booth; and Reed Hadley as the narrator. The film's Sound was nominated for an Academy Award, Jack Whitney's last Oscar nomination.

Purchase this DVD now at