Who will ever forget the theme music for Odd Man Out? In an inspired departure from the norm, director Carol Reed asked the composer to write the score from the shooting script and record it, so that Mason could walk in time to the beat. It's no accident that Reed is the man behind two of Britain's most memorable movies so far as music is concerned. The other, of course, is The Third Man, to which this film bears more than a passing resemblance. In both movies, there is a thin, shadowy line between heroes and villains. Both Johnny McQueen and Harry Lime have their admirers and lovers. In both films, their admirers let them down badly, but the lovers remain faithful until the end.
On the other hand, both films have a distinctively different noir atmosphere. Odd Man has an almost 19th century flavor as the camera tracks down deserted streets, criss-crossed with occasional horse-drawn carriages. Then suddenly the heroine is thrust into a hall jammed with American servicemen, dancing to strident, frantic bursts of music. She leaves quickly, and as she closes the door it's almost as if she's shutting the modern world behind her in favor of a romanticized past, an aura of lost causes, Romeo and Juliet trysts, and death as the culmination of love and desire. The end of the enigmatic Christ-figure, Johnny McQueen, is always in sight, even as the story twists and turns into unexpected dead-ends and alley-ways, introducing a number of well-rounded, intriguing characters, superbly enacted by Fay, McCormick, Ryan, Cusack, O'Dea, Hartnell, Newton and company.
Although a number of critics selected Odd Man Out as one of the best films of 1947, the most important honors in 1948 Great Britain were the National Film Awards. These were selected by picturegoers themselves who voted in the annual Daily Mail polls. The number of voters in 1948? 2,781,751! The people's choice? The Courtneys of Curzon Street, followed by Great Expectations and then Odd Man Out.
On the other hand, both films have a distinctively different noir atmosphere. Odd Man has an almost 19th century flavor as the camera tracks down deserted streets, criss-crossed with occasional horse-drawn carriages. Then suddenly the heroine is thrust into a hall jammed with American servicemen, dancing to strident, frantic bursts of music. She leaves quickly, and as she closes the door it's almost as if she's shutting the modern world behind her in favor of a romanticized past, an aura of lost causes, Romeo and Juliet trysts, and death as the culmination of love and desire. The end of the enigmatic Christ-figure, Johnny McQueen, is always in sight, even as the story twists and turns into unexpected dead-ends and alley-ways, introducing a number of well-rounded, intriguing characters, superbly enacted by Fay, McCormick, Ryan, Cusack, O'Dea, Hartnell, Newton and company.
Although a number of critics selected Odd Man Out as one of the best films of 1947, the most important honors in 1948 Great Britain were the National Film Awards. These were selected by picturegoers themselves who voted in the annual Daily Mail polls. The number of voters in 1948? 2,781,751! The people's choice? The Courtneys of Curzon Street, followed by Great Expectations and then Odd Man Out.