Classic: James Mason's performance as Johnny is magnificent
10 April 2012
The Carol Reed retrospective continues at the National Film Theatre with an extended run for the film which made his name in 1947.
James Mason plays Johnny, an IRA leader who breaks out of jail and accidentally kills a man during a payroll hold-up.
He is himself critically wounded and stumbles into a delirious nightmare which includes being taken in by a mad painter (Robert Newton) and hidden in a junkyard bathtub.
Mason's performance as the dying man was one of the best things he did, and Robert Krasker's sombre, almost surreal cinematography, together with Robert Alwyn's fine score, make this a classic that outdoes even John Ford's The Informer.
Odd Man Out
Cert: PG
