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UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA)
February 1 - February 1, 2014Info
- http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu
- (510) 642-0808
Dir. Anthony Mann (U.S., 1948). Written by John C. Higgins, from a story by Virginia Kellogg, based on files of the U.S. Treasury Department. Photographed by John Alton. With Dennis O’Keefe, Alfred Ryder, Mary Meade, Wallace Ford. (92 mins, B&W, 35mm, From the Library of Congress)
Max Alvarez is an independent film scholar based in New York and author of the new book The Crime Films of Anthony Mann, a limited number of which will be available for purchase at the screening.
"The only thing fake in this documentary-styled noir is the dough, 100% counterfeit. To shut down a funny-money ring, two U.S. Treasury Agents, Dennis O’Brien and Tony Genaro (Dennis O’Keefe and Alfred Ryder), go underground, where cop and counterfeiter are opposite sides of the same bogus bill. A dryly droll voice-over propels this policier forward while cinematographer Alton adds swathes of lurking light to construct a dangerous, dreamlike underworld—most notable is Wallace Ford’s demise in a Turkish bath where menace lingers in the steam. Ironically, Mann’s fast-paced film about forgery was often copied." —Steve Seid