I shan't say too much about this film really, and I don't think I need add much, but this is such an incredible, powerful, beautiful, and moving masterpiece, that I just have to say something. Reed will probably always be best known for The Third Man and that is almost certainly always going to be his best-known movie, and with good reason: it is a masterpiece among masterpieces. Unfortunately, this tends to overshadow Reed's other great films and the fact that Reed was not a one-shot wonder who had one happy success.
Not to forget that other masterpiece, Fallen Idol, Odd Man Out is not a film that should lurk in the shadows of another. If among the works of another director, it would shine bright, leaving others in the dark, and this, I believe, is a great testament to how incredible a film maker Reed was. Odd Man Out is perhaps Reed's most moving and emotionally sublime film, incredible particularly for 1947. It shows to full effect Reed's mastery of visual artistry, but also portrays an utterly compelling, insightful look into people and their souls, duty, love, justice, and happenstance. This film amazingly, often subtly, and always naturally, smoothly, and compellingly, digs into many basic elements of humanity. Some of my favourite lines from this film, which embed themselves so well, touch on the fundamentals of human life. I may forget the precise words but I want to finish with some lines that sum up the insight of this film: The police officer says "It is my duty to ensure justice," to which the priest, debating with him, responds "it is the duty of all to do justice"; when one man says "is he dying?" another responds "we are all dying"; and when one man asks "what is faith?" the other responds, simply yet utterly accurately "life."
Not to forget that other masterpiece, Fallen Idol, Odd Man Out is not a film that should lurk in the shadows of another. If among the works of another director, it would shine bright, leaving others in the dark, and this, I believe, is a great testament to how incredible a film maker Reed was. Odd Man Out is perhaps Reed's most moving and emotionally sublime film, incredible particularly for 1947. It shows to full effect Reed's mastery of visual artistry, but also portrays an utterly compelling, insightful look into people and their souls, duty, love, justice, and happenstance. This film amazingly, often subtly, and always naturally, smoothly, and compellingly, digs into many basic elements of humanity. Some of my favourite lines from this film, which embed themselves so well, touch on the fundamentals of human life. I may forget the precise words but I want to finish with some lines that sum up the insight of this film: The police officer says "It is my duty to ensure justice," to which the priest, debating with him, responds "it is the duty of all to do justice"; when one man says "is he dying?" another responds "we are all dying"; and when one man asks "what is faith?" the other responds, simply yet utterly accurately "life."