T-Men

John Alton, the Hungarian-born cinematographer (author of “Painting With Light”), is coming to be regarded as one of the greatest cameramen in film history. Certainly his work in film noir is without parallel. As writer/director Paul Schrader notes: “the greatest master of noir was Hungarian-born John Alton, an expressionist cinematographer who could relight Times Square at noon if necessary. No cinematographer better adapted the old expressionistic techniques to the new desire for realism, and his black and white photography in such gritty film noir as T-Men, Raw Deal, I The Jury and The Big Combo equals that of such German expressionist masters as Fritz Wagner and Karl Freund.”

“Extraordinary location shooting in Detroit, Los Angeles, and several of its beach suburbs. Treasury men masquerading as mobsters join a ring of liquor thieves in Detroit known to be using phony revenue stamps. Attention is given to the most minute detail - realism shading into naturalism. Raw Deal and T-Men mark the height of late-'40s noir aesthetic!”

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