Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
The Undercover Man (1949)
Director: Joseph H Lewis
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
A superior crime thriller in the semi-documentary style beloved by Hollywood in the late '40s. With the Big Fellow clearly inspired by Capone (he's prosecuted for tax evasion when normal policing methods fail to nail him), and Glenn Ford's Federal Treasury agent wading through piles of paperwork (as well as resorting to the customary action-packed physical pursuit), it achieves an authenticity rare in the genre. Perhaps even more impressive is the acknowledgment that mob crime affects not only cops and criminals, but innocents too: witnesses are silenced, bystanders injured. And Lewis - one of the B movie greats - directs in admirably forthright, muscular fashion, making superb use of Burnett Guffey's gritty monochrome camerawork.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Joseph H Lewis
Producer: Robert Rossen
Cast: Glenn Ford, Nina Foch, James Whitmore, Barry Kelley, Howard St John, David Wolfe, Leo Penn, Anthony Caruso full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 89 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 50 greatest monster movies
As Joe Johnston’s long-awaited reinvention of Universal’s howl-at-the-moon classic ‘The Wolfman’ hits cinemas, Time Out lists our 50 favourite cinematic stalkers, growlers, slashers and biters.
Mark Kermode: A life in film
Dave Calhoun chats to Britain's most outspoken film critic and pundit ahead of the release of his memoirs
Has Ricky Gervais gone all serious?
The trailer to 'Cemetery Junction' suggests that its writer-director is suppressing his funny bone.
The genius of Roman Polanski
Ahead of his new film, 'The Ghost', we must forget the media circus and remember the artist pleads Wally Hammond
Oscars 2010: The nominees
Tom Huddleston offers his acute analysis on the list of nominees for the 2010 Academy Awards
Rotterdam 2010: Geoff Andrew's report
Geoff Andrew finds rich leftfield pickings at the 2010 Rotterdam Film Festival
Can Tom Ford cut it as a director?
After ten years as creative head of Gucci, Tom Ford has directed his first movie. Nina Caplan meets him
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
So here it is… Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this.
2009: The year in film
We look back at the best movies of 2009 and pick out some of our favourite lists, features and interviews.











What do you think?
Post your review now