The Undercover Man 1949 DvdRip Mp4 Lee1001

The Undercover Man 1949 DvdRip Lee1001

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042006/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Undercover_Man
In 1931, after years of dodging racketeering charges and worse, Al Capone was finally sent down for tax evasion. Prohibition enforcer Elliot Ness and his Untouchables get most of the Hollywood glory for the Chicago mobster's conviction, but they wouldn't have had a case without the help of Frank Wilson, an agent at the Treasury Department's Bureau of Internal Revenue. It was his undercover team of brave number crunchers who dug up enough evidence to put the crime-boss behind bars for an 11-year stretch (reduced to six for good behaviour).

This procedural thriller isn't a direct re-telling of Wilson's part in Capone's conviction. That wasn't allowed at the time, thanks to an edict in the Production Code (enforced until the 1950s by J Edgar Hoover, no less) that banned representations of real criminal cases in films. So names and crimes have been changed and the setting forwarded 15 years after Capone was sent down. But seeing as it was based on a 1947 article by Wilson himself, entitled 'The Undercover Man, He Trapped Capone', you get the impression that the film's spirit, at least, is authentic.

Joseph H Lewis certainly directs it that way, in the semi-documentary style that was all the rage at the time, with Burnett Guffey's black-and-white photography suggesting danger in every shadow. B-movie noir master Lewis was about to hit his peak. His next production would be Gun Crazy and although The Undercover Man can't hold a candle to that frenzied masterpiece, Lewis's take on Wilson's extraordinary tale of honour, obsession, intimidation and sleuthery is a little firecracker of a film.

Glenn Ford takes the role of Frank Warren. A veteran Inland Revenue agent out of Washington, Warren's posted to Chicago to ensnare the city's biggest gangland boss (known only as the 'Big Fellow') on tax evasion charges. It's hard enough being away from his long-suffering wife Judith (Foch). But Warren's task is made almost impossible by a corrupt police force that allows the gangster to effectively mute state witnesses systematically - either through terrorism or cold-blooded assassination.

When all seems lost, an Italian informant is gunned down by the Mob in front of his own daughter and an unlikely hero decides to make a stand against the 'Big Fellow' (who, incidentally, is virtually unseen throughout the film). It's the breakthrough Warren needs, but can he and his men protect the star witness until the Capo's trial starts? And will the agent keep his nerve when, inevitably, his own family is threatened?

Ford puts in a characteristically tortured performance as Warren, while James Whitmore plays the agent's faithful sidekick, George Pappas. The film's best turn, however, comes from Barry Kelley who plays arrogant Mob lawyer O'Rourke - a cold, slippery bastard whose taunts serve to stiffen Warren's resolve. It's always nice to see a shyster get his comeuppance but when Kelley's comes it feels particularly satisfying.

Special mention must also go to art director Walter Holscher, for his reconstruction of Chicago's Little Italy. You can just smell the meatballs.

Lewis's talent for building tension and menace elevates a vibrant and involving procedural into high-class noir.

Narrated in a straightforward, hardhitting documentary style, The Undercover Man is a good crime-busting saga. Standout features are the pic’s sustained pace and its realistic quality.

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.
VIDEO
Size.... 1.14gb
Duration.... 01:24:18
Codec.... h264
Frame Width.... 720
Frame Height.... 480
Data Rate.... 1773kbps
Frame Rate.... 23 F/S
AUDIO
Bit Rate.... 159kbps.... MP3
2 Channel Stereo
Audio Sample Rate.... 48 KHz
Bits Per Sample 16 Bit/Sample