User Reviews

When his best friend is murdered in pursuit of jewel smugglers, customs agent Dean Jagger finds himself assigned to track down the killers and close the case. He flies to Europe in order to catch a return flight on which a chief suspect (Réné Paul) will be traveling. Before boarding, Jagger makes the acquaintance of a war-bride (Lottie Elwen), journeying to America to join her fiancé.

During the night flight across the Atlantic, Elwen falls `ill;' (she's been drugged on board by soused-up sawbones John Carradine, working for the smuggling ring). From the airport, she's whisked away in a hijacked ambulance, wearing a priceless necklace. There's a traffic crash, and she escapes to flee (she thinks) to her waiting fiancé; alas, the groom-to-be has been murdered as well, by one of Paul‘s myrmidons, vicious hothead Harry Landers. Jagger meets her there, thinking she's an accomplice; when he comes to trust her, he goes undercover to penetrate the operation....

C-Man is a New York story told in the warts-and-all, in-your-face style of the following year's The Tattooed Stranger or Guilty Bystander (the latter also directed by Joseph Lerner) – a low-down, dirty town. The location shooting takes us to as many liquor stores as Ray Milland patronized in The Lost Weekend (Jagger is tracking down Carradine, who has a taste for pricey Benedictine), to jazz cellars and fleabag hotels (the one `penthouse' we visit is dowdily middle-class). Part of the grunge can be laid to a desperately low budget, but the filmmakers turn their liabilities into pungent atmosphere.

They also take some chances. One bludgeoning murder in this unusually brutal movie turns almost abstract, like an experimental film; the striking score by Gail Kubik (who by the way is male) evokes mid-century avant-garde classical music – of the `academic' school – or even third-stream jazz. The low-voltage Jagger, unfortunately, is a bit long in the tooth for the derring-do, and four-square for the lippy repartée, required of him. But beneath its tacky veneer, C-Man shows an unexpected grittiness and audacity.

Dean Jagger, a US customs agent, hunts he murderer of a childhood friend who was killed while on the trail of a stolen necklace.

Where did this movie hide for so long? Set and shot primarily in New York City this is a gritty crime drama that seems to predate many other better known films. Its raw and in your face with a documentary edge of real street s and real places. The style reminded me of the films of Orson Welles, especially a film like Mr Arkadin. It also feels like the Lemmy Caution films of Eddie Constantine and other low budget European films. There is an edge to the film making, a do what it takes attitude that produces some surprising and some violent scenes. This is not the type of film you'd expect from an American studio, certainly not in 1949.

This is one of those movies that seems a bit hokey at first but by the time ten minutes have passed you're hooked and are willing to follow the story where ever it goes just because its a good story being told in an interesting manner.

I don't know why this movie isn't better known. Certainly its not a great movie, but its a damn good one. It reminded me of the sort of movie you'd catch at 2am on the Late Late Show when you're half awake, trying to fall asleep only to fall in its clutches and stay up all night... I think I would have thought this was even better if I saw this at 2am.

This is one to see and search out (Even though at this writing IMDb lists it as unavailable Alpha Video does have it on DVD) 7 out of 10.

The few who know this film are probably either hardcore film-noir completists or hardcore John Carradine fans who must have every film "the master" appeared in. I'm glad I recently had an opportunity to view the film, because it is a fascinating independently-made crime-noir film with a number of unique touches. Most of the film is shot either on location on the streets of New York or in VERY small low-budget sets. The location shooting is quite interesting, using unexpected camera angles and giving the film a kind of documentary feel--one suspects that director Joseph Lerner and cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld were familiar with the Italian neo-realists. I could watch hours of this kind of footage, capturing 1949 New York, as it was experienced by people on foot, through great low-angle shots. And the musical score, by Gail Kubik, is quite avant-garde--sections of it sounding like early John Cage or Stan Kenton at his most atonal. Ms. Kubik was obviously a fine composer who adapted her avant-garde music well to a crime film--I'm anxious to hear some of her other work. Dean Jagger is not the most convincing tough guy, but he is a good enough actor to handle the expository dialogue and unnecessary voice-overs and make them sound SOMEWHAT natural! Lottie Elwen, playing a woman from Holland whom Jagger meets and who gets the mystery, such as it is, in motion, is quite seductive and was an excellent choice for the role. John Carradine can create a distinctive supporting character in his sleep, and once again he does that here as a fallen, now-crooked doctor who has had his medical license revoked (he's only in a few scenes). We should, with hindsight, give credit to the filmmakers who were obviously working on a VERY low budget, yet created a distinctive looking film and a film with lots of atmosphere. Fans of obscure noir-crime films should seek it out; although it's certainly not a flawless classic, there's something real and raw and spontaneous about it, and that quality transcends any other limitations the film has.

Dean Jagger who the following year would get the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Twelve O'Clock High was still sporting a toupee when he did this small independent noir film playing a US Customs Agent. Jagger is put on a case to find the killer of a fellow agent and friend. And as we know from The Maltese Falcon when a partner gets killed you're supposed to do something about it.

There's a gang that's smuggling expensive jewelry into the USA and using innocent women not in on the scam. In this case it's Lottie Elwen from the Netherlands. It's an interesting gimmick which I'll let you find out for yourself.

The film was shot entirely in New York on location and it has the same look and feel as The Naked City does. Harry Landers who later was on Ben Casey as a doctor is great as the gang's muscle. I wish we saw more of John Carradine as a disgraced doctor who is part of the smuggling scheme.

Best of all is Edith Atwater who later would play matronly and mother figures. Here she's one evil dame.

This one's a sleeper check it out.

Customs agent Dean Jagger (Cliff Holden) goes on the trail of a necklace and a killer. He is the C-Man.

The film moves along at a quick pace and if you just go with it, it carries you along. Unfortunately, it is a little confusing at times and because the picture quality has deteriorated, some dramatically filmed sequences are confusing instead of effective. John Carradine (Doc Spencer) plays a drunkard - it's his look that carries it off for him, not particularly his acting, although he probably wasn't acting! The soundtrack alternates between the over-dramatic and the jazzy art-house cool that suggests experimental film.

There are some very fake punch-ups that run alongside disturbing violent incidents. Make sure that your bed-knobs don't unscrew! The night club scene is also slightly embarrassing - terrible song, unrealistic audience and some poor acting.

Overall, the film is watchable - it should be better, though. Maybe a re-make?

Here's one of those B-movie nuggets that makes sifting through the dregs worthwhile (quite appropriate for a tale of jewel smugglers). I'm sure it's exactly the kind of edgy, low-budget genre-piece that inspired Godard and Truffaut to create "Breathless" and "Shoot the Piano Player".

Like its near namesake "T-Men", the heroic semi-documentary frame limns a brutal, cynical noir with striking location shooting. The narrative keeps throwing us curveballs, and the tight, off-kilter framing, low-key lighting and nervy editing emphasize the randomness of the violence and the desperation of the denizens of this demimonde. Most arresting is the frantic free-jazz score, presaging Miles Davis's improvised work for "Lift to the Gallows".

The characters are idiosyncratic and played with verve. Like several other late noirs, there is an undercurrent of homosexuality among the henchmen, and John Carradine's quack doctor is addicted to Benedictine, of all things. A great, offbeat, late-night view.

The reviews for "C-Man" are mostly very positive. However, I just saw it as a cheap little film with a ton of plot holes.

When the film begins, Treasury Agent Cliff Holden (Dean Jagger) learns that his good friend and fellow agent had been murdered. He vows to find out who's responsible and bring them to justice. Cliff blindly blunders from one situation after another where he SHOULD be killed but again and again he inexplicably survives...and there is no logical reason he isn't killed. Any film that relies this much on dumb luck and dumb criminals is second rate...and this one sure is. Additionally, some of the acting and cinematography is very second rate. In fact, nothing in particular stand out in this one, though Dean Jagger's toupee is very nice. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother with this limp little thriller that offers few thrills.

Dean Jagger is a customs agent with a trench coat. He's told a good friend has been killed tracking down a jewelry theft ring in Marseilles, and he's been assigned to fly to Europe so he can be seated on a flight next to the suspected head of the operation. Through mischance, he's seated next to Lottie Elwen, who's coming to America to marry a guy whose apartment has been invaded and he's been killed. She's also carrying the latest batch of stolen ice.

It's what I call a paycheck movie, made of bits and pieces of other movies, filled with talent in front of and behind the camera who haven't made it and who may never do so. Jagger, who had been struggling in the Bs for 20 years, goes undercover as a dumb PI who gets his head beat in for information; his next movie would win him the Oscar for Best Supporting Oscar, but here he's doing his best with a ridiculous script. Director Joseph Lerner would struggle for ten years, making a few documentaries and independent Bs like this and disappear from the movies. Second-billed John Carradine .... well, here was an actor whom everyone respected and who never really clicked. Cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld, DP on his second movie, shot the streets of New York like he hated them, and did well enough eventually. His black-and-white camerawork topped out with FAIL-SAFE and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. Composer Gail Kubik would turn his score from this movie into a Pulitzer-Prize winning symphony, but here it just sounds.... cheap. . And that's this whole movie: cheap,with everyone trying to do a decent job and earn their paychecks and do well enough that some one would notice and say "Well, this guy has potential. Let's give him a shot. Most of the people here never really got that shot, or had long minor careers. Well, sometimes that's what people want.

From the Title Echoing the Excellent and Seminal Anthony Mann Film-Noir "T-Men" (1947), this Low-Budget Production is Riding the Noir Zeitgeist.

Few Films of this Low-Budget (Laurel Films) Pedigree that Tried to Capitalize on the Film-Noir of the Post-War (1945-49), would Attain such an Artistic Ambience that this Highly Underrated Hidden Gem Delivered.

While it is For-Sure Indebted to Previous Noir it Pays Homage with Surprising Results.

Not the Least is the Avant-Garde Jazz Experiment by Composer (Mr.) Gail Kubik. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the Composition Birthed in this "Unknown" Movie.

Kubik was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for this Music in 1952.

The committee wrote: "The Symphony Concertante is brilliant and exuberant, full of rhythmic vitality, the orchestration both original and skillful."

The piece is based on his score for "C-Man".

WOW...The Prestigious Prize is Usually Drained of Every Scintilla Concerning Recognition. The Resulting Attachment to this Movie...Not So.

The Music, Editing, and Montage are Frenetic and the Story is Somewhat more Sprawling.

The Film, if You can Believe it, is in the Public Domain Languishing there Brutalized by Time and Indifference, Ignored by Film Scholars and Historians.

Where are You Martin Scorsese?...or even More Relevant...Where are You Film-Noir Promoter and Usually Astute Historian of the Genre, Eddie Muller?

"C-Man" has more to Offer Lovers of Film-Noir, the Score is just the Start of the Outrage Due this Forgotten Noir.

The Look of this Gritty Underworld Movie is Pure Noir that is an Artistic Commitment Fully Understood an Applied by the Producers...

So there's the Atmosphere and Ambience...

The Script by Berne Giler is Filled with Noir Influence and is Flourished with...

Voice Over, Cynicism, Subversive Behavior, Brutal Sadistic Thugs, Greedy Upper Crust Criminals with Zero Empathy, an Alcoholic Disgraced Doctor.

The Music, Editing, and Montage are Frenetic.

The Street Level Cinematography is Impeccable and Relentless.

The Actors, Led by Dean Jagger are Good.

Jagger at First seems Miscast, but the Character is Unwavering, Willing to Take a Beating to Ferret Out Information.

He Eventually is an Iconic Noir Hero and Jagger Wins Our Tip of the Fedora.

Another Character that is Unforgettable, Displaying Sadistic Glee and is Always Chomping to Dole Out Punishment at the Drop of a Fedora is an Iconic Noir Henchman.

Played by an Unknown Harry Landers, Owney Shor is in Short a Short Pipsqueak Making Up for a Lack of Stature with No Lack of Physical Violence by way of a Psycho Personality.

Overall, an Unsung, Ignored, Little Film with a Big Payoff.