Odd Man Out – 1946 | 111mins | Drama, Crime | B&W

Plot Synopsis

In Carol Reed’s suspense drama the action begins at four o’clock one afternoon. Johnny McQueen (James Mason), idealist officer in the IRA, has escaped from prison while serving a sentence for gun-running. Hidden by his friend Dennis (Robert Beatty), and Kathleen (Kathleen Ryan) who loves him. his aversion to violence has become blurred by the need of funds for the organisation. He arms himself and, with three of his men, tries to hold up a linen mill. Shots are fired and Johnny is badly wounded. From that moment he is hunted without mercy by the police. He stumbles through the city of Belfast in search of refuge;’ befriended by some, spurned by others. He tries to reach Kathleen. But the police are alert; an imprudent move would be fatal.

He is given shelter by two housewives, Rose and Maudie. This causes domestic trouble, and he has to leave. The drizzle of rain turns to snow. His condition grows more pitiable as he slinks through back streets, alleys and gardens. Kathleen, trying to find him, seeks the help of Father Tom, a kindly priest. The watchful police question them; but they learn nothing. Johnny is given a lift by ‘Gin,’ the driver of a horse cab. Then he falls in with Shell (F.J. McCormick), a timid, petty character of the underworld. Shell cannot decide whether to sell Johnny to the police or lead him to friends. He will not tell Father Tom where Johnny is hidden, but promises to return with him later.

A pub, "The Four Winds," has become Johnny’s hiding place. Fencie, the landlord, locks him in a room. Shell mentions to Lukey (Robert Newton), an artist, and Tober, a medical student who never graduated, that he has found the wanted man. A brawl develops between Shell, Lukey and Fencie. It ends by Lukey bribing Shell to take the wounded Johnny to his studio. There, Lukey starts to paint him. He sets in Johnny’s pain dimmed eyes the reflections of a life he has always wanted to depict. But Tober realises he must help Johnny to a doctor if he is to survive, and Johnny himself knows that his one hope is to get a ship that will take him to safety.

Leaving Lukey’s studio, he steals painfully to the docks where he finds Kathleen awaiting him. Together they start for the ship, and for the first time he perceives her love for him and the anguish she has endured. Only eight hours have passed since the man-hunt began, but already the climax of the drama is at hand. As the two fugitives approach the ship, the police appear. Pistols flash. The tragedy is complete.