There is a certain lack of style here that represented two of the Director's seminal Film-Noirs, Gun Crazy (1949) and The Big Combo (1955). But there are some very Noir things that make this more interesting than a standard Studio Crime Drama. There is one scene that you would never find in the "regular stuff". An Italian Grandmother is given an extended, importantly motivational scene, and speaks in her Native Italian. It is translated by her Grandchild in English as the G-Men look on with admiration and respect.Such a long and laborious Scene, the Studios would say, is too Ethnic and taxing for the White-Bread target audience. But it turns the main Character around and is touching and unique. You gotta love Film-Noir. Another gripping, gritty scene is the murder of a potential Witness in front of the aforementioned 10 year old child and she looks on yelling Papa, Papa, Papa. Another powerful and offbeat scene.One could quibble and nitpick at some of the corny stuff such as the Leader of the Mob constantly referred to as "The Big Fellow", that's just silly, and the dated text opening, frequently used, that touts the exploits of the Feds as just a bunch of regular Joe's doing their duty for the good of us all.But this is a street level investigation that seems real and the Locations and the Characters are mostly Film-Noir and this one has enough strength to put it in good standing among, if not the best of, the Genre.

***SPOILERS*** Based on the true life conviction of Chcago Mob Boss Alfonso "Big Al" Capone the movie "The Undercover Man" really has nothing to do with undercover work by the FBI but in how the US Treasury Department was able to get a number of witnesses to testify against "Big Al", or the "Big Fellow" as he's called in the film, in a court of law without getting themselves killed by doing it. It's that which in fact landed the "Big Fellow" behind bars for an nine year stretch where his brain ended up being fried from the ravages of syphilis that he contracted while still free and on the loose. Getting the job done in getting the "Big Fellow" in a private cell at Alcatraz was Treasury Agent Frank Warrner, Glenn Ford, who not only risked his life but that of his wife Judith,Nina Fouch, an a number of his informants to do it. But it was the "Big Fellow's" sense of invincibility and arrogance that more then anything else did him in. That by his gang raising the body count and making people more willing to talk or testify against him feeling that they, in considering that their as good as dead already, had nothing to lose anyway. ***SPOILERS*** It was non other then the "Big Fellow's" mouthpiece or lawyer the smooth talking and slick Edward J. O'Rourke, Barry Kelley, who finally did his boss the "Big Fellow" in. That in him by trying to avoid jail time revealing that the jury pool members ,all 83 of them, for the "Big Fellow's upcoming trial have all been gotten to! That in making sure that he walks or else they'll end up on clutches and wheelchairs! "The Undercover Man" was probably the first movie to bring out how Alfonso "Big Al" Capone ended up convicted on both tax evasion charges as well as the violation of the Volsted,illegal bootlegging, Act that some the years later lead to the top TV crime series "The Untouchables". Still for some strange reason "Big Al" or Al Capone's name or even faces, he's alway shown from behind wearing a white fedora, was never once mentioned in the movie!

I'm surprised this noirish crime drama hasn't generated more than 3 reviews. It's not top- notch Joseph Lewis, but it is a good, solid film with several outstanding features. IRS agent Glenn Ford wants to get the goods on crime honcho "The Big Fellow". But to do that he has to get a numbers-cruncher on the inside to talk. Trouble is, candidates keep turning up dead, while wife Nina Foch never sees her man. Understandably, Ford wants to quit for a 9 to 5 job, but will he.One reason these govn't agent films of the late 40's remain interesting is because of artistic conflict. Big money studios want to extol law enforcement while writers and directors like Lewis and Anthony Mann are drawn to the dark side. Thus, the results often raise more questions than they answer, and remain a real contrast to the Dragnet-type paradigm that emerges in the Cold War 1950's. Note, for example, the dramatic highlight of gunmen chasing down a stoolie on a crowded city street. They have to push their way through the sweaty throngs, yet no one stops to intervene, show any curiosity, call a cop or do anything. No, passers-by just go about their business, letting criminality take its course. Why get involved and risk retaliation from an outfit that the community does business with anyway, especially when they play the numbers or handicap horse races. After all, this is a poor neighborhood and gambling, legal or otherwise, holds the prospect of quick riches. So why get involved.Of course, the episode might be considered nothing more than an effective contrivance. But in its setting, I think it's more than a contrivance and raises interesting questions about the law and community attitudes. Also, consider the aging desk sergeant (a superbly appropriate John Hamilton). He's on the take because he's got a wife and kids to support, not like the bachelor inspector who "can afford to be upright and honest". Now, whatever the opinion of police unions, an underpaid cop is more vulnerable than one that has some organized leverage over pay-grades. I'm not saying this is a social conscience movie. It's not. I am saying that these noirish crime dramas often contained touchy issues that the old studio- system, especially, had difficulty dealing with.As an IRS agent, Ford is appropriately professional and humorless; at the same time, I'm wondering where I can sign up for the Nina Foch fan club. No wonder Ford wants more time at home. What she lacks in curves, she makes up for in sheer beauty and I'm definitely smitten. But it's that human oil slick in a thousand dollar suit that steals the movie. As master fixer Edward J. O'Rourke, pudgy Barry Kelley is simply superb. He's so effectively oily, we ought to start pumping right now. Also in a standout role is the little girl Rosa (Joan Lazer), unfortunately her only movie credit. Anyway, it's a fairly fast-paced film, with a good, tense ending, and a suitably ironical last line. My only complaint is "The Big Fellow"— why such a awkwardly silly description when any old fictional name should do. Nonetheless, the movie remains, all in all, a credit to the Lewis canon.

"In the cracking of many big criminal cases such as those of John Dillinger, Lucky Luciano and Al Capone, among others-the newspaper headlines tell only of the glamorous and sensational figures involved. But behind the headlines are the untold stories of ordinary men and women acting with extraordinary courage. This picture concerns one of those men"The Undercover Man is produced by the director of All The King's Men and The Hustler (Robert Rossen), directed by Joseph H. Lewis (The Big Combo), photographed by the guy who did Bonnie And Clyde and From Here To Eternity (Burnett Guffey) and stars Glenn Ford (Gilda and The Big Heat). I don't think it's over exaggerating things to say that this particular film has pretty high credentials. But is it any good? Well yes and no is the cop out answer really. A lot will depend on your tolerance for a crime (Noir) story without the edginess and shades of dark colours so befitting the genres Undercover Man purports to belong to.Joseph Lewis' film is a good old honest tale of genuine people, each threatened or blighted by crime, collectively coming together to thwart the mob types that ran amok back in the day. Led by the seemingly unflinching Treasury Department operative Frank Warren (Ford), we are led thru a talky movie that ultimately is relying on its "who's cooking the books, and can we prove it" plot to keep all interested. Yes a couple of potent crime scenes are in the piece to ensure we know that there are villains in our midst, but really this is a sedate sort of crime picture and prospective new viewers should be prepared for that.Technically it's fine, all involved are delivering a high standard that their respective back catalogue's suggests that they should. Other cast members range from the underused (James Whitmore) to the under written (Nina Foch), with the latter a hindrance to the film because a strong female presence would have put meat on the bones of Warren's state of mind skeleton. Shyster lawyer duties falls to Barry Kelley (The Asphalt Jungle), who does rather well to be the central focus of the badness within the picture, but he is not the main man, he is not the villain at the stories heart-and with that you can't help hankering for a real touch of villainy to really darken proceedings.Recommended for sure, but only as an interesting crime story featuring pretty interesting characters. For it's neither dark or grim enough to be considered anything else. 7/10