Odd Man Out (1947) — PICK
Sullivan’s Travels (1941) — PICK

 

A pair of Scripture-quoting 1940s classics — an American comedy and a British film noir — by two great directors have been newly restored in high definition for lavish new Criterion “special edition” Blu-rays with lots of extras.

The British noir is Odd Man Out from Carol Reed, whose two best-known films are each from stories by Catholic novelists (the other is The Third Man, written by Graham Greene).

Set in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, Odd Man Out is adapted from the 1945 novel by English-Catholic novelist F. L. Green, who had an Irish wife. James Mason stars as Johnnie McQueen, a leader of a revolutionary underground group never named as the IRA, in a coastal city never named as Belfast (where exterior shots were filmed). Wounded and wanted for murder after a payroll robbery gone wrong, Johnnie wanders the city at night amid a largely oblivious populace, with a few who seek to help him or would profit from him. Johnnie’s growing opposition to violence culminates in a vision of the kindly old priest whose lessons Johnnie says he and his fellows never really heard. The import of 1 Corinthians 13, which Johnnie passionately quotes, may have come too late in his case.

The American comedy is Preston Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels, a celebrated screwball comedy with elements of melodrama and pathos. The renowned opening scene pits an idealistic young director named John Sullivan (Joel McCrea) who wants to make socially important films against a pair of studio suits who want him to keep making crowd-pleasing comedies.

The suits’ best argument — that silver-spoon Sullivan doesn’t know enough about hardship to address it — backfires when Sullivan decides to hit the road with 10 cents in his pocket in an effort to experience hardship firsthand.

Sturges said later that the film reflected his belief in “leaving preaching to the preachers”; ironically, the film includes a respectful scene in a black Baptist church, where a deep-voiced preacher quotes John 8:7 and leads the congregation in singing Go Down, Moses.