The notebook above belongs to the Schemer (Wallace Ford), a member of a counterfeiting ring in T-Men (dir. Anthony Mann, 1947). The Schemer keeps his accounts in what might be called pseudo-Greek. That’ll fool ’em, eh? Well, some of ’em. The accounts above are for the Hotsy-Totsy, the Casa de las Nacions [sic], Ditero Polso, the Club Trindad, and Palasi. You can’t fool a junior T-Man.
The Schemer’s trick is enough though to befuddle Chief Carson: “Looks like Greek. I’ll send this to Washington right away,” says he. Much more efficient than looking at the inside back-cover of the dictionary for the Greek alphabet, just in case the Schemer is using a simple cipher, right? Even then, Chief Carson might’ve been befuddled, for the β [beta] of Κλόβ has been turned into an ω [omega].
In addition to this notebook, T-Men offers Reed Hadley’s documentary-style voiceover, John Alton’s stylish cinematography, and a brief appearance by June Lockhart (of later Lassie fame). I never tire of documentary-style crime films.
More notebook sightings
Angels with Dirty Faces : Cat People : Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne : Extras : Journal d’un curé de campagne : The House on 92nd Street : The Lodger : The Mystery of the Wax Museum : The Palm Beach Story : Pickpocket : Pickup on South Street : Quai des Orfèvres : Red-Headed Woman : Rififi : The Sopranos : Spellbound : Union Station
comments: 0
Post a Comment