Found this one by accident. For a long time Carol Reed's classic, Odd Man Out (1947), was in my top 3 favorite films but it's dark material that can be a downer. However, like Reed's other classic, The Third Man (1949), it's impeccably shot, features a great lead performance and has an almost moronically simple storyline: James Mason plays the leader of a resistance organization (Reed adamantly refuted any similarities with the IRA, naturally) who plans an armed robbery to fund operations. The robbery is bungled, Mason accidently shoots a defender, is shot himself and is left by his comrades to find a way back to safety (wherever he can find it). It's essentially a dead-man-walking film that dramatizes the choices of people around him as they consider whether or not to become involved in his predicament. Highly Recommeded. The CChannel (or DVD) is the way to go but there's a decent YouTube copy currently streaming as well.
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