1 MAY 1947, Page 5

Though I have never seen the late F. J. McCormick

in any stage- play, nor on the screen except as Shell in " Odd Man Out," I read the news of his death with real distress. For never, I think, have I seen on the film acting so unbelievably convincing and lifelike as McCormick's (or Judge's, to give him his real name) rendering of the little shabby bird-fancier who strains and strives by every device of persuasion to save the gangster wanted for murder. "Odd Man Out," as a whole, is a film in ten thousand, and I suppose most people would consider it first and foremost James Mason's film. But when I see it again, as I hope to, it will be not because of Mason, but because of the marvellous little Abbey Theatre actor who will never act in any film or play any more.

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