DIRECTOR/SCREENPLAY: Robert Siodmak  
PRODUCER: Michael Kraike
PRODUCTION CO: Universal
SCREENPLAY: Daniel Fuchs, based on the novel by Don Tracy
PHOTOGRAPHY: Franz Planer
EDITOR: Ted J. Kent
MUSIC: ​Miklós Rózsa
WITH: Burt Lancaster (Steve Thompson), Yvonne De Carlo (Anna), Dan Duryea (Slim Dundee), Stephen McNally (Det. Lt. Pete Ramirez), Esy Morales (Orchestra Leader), Tom Pedi (Vincent), Percy Helton (Frank), Alan Napier (Finchley)

REVIEW

“Steve Thompson (Burt Lancaster) is a hardworking armored car driver with a fatal attraction to his ex-wife Anna (Yvonne De Carlo), who’s now married to notorious hoodlum Slim Dundee (Dann Duryea). Unable to stay away from her, Steve has a secret tryst with Anna… only to be discovered by Dundee. To cover up their affair, Steve convinces Dundee that he only met with Anna to get Dundee’s help in robbing an upcoming payroll shipment he will be driving. The hood falls for the ruse, which triggers a series of harrowing events that ultimately lead to violence and death. Criss Cross is a classic film noir suspense tale from a true master of the genre, Robert Siodmak (The Killers).”

– Shout Select

“Fully exploring the themes he dealt with throughout his career – characters driven by personal obsessions and an inexorable sense of fatalism – Siodmak brought a highly stylized German expressionism to bear on the complex narrative and realistic location shooting. Equally important to the film's look and influence is the rich cinematography of Franz Planer (billed as “Frank” in the credits), who had filmed Max Ophuls’ Liebelei (1933) and Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948). Planer beautifully captured the texture of such memorable settings as Los Angeles' Union Station in the blazing summer heat; a bar that is crowded and lively by night and dingy and depressing by day; the shabby decay of the city's Victorian Bunker Hill section; and the stark contrast of light and shadow that was a hallmark of the German artists who did so much to shape the look and style of American film noir.

Criss Cross is also justly famous for its opening, which places the audience immediately in the middle of a fierce argument in full swing between Lancaster and De Carlo. Rather than the usual linear method of exposition, the device plops us into the middle of the story, with the background details revealed in flashbacks and the robbery and aftermath rushing headlong toward the tragic conclusion.”

– Rob Nixon, Turner Classic Movies

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Auckland  
Tuesday, 7 June, 6.15pm 

Nelson     
Tuesday, 14 June, 6.00pm

Palmerston North
​Wednesday, 6 July, 6pm

Dunedin  
Wednesday, 20 July, 7:30pm

Whanganui  
Monday, 15 August, 7.00pm​

Canterbury  
Monday, 19 September, 7.00pm​

Wellington     
Monday, 28 November, 6.15pm
CLASSIC & CULT CINEMA selection >>