Criss Cross (1949)

Directed by Robert Siodmak; produced by Michel Kraike

Steve Thompson returns to Los Angeles after years of travelling the United States, having, he hoped, rid himself of the memory of Anna (Yvonne De Carlo). It didn’t work, and as soon as he comes home, he starts looking for her. When he learns both that she still loves him but has nonetheless taken up with the crooked Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea), for his money, Steve plots an armoured car heist that will get him the cash to win Anna and settle with Dundee at the same time.

Criss Cross has the elements that make it an essential entry in the category of American film noir. The characters, the writing, the direction, the photography and the lighting all contribute.

The story is straightforward - so straightforward, in fact, that the tragedy may be seen coming in the first few minutes. This is the screenplay’s intention. It creates a sense of foreboding from the opening scene. When a character states that the past should be forgotten, and ‘we’ll start again’, the viewer knows things are not going to work out well. But such is the story-telling that, like Steve’s obsession with Anna, the viewer feels compelled to go on.

The acting is excellent. Lancaster’s Steve may seem to be very similar to his Swede, from his first film, The Killers (1946), especially in his attraction to a woman who is no good for him. Yet here, he replaces the Swede’s fatalism with blind optimism, and creates quite a different aura because of it.

De Carlo matches him step by step, making her Anna one of film’s worst (or is it best?) femmes fatale, a woman superficially - both physically and emotionally - winning and earnest. What lies beneath the surface is given form by a most convincing performance.

Duryea receives a prominent third billing, and he’s very much a big part of the film. He gives what many might consider a stereotyped performance, one that he’s given and would give numerous times. Yet he provides his character with three dimensions. Dundee is not slimy; there is a kind of class to him, and that gives him greater menace. For much of the film, the violence to which he is prone is implied; people are afraid of him, without visible reason. Yet Duryea gives other characters’ reactions credence.

Siodmak’s direction is credited with cementing a number of images and techniques of film noir, and certainly Criss Cross gives ample proof of the claim. His use of darkness is exemplary, from the first scene of the lovers caught in the panning glare of an automobile’s headlamps to the final emergence of the villain from a black doorway. Cramped dance-floors, narrow barrooms and claustrophobic meeting-places all highlight the intent of the plot and script.

The late 1940s was the core of the film noir era, short-lived, crowded, innovative and entertaining. Criss Cross is one of the best of an impressive lot.