Crossroads (1942)

Directed by Jack Conway; produced by Edwin Knopf

David Talbot (William Powell) is a rising star of the French Foreign Ministry, whom talk has marked as the next ambassador to Brazil. Newly married to a beautiful woman (Hedy Lamarr), well-to-do and respected, Talbot is shocked to receive a vague demand for blackmail money. He contacts the police and the extortionist is swiftly arrested. Soon, though, it seems that Talbot is the one on trial, as his antecedents are questioned, and it is alleged that he is a fugitive murderer. The man’s once-promising future is in jeopardy as the past - and the present - close in around him.

The setting of the story in 1935 France made for some interest. Aside from it being, originally, a French movie, it is historically apt. In the 1930s, France was rocked by a number of political, social and financial scandals, which played their part in the disastrous level of morale that would greet the German invasion in 1940. What threatens Talbot fits in this context.

It may explain, as well, why Powell, fifty years old when the movie was made, was cast as a civil servant on his way up (a role better suited for a younger man), rather than a politician already near the top. French politicians were, in the year this film was produced, blighted both by the scandals of the ‘30s, and their capitulation to Germany in the first year of the war.

This is the second movie in which Powell plays an amnesiac. The first, I Love You Again, was a comedy; Crossroads, a drama, isn’t as successful in its genre as the earlier film is in its, but it does well enough. The title, which suggests a self-conscious coming-of-age film from the 1980s, or perhaps the story of a newly divorced single mother moving to a new town, may be ignored. The plot is a decent one, though not as much a mystery as it would like to be. It’s one of those films which provides many questions, then answers them all with an acceptable though mundane and not unexpected solution. As well, the clue that clears the way for the truth is withheld from the audience, though it could have easily been sneaked in to the script early on.

Nonetheless, the story keeps one involved, even if it is not as suspenseful as its writers hoped. What really makes the movie, though, are the actors and their performances. In comparing Crossroads to I Love You Again, it can be seen how well Powell handles both drama and comedy. His character is, in reality, written as an American would be, but Powell effortlessly slips into the role of Frenchman. His stylishness suits any nationality. Lamarr’s role doesn’t demand anything great of her talents, but she convincingly portrays Madame Talbot, her husband’s greatest support.

Basil Rathbone also demonstrates that he can manage opposite parts, villain and hero; he was playing Sherlock Holmes in a movie series at the same time. Claire Trevor puts the viewer in doubt as to her character’s intentions for much of the movie. And Margaret Wycherly, though seeming always to play a variety of matriarch, is also no stranger to switching sides in film roles, and has a good bit here.

Certainly, Crossroads could have been better. But for an entertaining time, and for Powell fans, it’s worth its eighty-three minutes.