Criss Cross [Blu-ray]

Director: Robert Siodmak Robert Siodmak

Overview

Armored car guard Steve Thompson (Burt Lancaster) should know better than to make whoopee with his no-good ex-wife Anna (Yvonne De Carlo) -- especially since she's now married to gangster Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea). Caught by Slim in a compromising position with Anna, Steve alibis that he's merely planning an armored car heist. Slim doesn't completely buy this, but he decides to go through with the robbery, sending along several henchmen to make sure that Steve doesn't pull a double-cross. But he hasn't reckoned with Anna, who convinces the wounded Steve to steal the loot and skip town with her. No one ever wins in a set-up like this; the audience knows this, but follows along just the same. Based on a novel by Don Tracy, Criss Cross is a terse, doom-drenched film noir from a master of the game, director Robert Siodmak. And yes, that handsome hunk dancing with Yvonne De Carlo in the opening scene is an unbilled Tony Curtis.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/23/2019
UPC:	0826663200225
Original Release:	1948
Rating:	NR
Source:	Shout Factory
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Language:	English
Time:	1:28:00
Sales rank:	21,913

Special Features

New 4K scan of The Original Nitrate Negative; New Commentary by Film Historian Jim Hemphill; Theatrical Trailer; Still Gallery; Poster and Lobby Card Still Gallery

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Burt Lancaster	Actor
Yvonne DeCarlo	Actor
Dan Duryea	Actor
Stephen McNally	Actor
Richard Long	Slade Thompson
Esy Morales	Orchestra Leader
Tom Pedi	Vincent
Percy Helton	Frank
Alan Napier	Finchley
Griff Barnett	Pop
Meg Randall	Helen
Joan Miller	The Lush,Midget
Edna Holland	Mrs. Thompson
John Doucette	Walt
James O'Reare	Waxie
Marc Krah	Mort
James O'Rear	Waxie
Robert Osterloh	Mr. Nelson
Vincent Renno	Headwaiter
Charles Wagenheim	Waiter
Tony Curtis	Gigolo
Beatrice Roberts	Nurse,Doctor
Isabel Randolph	Nurse
Robert Winkler	Clark
Vito Scotti	Track Usher
John Roy	Bartender
Tim Hawkins	Boy
Lee Tung-Foo	Chinese Cook
Ann Staunton	Girl Friend
Dolores Castle	Girl Friend
Jeri Jordan	Girl Friend,Girl
Kippee Valez	Girl Friend
Diane Stewart	Girl
Jean Bane	Girl
Garry Owen	Johnny
Kenneth Patterson	Guard
Gene Evans	Guard
Stephen Roberts	Doctor
George Lynn	Andy
Michael Cisney	Chester
Ralph Brooks	Newsstand Proprietor
Corky	Corky the Dog
Sam Finn	Bar Patron
Miklós Rózsa	Composer

Technical Credits

Daniel Fuchs

William Bowers

Robert Siodmak	Director
Daniel Fuchs	Screenwriter
David S. Horsley	Special Effects
Michel Kraike	Producer,Producer
William Bowers	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Criss Cross doesn't quite live up to the standard of director Richard Siodmak's enduring noir classic The Killers, but the film is nonetheless full of the stylish atmospherics, sly plot twists, human frailties, and fatalistic attitudes that defined the genre after World War II. The film certified Burt Lancaster as one of the stars of the genre. In retrospect, Lancaster doesn't fit in with the hardboiled protagonists of Siodmak's films: he's too clean, too sincere, too nice, and perhaps that's why he branched out into different roles in the 1950s. Co-star Yvonne De Carlo also seems slightly inappropriate for the material, though she definitely looks the part of the femme fatale. The overall mood of the film, based on Don Tracy's novel of the same name, is aided by the ominous black-and-white cinematography by Franz Planer and the mercurial Miklos Rozsa score. Criss Cross was somewhat faithfully remade by director Steven Soderbergh in 1995 as the flawed but interesting The Underneath.