Criss Cross

One of the more underrated film noir movies is released by Eureka Entertainment as part of the Masters of Cinema series

Criss Cross was made in 1949 and marked the reunion of sorts of the creative team that had made the 1946 classic The Killers. This is also directed by Robert Siodmak, stars Burt Lancaster with music orchestration by Miklos Rosza.

Criss Cross tells the story of Steve (Lancaster) a man who has moved back to Los Angeles, hoping to move on from a disillusioned marriage to Anna (Yvonne De Carlo) and get back to normality. However, it does not take long for Steve to reconnect with Anna at a former hang out and upon realising she is now the partner of local hoodlum Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea), Steve and Anna begun a torrid affair that may be the end of them.

To cover up the affair, Steve lays a bank heist pan on Dundee where they split the loot 50-50, but the hope being that Steve will double cross Dundee and take all the money and his woman for himself.

Siodmak paints Criss Cross in this familiar battle of light and dark, but also reality and dream like state; Lancaster's drawl of voiceover narration making the audience feel that what they are watching is not merely a tale but unreality - you are never far away from being reminded that this is a film you are watching.  The combative nature of dark trying to ingress upon the natural light spaces is perfectly captured by cinematographer Franz Planer.

Rosza's score is understated also, with dips and troughs of high emotion to subtle sweeps of romance where love can be deadly.

As always in film noir, there is a cynical edge to the narrative and a fatalistic streak to the action; nobody in a true noir can ever be happy and nobody gets away with it.  For all the glamourisation of violence and the appeal of crime, the come uppance is not far away for our protagonists.

Lancaster's screen charm, this coming just three years after his debut in The Killers, shows how quickly he became a star his natural charisma sitting perfectly within the mayhem around him, De Carlo does very well as the femme fatale and she is granted the key speech at the denouement and Duryea is key as the slimy Slim. 

This is such a gripping watch by the film's conclusion culminating in a tense stand-off helped by Siodmak's ability to cast the perfect face to fit the role required.

Criss Cross is out now from Eureka Video.

Gilda

Gilda is Rita Hayworth. Rita Hayworth is Gilda. 

You can imagine that resembling the actual tagline when the film was first released in 1946.  Primarily created as a vehicle for Hayworth, following the end of the Second World War in the previous summer.

However, the film does not start with Gilda, it starts with the chance meeting between Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford), a down and out gambler and Ballin Mundson (George Macready), a crooked German casino owner, on the docks of Buenos Aires where Ballin saves Johnny from a robbery attempt.  Farrell is then employed by Ballin in his casino and business is very good until Ballin leaves on holiday and leaves Johnny in charge. 

After agreeing that gambling and women are not a good mix, Ballin comes back married to a beautiful sensuous wife named Gilda (Hayworth).  It soon becomes clear that Johnny and Gilda know each other and were an item before something led to a break up and Johnny ending up in Argentina.

Much has been made of the psychological and Freudian undercurrent taking place in the film - the constant referral of Ballin's little friend (an actual knife that erects from the bottom of his walking cane) and how he now has Johnny as his new little friend.  The Freudian interpretation is that Ballin is actually a closeted homosexual, but an impotent one who in Johnny sees a younger version of himself - but virile and powerful.  After Ballin and Gilda return, it never becomes clear if they have consumated their union, yet Johnny most like can do.  Hence forth, we have an unusual love triangle taking place prompting jealousy and bitterness, ending with fatal results.

The new digital print does brilliant justice to Rudolph Mate's luscious black and white cinematography, and whilst a lot is focused on the luminous Hayworth, Charles Vidor does create some brilliant shots of film noir such as when Johnny and Ballin watch Gilda go up the prominent staircase - Johnny is in the light, whilst Ballin is in permanent silhouette, it is a shot of sheer beauty and yet terror at the same time.

Hayworth practically glows throughout the entire film, the first time we see her she throws her head back with a full head of hair getting ready for a night out - and yet the full object of desire not just for Johnny but any returning GI Joe from the war; she is beautiful, strong and made desirable by the fact that no man in the picture can truly attain her.  It is also helped by the presence of Hayworth's memorable performances of on 'Put the Blame on Mame' with arm length gloves and 'Amado Mio' (dubbed by Anita Ellis).

The script by Marion Parsonnet does whip along beautifully, yet I feel it does suffer somewhat by the third act troubles once a major player in proceedings is killed off, the narrative seems to get lost in its own labyrinthe and the not knowing if Johnny and Gilda will be reunited, and the comic relief of Uncle Pio (Steven Geray), who mocks Johnny as a peasant, is much missed.

Hayworth who is the centre of attention, is helped by Ford then a young buck who plays Johnny as a chancer but also with a fierce vulnerability at how Gilda treated him previously, making him wary of returning to her affections again.

Nevertheless, this is one of the more memorable film noir movies of the post WW2 eras and highly deserving of a re-release on the big screen, and can be seen at the BFI from Friday 22 July for an extended two-week period, as well as Filmhouse Edinburgh and Irish Film Insitute in Dublin.

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