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.

Man on a Ledge

The premise of this film is typical B-movie fodder, helped by the self-explanatory title (like Snakes on a Plane), you know what you are going to get.

Sam Worthington stars as Nick Cassidy, a former cop wrongly convicted who seemingly wants to end it all by jumping from the ledge of a high rise building in Manhattan.  Attempting to talk him down is psychologist Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks, always useful) but slowly like any good B-movie, it slowly shows you its hand by having layers.

Nick is in charge of a team hoping to rob a bank, a raid led by his younger brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and Angie (Genesis Rodriguez - who wears pink undies to the party)

This allows for a lot of action to take place cutting between the high rise exterior allowing for helicopter shots and vistas in contrast to the claustrophobic feel of the bank raid.  You can maybe be cynical with these heist films that require a genuine sense of detachment from reality - where everything has to go so smoothly for the whole plan to come together.  Yet unlike some films that overstay its welcome with an extended running time, this has a real zip to proceedings which keeps hold of your attention.

Nick has to stay on the ledge long enough to deflect attention from alarms and persuade the cops that his need to end his life is more important. Too some extents that is hard to believe, but in Sam Worthington there is a real everyman quality about him in all his performances, so convincing was he in a wheelchair during Avatar, you could sense his elation when he became his avatar.

A good solid supporting cast of Ed Harris, Ed Burns (doing his typical New Yourk bit as a grumbled cop), Kyra Sedgwick and Anthony Mackie, give a sense of reliability to a film that will give you exactly what it says on the tin.  Think of it as the Ronseal of movies.

Man on a Ledge is released by Entertainment One on DVD now

Boca

Flavio Federico directs the visceral and intense dramatic depiction of Hiroito, the infamous King of Boca de Lixo, starring Daniel de Oliveira in the title role.

Following on from the cinematic appeal and acclaim of Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, it seems Brazil much like British film in the late 1990s and early 21st century has found a niche by going to the dark past of its recent social history for dramatic intent.

Boca follows Hiroito from the violent murder of his father, which the young boy witnessed as he was stabbed over 40 times with a razor.  Oddly, the young boy was arrested and accussed of the crime, ultimately he was acquited.  Then two months later, aged just 21 he moved to Boca de Lixo (an area of downtown Sao Paolo in the 1950s renowned for nightclubs, prostitution, bars and drugs), purchased two guns and grew to become one of the most successful criminals in Brazil. 

The film richly depicts his violence against fellow criminals, the glamour of the girls, the viscerality of the guns as Hiroito becomes the legendary gangster figure in Brazil.

Gangsters remain glamourous figures in cinema, due to the intense nature of their upbringing - as young men who really want attention and yet end up on the wrong side of the law.

De Oliveira portrays Hiroito as a man with a big chip on his shoulder who backs up his words with lots of actions, whilst never hamming up or chewing up too much scenery.

The film is cleverly filmed with a lot of hand-held camerawork to make you feel a part of the action, making the experience a worthwhile one on the small screen.

Boca is released on DVD by Universal Pictures from Monday 13th February