Criss Cross: Amazon.ca: Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally, Esy Morales, Tom Pedi, Percy Helton, Alan Napier, Griff Barnett, Meg Randall, Richard Long, Joan Miller, Franz Planer, Robert Siodmak, Ted J. Kent, Michael Kraike, Daniel Fuchs, Don Tracy, William Bowers: DVD

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A certified film noir classic, Criss Cross embraces the genre's darkness with an uncompromising tale of doomed lovers and multilayered betrayal. Reuniting with director Robert Siodmak after their success with The Killers, Burt Lancaster plays a love-struck loser who seals his fate when he returns to Los Angeles to find his ex-wife (Yvonne DeCarlo) eager to rekindle their love against all better judgment. She encourages their torrid affair but marries a mobster (Dan Duryea); to deflect suspicion, Lancaster lures Duryea into an armored-truck robbery, creating a vortex of greed and passion from which he cannot escape. Featuring the brief screen debut of Tony Curtis, Criss Cross is a stylish masterpiece of clashing fates and fatal attractions; Franz Planer's cinematography creates a shadow world in which every desire is tainted by the threat of violence, and Miklos Rozsa's score underlines a love story that could never end happily. Film noir doesn't get any bleaker--or better--than this. --Jeff Shannon

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4.3 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Criss-Crossed on an Average DVD for this Classic Noir, Mar 5 2005

By

Nix Pix (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Criss Cross (DVD)

Robert Siodmak's "Criss Cross" is a stylishly bleak, torrid and brilliant ménage a trois of shadowy intersecting lives in which all the multilayered plot entanglements are tainted with a threat of violence and ultimately lead to ruin and betrayal. Burt Lancaster is Steve Thompson, a love-struck mama's boy who returns from a one year sabbatical after his painful divorce from the love of his life, Anna (Yvonne DeCarlo) only to discover that Anna is eager to rekindle their love. The lure is not without its own subtext. Against his better judgment, Steve jumps into the deep end of the pool, so to speak, and once more, ignites his tawdry lust that ends miserably when Anna decides to better herself - financially, at least - by marrying mobster, Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea). But Anna isn't quite ready to give up her playtime with her former husband. When the two are nearly exposed by one of Slim's bodyguards, Steve plots against Slim by saying that the two are planning on an armored-truck robbery, one which results in a maelstrom of greedy, godless passion from which no one escapes.
THE TRANSFER: Universal has done a bare bones job of remastering "Criss Cross" for DVD. The gray scale is very well balanced with deep solid blacks and whites that are clean. There's a hint film grain and some age related artifacts. Also there's more than a hint of edge enhancement and pixelization that tends to distract from a visual presentation that, overall, is a considerable improvement over previously issued VHS tapes. There are, unfortunately, no extras on this disc. Nevertheless, it is a good disc to add to your library of classic cinema.

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4.0 out of 5 stars "Criss Cross (1949) ... Burt Lancaster ... Universal Studios (2004)", Dec 13 2010

By

J. Lovins "Mr. Jim" (Missouri-USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Criss Cross (DVD)

Universal Studios presents "CRISS CROSS (Universal Noir Collection)" (1949) (88 min/B&W) (Fully Restored/Dolby Digitally Remastered) -- Steve Thompson (Lancaster) returns to Los Angeles after an extended absence --- He is a complete sap who chooses to blame his life's problems on fate (like many films noir, fate plays a strong role in this one, but Lancaster's character confuses his own inability to make a single good decision as the hand of fate, when he's really just a chump.) --- He immediately goes after his ex-wife Anna (De Carlo), not really because he wants her back, but because he doesn't want her to date Slim Dundee, the crook played by Dan Duryea ---- When he and De Carlo are caught together by Duryea, he explains that he was pitching a robbery to her, and he wants Duryea to help out --- They are going to rob the armored car company that Lancaster managed to get a job at (this is before criminal background checks) --- Duryea goes along with it, as does De Carlo, but we all know that things aren't going to work out for our hero --- A bleak but compelling film noir.

The film music gives us shades of a love story by composer Miklós Rózsa that could never be, but we knew that before the ending credits started rolling - after all, this is film noir.

Under the production staff of:
Robert Siodmak [Director]
Don Tracy [Novel]
Daniel Fuchs [Screenwriter]
William Bowers [Screenwriter]
Michael Kraike [Producer]
Miklós Rózsa [Original Film Score]
Frank Planer [Cinematographer]
Ted J. Kent [Film Editor]

BIOS:
1. Robert Siodmak [Director]
Date of Birth: 8 August 1900 - Dresden, Saxony, Germany
Date of Death: 10 March 1973 - Locarno, Ticino, Switzerland

2. Burt Lancaster (aka: Burton Stephen Lancaster)
Date of Birth: 2 November 1913 - New York City, New York
Date of Death: 20 October 1994 - Century City, California

3. Yvonne De Carlo (aka: Margaret Yvonne Middleton)
Date of Birth: 1 September 1922 - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Date of Death: 8 January 2007 - Woodland Hills, California

4. Dan Duryea
Date of Birth: 23 January 1907 - White Plains, New York
Date of Death: 7 June 1968 - Hollywood, California

the cast includes:
Burt Lancaster ... [Steve Thompson]
Yvonne De Carlo ... [Anna]
Dan Duryea ... [Slim Dundee]
Stephen McNally ... [Pete Ramirez]

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 4 Stars
Performance: 5 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 88 min on DVD ~ Universal Studios ~ (07/06/2004)

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5.0 out of 5 stars FIRST RATE FILM NOIR...., July 13 2004

By

Mark Norvell (HOUSTON) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Criss Cross (DVD)

"Criss Cross" has all the classic elements of good film noir. Lust, crime, betrayel, murder, mobsters, the stalwart anti-hero and a sultry femme fatale all in the netherworld of b&w. With crisp direction by Robert Siodmak and a tight script, "Criss Cross" starts on a roll and doesn't stop until the finale. Steve (Burt Lancaster) can't keep away from his ex-wife Anna (Yvonne de Carlo) even after she marries mobster Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea). So he concocts a robbery at the armored car business where he works to throw Slim off the scent. He gets double crossed, winds up in the hospital and ironically labeled a hero by the press. But that's not the end. There's still Slim and Anna. The cast is compelling and reason enough to watch this classic but Siodmak crafted an exciting film as a whole. It seethes with tension, anxiety and a pall of doom seems to hang over everything. The sensual de Carlo is seen to good advantage and is noir perfect as the catalyst for the robbery. When Steve sees Anna dancing in a roadhouse that features a very good rhumba band (Esy Morales and his group), it's exciting because she's really sexy as she dances, tossing her dark hair. Her partner (barely glimpsed) is a young Tony Curtis. The rhumba music is exotic and pulsating and you can see that Steve is one gone dude as he watches her. So much to recommend about "Criss Cross". If you're a noir collector, this is a first rate addition. The DVD looks very good. Enjoy.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Potent film noir
You may cosnider this film as an authentic elite of this genre.
Lancaster plays the role of a man who hasn't been capable to forget to his ex-wife (Ivonne De Carlo) . Read more

Published on July 10 2004 by Hiram Gomez Pardo

3.0 out of 5 stars CRISS CROSSED ON A SCANT DVD PRESENTATION
Robert Siodmak's "Criss Cross" is a stylishly bleak, torrid and brilliant ménage a trois of shadowy intersecting lives in which all the multilayered plot entanglements are... Read more

Published on July 6 2004 by Nix Pix