Daring alibi
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Daring alibi |
| Original title | Criss Cross |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1949 |
| length | 87 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Robert Siodmak |
| script | Daniel Fuchs |
| production | Michael Kraike |
| music | Miklós Rózsa |
| camera | Franz Planner |
| cut | Ted J. Kent |
| occupation | |
| |
Criss Cross (Original title: Criss Cross ) is one in black and white twisted American film noir of Robert Siodmak from the year 1949 .
action
Los Angeles: Steve and Anna secretly meet at night in the parking lot of a rumba bar where Anna's husband, the gangster Slim Dundee, is waiting for them. They assure each other that everything will turn out fine after tomorrow. Anna goes back to the bar, Steve follows her at a distance. In the bar, Steve meets his old friend, Lieutenant Pete Ramirez, who warns him of a confrontation with Dundee. Steve ignores Ramirez's warning and engages in a fight with Dundee, which later turns out to be a red herring: Steve and Dundee, despite their mutual dislike, are partners in the planned robbery on a money transport. The next morning, Steve, who controls the money truck, remembers the previous events as it drives.
After several years, Steve returns to Los Angeles , which he left after his marriage to Anna failed. He meets Anna in the rumba bar, which they used to visit regularly. She is now in a relationship with the notorious gangster Dundee, but the two fall for each other again. Soon afterwards Anna disappears without a trace; when Steve meets her again, she is married to Dundee. She explains her marriage with the massive rejection of Steve's mother and his friend Ramirez, who even threatened Anna to have her arrested and locked up on an excuse. Steve and Anna start their affair again, although Anna sees no point in their affair due to their mutual destitution and Dundee's notorious violence. When Dundee shows up at Steve's house, Steve pretends that he only contacted Anna to meet Dundee. Steve suggests robbing a money truck he drives and sharing the booty. Dundee agrees, and they agree on Anna to be the messenger for Steve's share. Steve makes an appointment with Anna that she should leave Dundee after the attack and wait for him with Steve's share in a hut in Palos Verdes .
The attack succeeds, but Steve's colleague is killed and he himself is seriously injured; apparently Dundee had planned to take Steve off from the start. A gangster hired by Dundee kidnaps Steve from the hospital, but is persuaded with a lucrative offer of money to drive him to the hut in Palos Verdes, where Anna is waiting for him with the loot. There Steve learns that Anna was only playing the messenger so that she could escape Dundee with Steve's share alone. In the meantime, Dundee has learned from his henchman where Steve and Anna are and drives to their hiding place. Before Dundee shoots the two of them, he admits that he, like Steve, loves the unfaithful Anna. Shortly afterwards, the police arrive at the scene.
background
Daring Alibi was written in June and July 1948, based on Don Tracy's novel Criss-Cross . Originally, like Siodmak's Avengers of the Underworld , Mark Hellinger was supposed to produce the film, but he died unexpectedly during the production preparations. Siodmak later wrote in his biography that the idea of using smoke bombs to cover the scene of the attack was his account. He also stated that he discovered the musician Esy Morales, who can be seen and heard several times in the dance hall, by chance and brought him to Hollywood . Morales died soon afterwards (according to Siodmak before the premiere in 1949, according to the Library of Congress in 1950). Another daring alibi was Tony Curtis ' screen debut , who briefly appeared in a dance scene with Yvonne De Carlo .
Criss Cross premiered on January 12, 1949. In Germany the film on October 23, 1953 started.
Don Tracy's novel was filmed again in 1995 by Steven Soderbergh as The Flipside of the Medal (Original title: The Underneath ). One of the first shots shows the Civic Center, Los Angeles in an aerial photo.
Reviews
“Under Robert Siodmak's experienced direction, the flashbacks form a cohesive unit without ever confusing or boring. He does a masterful job in staging the attack. "
“A rough, somewhat entertaining melodrama […] In many ways, Daring Alibi , thanks to Mr Siodmak's imaginative direction, is an exciting action film . But it is also lengthy and cumbersome, partly because Mr Siodmak indulges in a script that is talkative, rambling, and epigone-like. [...] Daring alibi is too overloaded with the usual characters who behave in the usual way to leave a lasting impression. "
"Wonderful shabby story about cheating and obsession [...] As always with Siodmak, the tension is kept with a tight pace, visual precision and outstanding figure drawing."
"A superbly staged gangster film in the style of the" Black Series ", which draws its tension not from the realistic plot structure, but from its gloomy and fatalistic atmosphere."
literature
- Don Tracy: Criss-Cross. Vanguard Press, 1934 (EA), Triangle Books, 1948 (WA)
Web links
- Criss Cross in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Criss Cross at Turner Classic Movies (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Joseph Greco: The File on Robert Siodmak in Hollywood, 1941-1951. Dissertation.com, 1999, ISBN 1581120818 , p. 116 ff.
- ↑ Robert Siodmak, Hans C. Blumenberg (Ed.): Between Berlin and Hollywood. Memories of a great film director. Herbig, Munich 1980, 295 pp., ISBN 3-8004-0892-9 , pp. 157-159.
- ^ Esy Morales in the Library of Congress.
- ↑ Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward (Ed.): Film Noir. An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, Third Edition. Overlook / Duckworth, New York / Woodstock / London 1992, ISBN 978-0-87951-479-2 , pp. 70-72.
- ↑ a b Daring alibi. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 29, 2020 . .
- ↑ Criss Cross. In: Variety . 1949, accessed on March 29, 2020 (English): “Under Robert Siodmak's knowing direction, the flashbacks blend into a cohesive unit and are never confusing or draggy. His staging of the holdup scene is a masterful job. "
- ↑ "A tough, mildly exciting melodrama […] In many ways" Criss Cross "is a suspenseful action picture, due to the resourceful directing of Robert Siodmak. But it also is tedious and plodding at times, due partly to Mr. Siodmak's indulgence of a script that is verbose, redundant and imitative. [...] "Criss Cross" is too cluttered with standard characters behaving in standard fashion to stir up more than passing interest in the final analysis. ”- Review in the New York Times on March 12, 1949, accessed on January 3, 2013.
- ↑ "Wonderfully seedy tale of betrayal and obsession [...] As always with Siodmak, the suspense is maintained throughout by taut pacing, visual precision, and excellent characterization." - Time Out Film Guide, Seventh Edition 1999. Penguin, London 1998, p 187.