''Crossroads to Crime'' is a 1960 British
crime film
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...
produced and directed by
Gerry Anderson
Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...
and distributed by
Anglo-Amalgamated
Anglo-Amalgamated Productions was a British film production company, run by Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy, which operated from 1945 until roughly 1971 (after which it was absorbed into EMI Films). Low-budget and second features, often produced at M ...
(AA). Starring
Anthony Oliver
Anthony Oliver (4 July 1922, Abersychan, near Pontypool, Monmouthshire, Wales—November 1995, London) was a Welsh film, television and stage actor.
Selected filmography
* ''Once a Jolly Swagman'' (1949) - Derek
* ''All Over the Town'' (1 ...
,
George Murcell
Arthur George Murcell (30 October 1925 – 3 December 1998) was a British character actor.
Life and career
Born in Italy, he made his film debut in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's '' The Battle of the River Plate'' (1956), Murcell we ...
,
Miriam Karlin
Miriam Karlin (23 June 19253 June 2011) was an English actress whose career lasted for more than 60 years. She was known for her role as Paddy in ''The Rag Trade'', a 1960s BBC and 1970s LWT sitcom, and in particular for the character's catchp ...
,
David Graham and
Ferdy Mayne
Ferdy Mayne (or Ferdie Mayne) (born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel; 11 March 1916 – 30 January 1998) was a German-British stage and screen actor. Born in Mainz, he emigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1930s to escape the Nazi regi ...
, ''Crossroads to Crime'' is about a police constable who works undercover to bring down a gang of
lorry hi-jackers. Made as a
B movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
by Anderson's production company
AP Films
AP Films or APF, later becoming Century 21 Productions, was a British independent film production company of the 1950s until the early 1970s. The company became internationally known for its imaginative children's action-adventure marionette tel ...
(APF), which made children's puppet television series, it was APF's first film production as well as its first production with live actors. It was also the
only film that Anderson directed.
Nat Cohen
Nat Cohen (23 December 1905 – 10 February 1988)William D. Rubinstein, et al (eds.''The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History'' Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, p.171 was a British film producer and executive. For over four decades he was one of t ...
and
Stuart Levy of AA hired Anderson to make the film while he was struggling to find a distributor for ''
Supercar
A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...
'' and came to them seeking work. Made on a low budget of £16,250, the one-hour film was shot mostly on location between May and June 1960. Several of the cast and crew had been involved in earlier APF productions and would continue their association with Anderson; they included actor David Graham and the film's composer
Barry Gray
Barry Gray (born John Livesey Eccles; 18 July 1908 – 26 April 1984) was a British musician and composer best known for his collaborations with television and film producer Gerry Anderson.
Life and career
Born into a musical family in Blackburn ...
. APF's three co-directors –
John Read,
Reg Hill
Reginald Eric Hill (16 May 1914 – 1999) was an English model-maker, art director, producer, and freelance storyboard artist. He is most prominently associated with the work of Gerry Anderson.
Early life
Born on 16 May 1914, Hill started his ...
and
Sylvia Thamm – served as cinematographer, art director and script supervisor.
Released in late 1960, ''Crossroads to Crime'' was a commercial failure and the critical response has been largely negative. Although the film was described by one commentator as a competent "cops and robbers" thriller,
criticism has been directed at its script, editing, set design and low production values.
The film has been broadcast more than once on British TV since the end of its brief theatrical run. It was released on DVD in 2013.
Plot
While
on the beat, Police Constable Don Ross (
Anthony Oliver
Anthony Oliver (4 July 1922, Abersychan, near Pontypool, Monmouthshire, Wales—November 1995, London) was a Welsh film, television and stage actor.
Selected filmography
* ''Once a Jolly Swagman'' (1949) - Derek
* ''All Over the Town'' (1 ...
) discovers a gang of
lorry hi-jackers operating from the back of a
transport café
In Britain, a cafe (), also known colloquially as a caff or greasy spoon, is a small, cheap eatery typically specialising in fried foods or home-cooked meals.
Though it uses the same word origin as the term "café", it is distinct from the ...
. Gang members Diamond and Johnny (
George Murcell
Arthur George Murcell (30 October 1925 – 3 December 1998) was a British character actor.
Life and career
Born in Italy, he made his film debut in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's '' The Battle of the River Plate'' (1956), Murcell we ...
and
David Graham) drive away in a car with the café owner, Connie Williams (
Miriam Karlin
Miriam Karlin (23 June 19253 June 2011) was an English actress whose career lasted for more than 60 years. She was known for her role as Paddy in ''The Rag Trade'', a 1960s BBC and 1970s LWT sitcom, and in particular for the character's catchp ...
), held hostage in the back seat. Ross tries to stop the car by jumping onto its side but is thrown to the ground and suffers a head injury. Pretending to be innocent passers-by, Diamond and Johnny take Ross home. Williams is brought before the hi-jackers' affluent ringleader, Miles (
Ferdy Mayne
Ferdy Mayne (or Ferdie Mayne) (born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel; 11 March 1916 – 30 January 1998) was a German-British stage and screen actor. Born in Mainz, he emigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1930s to escape the Nazi regi ...
), who warns her not to betray them to the authorities.
Despite evidence linking the gang to a spate of vehicle thefts along the
A1 road, Ross is unable to persuade his superior, Sergeant Pearson (
Arthur Rigby), to investigate the café. He therefore takes matters into his own hands, confronting Diamond with what he knows and forcing the gangster to bribe him in exchange for his silence. Learning of Ross' private investigation, Pearson threatens him with dismissal, placing strain on Ross's relationship with his wife Joan (Patricia Heneghan). Nevertheless, Ross continues to gather evidence as the hi-jackers capture a shipment of cigarettes.
As the gang prepare to make one last raid – this time, targeting a £20,000 haul of nickel
ingot
An ingot is a piece of relatively pure material, usually metal, that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing. In steelmaking, it is the first step among semi-finished casting products. Ingots usually require a second procedure of sh ...
s – Ross joins the operation in a bid to expose and topple Miles. Discovering Ross's treachery, Diamond pulls a gun on the officer and chases him through the café cellars. He wounds and eventually corners Ross only to be shot dead by Johnny, who is revealed to be an undercover detective. Johnny tell Ross that the authorities know Miles' location and that soon the whole gang will be arrested. Ross returns to his life as an ordinary beat constable.
Production
In early 1960,
Gerry Anderson
Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...
sought work from
Nat Cohen
Nat Cohen (23 December 1905 – 10 February 1988)William D. Rubinstein, et al (eds.''The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History'' Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, p.171 was a British film producer and executive. For over four decades he was one of t ...
and
Stuart Levy of AA after
Granada Television
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
rejected APF's proposal for ''
Supercar
A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...
'', the planned follow-up to ''
Four Feather Falls
''Four Feather Falls'' is a British television programme, the third puppet TV show produced by Gerry Anderson for ITV Granada, Granada Television (now ITV Granada). It was based on an idea by Barry Gray, who also wrote the show's music. The ser ...
''.
[Archer and Hearn, p. 55.] AA, which had helped to commission ''Four Feather Falls'' after responding positively to its first episode,
[Archer and Hearn, p. 50.] produced mainly low-budget
B movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
s with short running times to increase the amount of British-made content in its output.
Wanting to establish himself as a film director, Anderson agreed to make a B movie for Cohen and Levy with no contract and a budget of only £16,250 (about £ in ).
The script was written by Alun Falconer, whose previous writing credits included the thriller ''
Never Let Go
''Never Let Go'' is a 1960 British thriller film starring Richard Todd, Peter Sellers and Elizabeth Sellars. It concerns a man's attempt to recover his stolen Ford Anglia car. Sellers plays a London villain, in one of his rare serious roles.
P ...
'' and the crime drama ''
The Unstoppable Man
''The Unstoppable Man'' is a 1960 British crime drama film directed by Terry Bishop and starring Cameron Mitchell, Harry H. Corbett, Marius Goring and Lois Maxwell.
Plot
A gang of criminals kidnaps the son of James Kennedy, who is an American ...
''.
The film references ''Four Feather Falls'' as an
in-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or a private joke, is a joke whose humour is understandable only to members of an ingroup; that is, people who are ''in'' a particular social group, occupation, or other community of shared interest. It i ...
during a scene in which two young men consider playing a tune from the series on the transport café's
jukebox
A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to selec ...
.
[Archer and Hearn, p. 57.]
Anderson cast
Anthony Oliver
Anthony Oliver (4 July 1922, Abersychan, near Pontypool, Monmouthshire, Wales—November 1995, London) was a Welsh film, television and stage actor.
Selected filmography
* ''Once a Jolly Swagman'' (1949) - Derek
* ''All Over the Town'' (1 ...
as Ross because he had been impressed by the actor's performance in the
West End production of
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
's ''
The Mousetrap
''The Mousetrap'' is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. ''The Mousetrap'' opened in London's West End in 1952 and ran continuously until 16 March 2020, when the stage performances had to be temporarily discontinued during the COVID-1 ...
''.
David Graham had appeared in a 1957 episode of ''
The New Adventures of Martin Kane'' that Anderson had directed.
Two of the cast performed in other APF productions:
George Murcell
Arthur George Murcell (30 October 1925 – 3 December 1998) was a British character actor.
Life and career
Born in Italy, he made his film debut in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's '' The Battle of the River Plate'' (1956), Murcell we ...
provided the voices of Professor Popkiss and Masterspy in the first series of ''Supercar'' while Graham voiced various characters in APF series throughout the 1960s.
Filming
The film was shot in and around
Slough
Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...
and
Maidenhead
Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...
over five weeks between May and June 1960.
[Archer and Hearn, p. 56.] The shoot made use of APF's own studios and a nearby café, both located on the
Slough Trading Estate
The Slough Trading Estate founded in Slough in Buckinghamshire in 1920, was an early business park in the United Kingdom. According to the estate's owners and operators, Segro, Slough Trading Estate consists of of commercial property in Slough ...
, which respectively appeared as the gang's warehouse and the transport café.
[La Rivière, p. 48.] When night filming inside the café ran into the early hours of the morning, the crew fitted black drapes to the windows to block out the dawn sun and keep the light levels constant.
Other filming locations included
Burnham Beeches and various points along the
A4 road This is a list of roads designated A4.
A4 is the name of several roads:
* A004 road (Argentina), a road connecting Buenos Aires-La Plata highway with the Juan María Gutiérrez circle
* A4 motorway (Austria), a road connecting Vienna and Nickels ...
.
The crew also filmed for one day at Halliford Studios in
Shepperton
Shepperton is an urban village in the Borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, approximately south west of central London. Shepperton is equidistant between the towns of Chertsey and Sunbury-on-Thames. The village is mentioned in a document of 959 AD ...
.
According to Anderson,
Ferdy Mayne
Ferdy Mayne (or Ferdie Mayne) (born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel; 11 March 1916 – 30 January 1998) was a German-British stage and screen actor. Born in Mainz, he emigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1930s to escape the Nazi regi ...
sometimes misinterpreted the script, with humorous results.
A scene between Ross and café owner Connie (
Miriam Karlin
Miriam Karlin (23 June 19253 June 2011) was an English actress whose career lasted for more than 60 years. She was known for her role as Paddy in ''The Rag Trade'', a 1960s BBC and 1970s LWT sitcom, and in particular for the character's catchp ...
) required several takes to film when Karlin repeatedly upstaged Oliver, altering the physical arrangement of the
two shot
A two shot is a type of shot in which the frame encompasses two people (the subjects). The subjects do not have to be next to each other, and there are many common two shots which have one subject in the foreground and the other subject in the ba ...
so that the other actor ended up with his back to the camera.
Terence Brook, who was known for his appearances in adverts for
Strand cigarettes and was cast as gangster Harry on the basis of his "tough guy" image, was doubled by editor and
second unit
Second unit is a discrete team of filmmakers tasked with filming shots or sequences of a production, separate from the main or "first" unit. The second unit will often shoot simultaneously with the other unit or units, allowing the filming stag ...
director
David Elliott for a stunt that involved his character jumping off the back of a lorry.
Sylvia Thamm, one of the co-directors of APF, served uncredited as
script supervisor
A script supervisor (also called continuity supervisor or script) is a member of a film crew who oversees the continuity of the motion picture including wardrobe, props, set dressing, hair, makeup and the actions of the actors during a scene. The ...
; she and Anderson were married later in 1960 after Anderson divorced his first wife.
Post-production
Composer
Barry Gray
Barry Gray (born John Livesey Eccles; 18 July 1908 – 26 April 1984) was a British musician and composer best known for his collaborations with television and film producer Gerry Anderson.
Life and career
Born into a musical family in Blackburn ...
recorded the score in six hours on 21 June 1960.
The opening theme was re-used as incidental music in several later APF productions: the ''Supercar'' episode "The White Line", the ''
Fireball XL5
''Fireball XL5'' is a 1960s British children's science-fiction puppet television series about the missions of ''Fireball XL5'', a vessel of the World Space Patrol that polices the cosmos in the year 2062. Commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac, ''XL5' ...
'' episode "The Robot Freighter Mystery" and the ''
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', often shortened to ''Captain Scarlet'', is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions for distributor I ...
'' episode "
Manhunt
Manhunt may refer to:
Search processes
* Manhunt (law enforcement), a search for a dangerous fugitive
* Manhunt (military), a search for a high-value target by special operations forces or intelligence agencies
Social organisations
* Manhun ...
".
A biography of Gray suggests that the score's instrumental nature influenced Gray's compositions for ''
Thunderbirds'' and other Anderson series.
To ensure that the
British Board of Film Censors
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of fi ...
(BBFC) would give the film a family-friendly
U certificate, various expletives were dubbed over during post-production. For example, "
bloody
''Bloody'', as an adjective or adverb, is a commonly used expletive attributive in British English, Australian English, Irish English, Indian English and a number of other Commonwealth nations. It has been used as an intensive since at lea ...
" was replaced with the milder "ruddy". To make the film more accessible to American audiences, references to "quid" (a term for
pound sterling
Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and t ...
) were also changed.
The BBFC certified the film U on 26 July 1960.
Release
The film was released in October or November 1960 as the
second feature
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...
to ''
The Criminal''.
Its
tag line
In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, so ...
was "£20,000 the Prize and Death the Price!"
The film was later incorporated into the ''
Edgar Wallace Mysteries
The ''Edgar Wallace Mysteries'' is a British second-feature film series mainly produced at Merton Park Studios for Anglo-Amalgamated. There were 48 films in the series, which were released between 1960 and 1965. The series was screened as ''The E ...
'' series (also distributed by AA) and re-edited with new opening titles.
Since the 1960s, the film has been shown more than once on British television, most recently on
Talking Pictures TV
Talking Pictures TV (TPTV) is a British free-to-air vintage-film and nostalgia television channel. It was launched on 26 May 2015 on Sky channel 343, but later also became available on Freeview, Freesat, and Virgin Media. It is on air for 24 ho ...
.
The
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
owns a print of the film, which it screened at Bradford's
Pictureville Cinema
Pictureville Cinema is a cinema auditorium located within the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The building was originally the Theatre for Bradford Central Library which opened in 1967.
Pictureville is one ...
in 1997 to celebrate Anderson's TV and film career.
The film's first home video release was a
Region 2 DVD that was published by Network Distributing in 2013. The DVD print uses the "Edgar Wallace" titles, with the originals included as a bonus feature. Also included is a behind-the-scenes film, ''Remembering Crossroads to Crime'', comprising interviews with Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, David Elliott and David Graham.
Prior to the DVD release, the BBFC re-classified the film
PG for "moderate violence".
Reception
''Crossroads to Crime'' was a box office failure and critical response to the film has been mostly negative.
Anderson once described it as "possibly the worst film ever made",
while Elliott has called it "awful".
[La Rivière, p. 47.] Cohen and Levy were also unimpressed and did not give Anderson any more work.
While promoting ''
Thunderbirds Are Go'' in 1966, Sylvia Anderson said of ''Crossroads to Crime'', "The less said about it, the better"; in her autobiography, she noted that it "hardly ranks as one of our best efforts".
In an interview, Graham recalled seeing the film at a London cinema and hearing the reaction of an audience member: "I went to this cinema in Kilburn and I sat squirming through this film
..It was so bad it became a classic, possibly! As I got up to go a voice behind me said, 'What a fucking awful picture!'"
A contemporary review in ''
Monthly Film Bulletin
''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...
'' was more upbeat: "Quick off the mark, this modest little thriller soon settles down into a routine 'cops and robbers' format, efficient if not always too convincing."
Stronger praise came in an October 1960 issue of ''
Kine Weekly
''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971.
History
''Kinematograph Weekly'' was founded in 1889 as the monthly publication ''Optical Magic Lantern a ...
'', which commended ''Crossroads to Crime'' for being "refreshingly free from pretence". The review added: "The film's moral is lofty, its tender domestic asides encourage feminine interest, and the climax is a corker."
Gerry Anderson biographers
Simon Archer and Marcus Hearn consider Gray's score overbearing and ill-suited to the subject matter, stating that its "innovative combination of booming
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...
and twangy electric guitar was possibly intended to evoke the contemporary sounds of
Stanley Black
Stanley Black OBE (14 June 1913 – 27 November 2002) was an English bandleader, composer, conductor, arranger and pianist. He wrote and arranged many film scores, recording prolifically for the Decca label (including their subsidiaries ''Lond ...
or
John Barry, but fell wide of the mark on both counts."
They regard Mayne as a "saving grace" but judge the film to be "irredeemably compromised by its prosaic settings, convoluted screenplay and minuscule budget".
Hearn describes Anderson's direction as "clumsy" and sums up ''Crossroads to Crime'' as "one of the most unappealing B movies of its era".
Stephen La Rivière writes that the film is "remembered with dread", calling the plot both "wafer-thin" and "tedious" and the overall production "more than a little rough around the edges".
He argues that ''Crossroads to Crime'' is only remembered because of the success of ''Thunderbirds''.
References
Works cited
*
*
External links
*
*
*
{{Gerry Anderson
1960 films
1960 directorial debut films
1960s crime thriller films
1960s gang films
1960s heist films
1960s police procedural films
AP Films
British black-and-white films
British crime thriller films
British gangster films
British heist films
Edgar Wallace Mysteries
1960s English-language films
Films set in England
Films set in restaurants
Films shot in Berkshire
Films shot in Buckinghamshire
Films shot in Surrey
Police detective films
Trucker films
1960s British films