''Crossplot'' is a 1969 British

neo noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating s ...

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 combin ...

starring Roger Moore. Belgian actress

Claudie Lange Claudie Lange is a Belgian actress and model, mainly active in Italian cinema. Lange entered the film industry at 21, when she met Federico Fellini during a vacation in Rome; Fellini gave her a minor part in ''Juliet of the Spirits'' (1965), and ...

was also featured in her largest English-speaking role.

Plot

Roger Moore is Gary Fenn, a talent scout for a London modelling agency who finds the perfect target and calculates the events which mean that only one girl will be good enough for his bosses, a Hungarian Marla Kugash (Lange). He finds her among the anti-war movement in the bohemian depths of

swinging London The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, mu ...

. She is in the company of a young man, Tarquin, who is extremely protective of her and overtly aggressive to Fenn. The young Hungarian, an illegal refugee from her native homeland, accompanies Fenn to a photoshoot. However, she admits she is in fear of her life, and seems disturbed by the presence of her aunt. When she is nearly killed, the girl drops out of sight and Fenn has to go on the run himself, suspected of a separate murder. He locates her to a country house, which turns out to be the home of Tarquin, an aristocrat in spite of his anti-war sentiments. It is revealed that Marla's aunt is part of a shadowy organisation trying to destabilise the existing world order so they can take over themselves. They will go to any length to try and shut Fenn and Marla up, including sending a helicopter after them. Fenn and his friend manage to escape to London, where they realise that the shadowy movement are planning to assassinate a visiting African

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...

in Hyde Park. They manage to foil the plot.

Cast

* Roger Moore as Gary Fenn *

as Marla Kugash *

Martha Hyer Martha Hyer (August 10, 1924 – May 31, 2014) was an American actress who played Gwen French in ''Some Came Running'' (1958), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her autobiography, ''Finding My Way ...

as Jo Grinling * Alexis Kanner as Tarquin * Derek Francis as Sir Charles Moberley * Ursula Howells as Maggi Thwaites * Bernard Lee as Chilmore * Francis Matthews as Ruddock *

Dudley Sutton Dudley Sutton (6 April 1933 – 15 September 2018) was an English actor. Active in radio, stage, film and television, he was arguably best known for his role of Tinker Dill in the BBC Television drama series '' Lovejoy''. Early life Sutton w ...

as Warren * Mona Bruce as Myrna * Veronica Carlson as Dinah * Michael Culver as Jim * Gabrielle Drake as Celia *

Tim Preece Tim Preece (born 5 August 1938) is an English actor. He has appeared on British television since the 1960s and also acted on stage. Early life Preece was born in Shrewsbury in Shropshire and was educated at the Priory Grammar School for Boys, ...

as Sebastian *

Norman Eshley Norman Eshley (born 30 May 1945) is an English actor best known for his television roles. Biography Eshley attended Bristol Grammar School and worked in a bank, before training as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He played many ...

as Athol * Michael Robbins as Garage Attendant *

John Barrard John Barrard (12 September 1924 – 13 October 2013) was a British character actor who had a career spanning five decades and who perhaps is best known for playing Dooley, Santa's No. 2, in '' Santa Claus: The Movie'' (1985). Barrard's tel ...

as Wedding Guest * David Prowse as Best man * Les Conrad as Tugboat Captain

Reception

The film is not particularly well regarded by critics. One suggested that the film quickly became "tedious" in spite of the numerous action sequences, and the plot was far too "convoluted" and "confusing".Five Thrillers from MGM – Reviews by David Nusair
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References

External links

* * {{Alvin Rakoff 1969 films British spy films Films shot at Associated British Studios 1960s English-language films Films directed by Alvin Rakoff 1960s British films