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Crossroads (1942 film)

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This article is about the American film. For the French film, see The Crossroads (1942 film).
Crossroads
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJack Conway
Screenplay byGuy Trosper
Story byJohn H. Kafka
Howard Emmett Rogers
Based onthe screenplay of the film Crossroads
by John H. Kafka
Produced byEdwin H. Knopf
Starring
CinematographyJoseph Ruttenberg
Edited byGeorge Boemler
Music byBronislau Kaper
Production
company
Distributed byLoew's Inc.
Release date
  • July 23, 1942 (1942-07-23) (New York)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$846,000[1]
Box office$2,321,000[1]

Crossroads is a 1942 American mystery film noir directed by Jack Conway and starring William Powell, Hedy Lamarr, Claire Trevor and Basil Rathbone. Powell plays a diplomat whose amnesia about his past subjects him to back-to-back blackmail schemes, which threaten his reputation, job, marriage, and future.[2] The film was inspired by the 1938 French film Crossroads which had also had a British remake Dead Man's Shoes in 1940.

Plot

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In 1935, rising French diplomat David Talbot (William Powell) and his beautiful much younger bride Lucienne (Hedy Lamarr) are celebrating their third month of marriage. They are interrupted by a note from the mysterious Carlos Le Duc (Vladimir Sokoloff) demanding one million francs from David in payment of an old debt. Never having met Le Duc, David has him arrested for attempted extortion. During the trial which follows, Le Duc claims that he knew David in 1922 as a petty criminal named Jean Pelletier.

Talbot maintains that amnesia he sustained in a devastating train accident that same year prevents him from remembering anything from that time. Talbot's identity is affirmed by the psychologist who treated him following the wreck, Dr. Tessier (Felix Bressart), ever since a family friend. Talbot's strategy is foiled by a psychologist for the defense, Dr. Alex Dubroc (Sig Ruman), who tricks Tessier into conceding the unreliability of a diagnosis of amnesia. He suggests Talbot fabricated his to hide his real identity. In fact, no one really knows, as two similar men had boarded the train but only one survived. Was it Pelletier or Talbot?

Michelle Allaine (Claire Trevor), a glamorous night club chanteuse, is introduced on behalf of the defense. Upon studying David closely she looks startled and identifies him as Pelletier, her former lover. The situation is saved by a surprise witness, Henri Sarrou (Basil Rathbone), who produces documentation proving that he and Pelletier were roommates in an African hospital and that Pelletier died of illness. Le Duc is convicted.

Shortly after, Sarrou confronts David privately. He contends that David really is Pelletier, and corroborated with Sarrou and Le Duc in a decade-old robbery in which a courier was killed. He saved David at the trial only because he wants the million francs for himself; unless paid he will recant his testimony. Allaine separately corroborates that David and Pelletier are the same man, and that she still has feelings for him. Offended by David's hostile response, she shows him a locket containing a photo of the two of them together, adding that she will offer this important piece of evidence to Sarrou.

Not long afterwards, Mlle. Allaine makes a surprise appearance at the Talbot home, implicitly threatening David with exposure and planting suspicions in the mind of Lucienne. David conceals his worries as much as possible from his wife, but has begun to doubt his own identity.

Anxious to see Allaine again and draw her out further, David clandestinely visits her at the nightclub where she works. Still treating him as Pelletier, she accuses him of faking amnesia to justify the betrayal of his former friends, adding that his mother is living in penury in an adjacent neighborhood. David goes to the address Allaine gives him and meets the aged Madame Pelletier. She claims that he is not her son, but her demeanor suggests otherwise. Meanwhile Sarrou and Allaine confer together. The real Pelletier is dead and they are perpetrating a fraud on David, including the employment of an actress to play Madame Pelletier.

David, whose unhappy and furtive behavior has begun to worry Lucienne, collects his passport and tries to leave the country alone. Sarrou finds out what he is doing and blocks his attempt to escape, demanding his money.

David protests that he does not have access to such a large sum, then unwarily mentions the government funds stored in his office. Sarrou says that he can take the million francs from David's safe and make it look like an outside robbery.

The pair sneak past the guards at the foreign ministry and open the safe. Lucienne has been following David and now tries to intercede, but their argument is interrupted by the arrival of the police. The Talbots, Sarrou, and Allaine are all brought to headquarters, where David confesses to the old robbery and says he and his two accomplices must be punished for murder. Allaine panics and admits that David is not really Pelletier.

David reveals that he steered Sarrou to the idea of the robbery, then told the police to set an ambush in the office. His doubts about his identity were laid to rest when, looking at his passport photo, he realized that the picture in the locket was a fabrication - allegedly taken before his accident, it shows him with a hairstyle he only adopted to cover the scar on his head.

The actress who played Madame Pelletier is also arrested. With all four blackmailers behind bars, Talbot is cleared and his marriage and ambassadorial career are saved.

Cast

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Reception

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Box office

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According to MGM records, the film cost $846,000 to make, and earned $1,523,000 in the US and Canada and $798,000 elsewhere, for a total of $2,231,000, making the studio a profit of $1,473,000, or 175% of its production costs.[1][3]

Critical response

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When the film was released, the staff at Variety magazine praised it, writing "This is a Grade A whodunit, with a superlative cast. The novel story line, which would do credit to an Alfred Hitchcock thriller, has the added potency of Hedy Lamarr and William Powell ... It’s good, escapist drama, without a hint of the war despite its Parisian locale, circa 1935, and evidences excellent casting and good direction. The script likewise well turned out, though better pace would have put the film in the smash class. Its only fault is a perceptible slowness at times, although the running time is a reasonable 82 minutes, caused by a plenitude of talk."[4]

Adaptation

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The film was adapted for a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast on March 29, 1943, starring Jean-Pierre Aumont and Lana Turner.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ^ Crossroads at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films.
  3. ^ "101 Pix Gross in Millions" Variety 6 Jan 1943 p 58
  4. ^ Variety. Staff film review, 1942. Accessed: July 25, 2013.
  5. ^ Audio Classic Archive. "Radio Broadcast Log Of: Lux Radio Theatre", last updated July 12, 2012. Accessed: July 25, 2013.
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Streaming audio

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