Criss Cross (1948)

Criss Cross doesn't quite live up to the standard of director Richard Siodmak's enduring noir classic The Killers, but the film is nonetheless full of the stylish atmospherics, sly plot twists, human frailties, and fatalistic attitudes that defined the genre after World War II. The film certified Burt Lancaster as one of the stars of the genre. In retrospect, Lancaster doesn't fit in with the hardboiled protagonists of Siodmak's films: he's too clean, too sincere, too nice, and perhaps that's why he branched out into different roles in the 1950s. Co-star Yvonne De Carlo also seems slightly inappropriate for the material, though she definitely looks the part of the femme fatale. The overall mood of the film, based on Don Tracy's novel of the same name, is aided by the ominous black-and-white cinematography by Franz Planer and the mercurial Miklos Rozsa score. Criss Cross was somewhat faithfully remade by director Steven Soderbergh in 1995 as the flawed but interesting The Underneath. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide