CROSSFIRE

US, 1947, 86 minutes, Black and white.
Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame, Paul Kelly, Sam Levene, Jacqueline White, Steve Brodie.
Directed by Edward Dmytryk.

Crossfire was a successful crime thriller of 1947. It was nominated for Oscars for Best Film and for performances by Robert Ryan and Gloria Grahame. It is based on a novel by Richard Brooks who was later to emerge as a significant writer-director (In Cold Blood, Lord Jim, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth). The film was directed by Edward Dmytryk, one of the Hollywood Twelve (as was producer Adrian Scott). Dmytryk emerged in the '40d, as a competent director of thrillers (Cornered, Murder My Sweet). From the mid '50s he made bigger budget, more lavish films which had mixed critical success. Some of his better-known films are The Caine Mutiny, The Young Lions.

Crossfire was originally about soldiers brutalising a homosexual. Echoes of this still remain in the present screenplay which has, however, been adapted to highlight anti-Semitic prejudice. The film mirrors the attitudes of the United States after World War Two - involvement in a cause, the sudden change to peace time, the boredom of soldiers and their frustrations coming out in violence.

The film is a very good example of the American film noir. There is a sardonic atmosphere in the film, a highlighting of black and white and light and shadow. Performances are effective.

1. The impact of the film? Oscar nominations and acclaim? A film of 1947?

2. Film noir: crime and investigation, the atmosphere of the '40s, the post-war mood, sardonic comment on behaviour and attitudes? People, society? A piece of Americana?

3. The quality of the black and white photography, night and day, light and shadow? Interiors, profiles? Suggested violence? Mood and moodiness? Atmospheric score?

4. The work of Richard Brooks, novel, the original prejudice against homosexuals? The transition to anti-Semitic prejudice? Suggestions of homosexuality? The example of a screenplay having to be sanitised because of the Motion Picture Code?

5. The structure of the film: the crime, the assailants, unknown, the mystery? The flashbacks and the lies in Montgomery's flashback? flashbacks? The truth, the mystery being unravelled? The 24 hour time span? The momentum of the investigation?

6. The situation: soldiers, the end of the war, fighting and drinking, boredom, bigotry, roughing up hostilities, hatred, having to murder? Cover-up and violence? Perennial themes?


7. The film as a police investigation story: Finlay and Robert Young's pipe-smoking style, at work, the investigation? The interview with Montgomery and his presence in the apartment? Keeley and his collaboration, resistance? The search for Mitchell? Interrogations, Finlay listening, working out motives? Floyd's death? The arrival of Mrs Mitchell? The interview with Jini, Leroy and the plan? Finlay's homiletic story about the murder of his father? The confrontation with Montgomery? The quick shooting ending?

8. Montgomery: the basic situation, as a soldier, policeman, his points of view, after the war, drinking, shrewdness, hatred, the murder, the story and the cover-up, Floyd and his co-operation, Keeley indication Montgomery was a liar? Floyd's behaviour in Montgomery's story, the killing of Floyd, his disdain of Leroy and mocking him, believing Leroy’s story, going to the apartment, the wrong address, the confrontation? The violent death? Hatred, anti-Semitism? Robert Ryan's Oscar nomination?

9. The contrast with Mitchell: soldier, art work, drinking, pals, the encounter with Samuels, friendliness, his listening to Mitchell, Mitchell going with him, feeling worse, leaving, At the encounter with Ginny, likening her to his wife, talk, dance, going to her room, the encounter with her 'husband'? Meeting Keeley, staying in the cinema, telling his story, the flashbacks, being saved by Keeley, his wife and the reconciliation, the truth?

10. Keeley and his buddies, decision to help Mitchell, the discussion with Finlay, the investigation, searching, the cinema, listening, the visit to Floyd, Floyd's death, his being kept in custody, friendship with Mitchell's wife, the cover-up?

11. Ginny and her work, sorry for Mitchell, her 'husband'? Their discussions? Clash? The arrival of the police? The interview with Finlay? The dance hall girl?

12. Ginny’s husband and his presence in the apartment, his various hypotheses about who he actually was? The irony and surrealism of his fictitious stories? Telling them to Mitchell? To Finlay? An enigmatic and symbolic character?

Samuels and his girlfriend, friendly, listening to the soldiers, the drinks, taking them to his apartment, the taunts of Jew-boy, victim, being roughed up, his death? The visuals suggesting some homosexual overtones in accordance with the original novel?

14. Samuels' peanut story about involvement in the cause of war, boredom after the war? A fable about post-war America?

15. The success of the film as crime story, character study, fable of the United States in the late 1940s?