Criss Cross

Criss Cross is a 1949 American film noir directed by Robert Siodmak, starring Burt Lancaster as an armored-car driver whose renewed obsession with his ex-wife, played by Yvonne De Carlo, draws him into a disastrous armored-truck robbery planned by her gangster husband, played by Dan Duryea. The screenplay by Daniel Fuchs is based on Don Tracy's novel Criss Cross, and the film was produced by Michel Kraike for Universal-International Pictures.¹ It is regarded as one of the leading film noirs of the postwar Hollywood period and as a prototype for the later heist or caper film.²

Production history

The project began as a vehicle for the team behind The Killers (1946): producer Mark Hellinger, director Robert Siodmak, and star Burt Lancaster, with a script by Anthony Veiller. Hellinger died in December 1947, after which his studio's board of directors decided to unload the property, along with two other projects, on Universal in order to settle the company's debts; the contracts of Siodmak and Lancaster were transferred in the transaction. Universal purchased Don Tracy's novel from Hellinger's estate. Lancaster did not want to make the film without Hellinger, but no way out of his contract materialized, and he reported to the set in June 1948 alongside Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea, and Stephen McNally.^{2 • 1}

Siodmak and writer Daniel Fuchs reworked the story to include elements of The Killers, which was based on an Ernest Hemingway story. Lancaster, not yet known for the athletic action roles that would make him a major star, again played the well-meaning but easily duped man obsessed with a two-timing woman, the type of role Ava Gardner had played in the earlier picture. De Carlo, in her first chance to show real acting ability, took the femme fatale part.²

A debut on the dance floor. Tony Curtis, then billed as Anthony or James Curtis, made his screen acting debut in an uncredited bit as a gigolo who dances a frenetic rumba with De Carlo. According to IMDb, he landed the role by walking through the Universal lot, where Siodmak asked him if he could dance.^{1 • 8} Lancaster's practical jokes on the young actor became a sign of acceptance, and the two became friends, working together again on Trapeze (1956), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), and The List of Adrian Messenger (1963).²

Style and locations

Cinematographer Franz Planer shot the film in black and white with the strong light-and-shadow contrasts characteristic of the European-born artists who shaped American film noir. Memorable settings include Los Angeles' Union Station in summer heat, a bar lively by night and dingy by day, and the shabby Victorian Bunker Hill district; the AFI catalog also lists Angels Flight among the filming locations.^{2 • 1} The Encyclopedia of Film Noir notes that the film opens with an aerial helicopter shot of downtown Los Angeles, one of the first such shots in a feature film.⁹ The score is by Miklós Rózsa, and Esy Morales and His Rhumba Band appear on screen, with Morales credited as orchestra leader.^{6 • 1}

Reception and legacy

Contemporary and modern assessments place the film high in the noir canon. TCM calls it "considered one of the best of the film noirs to come out of Hollywood in the post-war years," and filmsite.org describes it as a prototypical model for the heist or caper film, a line running through John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Stanley Kubrick's The Killing (1956), Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992), and David Mamet's Heist (2001).^{2 • 10} On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 86% Tomatometer from 14 reviews and a 79% audience score; IMDb lists a rating of 7.4/10.^{3 • 8} Richard Brody of The New Yorker called it "a hectic fusion of on-location texture and stylish artifice."³

The story was remade by Steven Soderbergh as The Underneath (1995), starring Peter Gallagher, Alison Elliot, and William Fichtner. Two unrelated films titled Criss Cross were released in 1992 and 1996.^{2 • 10} Universal Pictures produced a 4K restoration from the 35mm nitrate original negative, composite fine grain, and optical sound track negative, and the film has been issued on Blu-ray by Shout! Factory (2019, US) and Eureka (2020, UK).^{11 • 12}

Dating discrepancies

Sources disagree on several dates. The AFI catalog gives a release date of 19 February 1949 and a Los Angeles opening the week of 19 January 1949, while Rotten Tomatoes lists January 12, 1949, Celluloid Dimension January 19, 1949, and Moviefone February 4, 1949.^{1 • 3 • 4 • 5} The novel's publication year also differs: AFI dates Don Tracy's Criss Cross to New York, 1934, while TCM and filmsite.org give 1936.^{1 • 2 • 10} Runtimes likewise range from 84 to 88 minutes across databases, with AFI's measured print length of 7,880 feet corresponding to 87–88 minutes.^{1 • 12}

References

1. Criss Cross (1949), AFI Catalog of Feature Films
2. Criss Cross (1949), Turner Classic Movies, by Rob Nixon
3. Criss Cross, Rotten Tomatoes
4. Criss Cross Through a Monochrome Los Angeles, Celluloid Dimension
5. Criss Cross – Where to Watch, Moviefone
6. Criss Cross (1949), Classic Noir
7. The Killers / Criss Cross, UCLA Film & Television Archive
8. Criss Cross (1949), IMDb
9. Encyclopedia of Film Noir (excerpt, film noir and the city)
10. Criss Cross (1949), Filmsite.org, by Tim Dirks
11. Criss Cross, Film at Lincoln Center
12. Criss Cross (1949) Blu-ray & DVD Editions, DISCAPE

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Film noir and neo-noir films › Released 1940 to 1975

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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