Crossfire (film)

Crossfire is a 1947 film noir drama film which deals with the theme of anti-Semitism,[5][6] as did that year's Academy Award for Best Picture winner, Gentleman's Agreement. The film was directed by Edward Dmytryk[7] and the screenplay was written by John Paxton, based on the 1945 novel The Brick Foxhole by screenwriter and director Richard Brooks. The film stars Robert Mitchum, Robert Young, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame and Sam Levene. It received five Oscar nominations, including Ryan for Best Supporting Actor and Gloria Grahame for Best Supporting Actress.[8] It was the first B movie to receive a best picture nomination.[9]

This article is about the 1947 film. For other uses, see Crossfire (disambiguation).

Crossfire
Theatrical release poster
Directed byEdward Dmytryk
Produced byAdrian Scott
Screenplay byJohn Paxton
Based onThe Brick Foxhole
1945 novel
by Richard Brooks
StarringRobert Young
Robert Mitchum
Robert Ryan
Gloria Grahame
Sam Levene
Music byRoy Webb
CinematographyJ. Roy Hunt
Edited byHarry Gerstad
Production
company
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • July 22, 1947 (1947-07-22) (New York City)[1]
  • August 15, 1947 (1947-08-15) (U.S.)[1]
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$678,000[2][3]
Box office$2.5 million (US rentals)[4]

Plot

After he is called in to investigate the brutal murder of Joseph Samuels (Sam Levene), who was found dead at his home, police investigator Finlay (Robert Young) discovers there may be a murderer among a group of demobilized soldiers, who had been seen with Samuels and his female friend at a hotel bar that night.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Keeley (Robert Mitchum), concerned that his friend Mitchell (George Cooper) may be the prime suspect, decides to investigate the murder to clear his friend's name. To both investigators, each suspected soldier relays his version of that night through flashback. The first to step up is Montgomery (Robert Ryan) and the rest are Floyd (Steve Brodie), Mitchell, and a possible witness named Ginny (Gloria Grahame).

As Finlay and Keeley slowly piece together the fragments of that night, they realize there is one possible motive that may have driven the killer to beat an innocent to death, which prompts Finlay to set up a trap to expose the killer.

Cast

Production

The film's screenplay, written by John Paxton, was based on director and screenwriter Richard Brooks's 1945 novel The Brick Foxhole. Brooks wrote his novel while he was a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps making training films at Quantico, Virginia, and Camp Pendleton, California. In the novel, the victim was a homosexual. As told in the film The Celluloid Closet, and in the documentary included on the DVD edition of the Crossfire film, the Hollywood Hays Code prohibited any mention of homosexuality because it was seen as a sexual perversion. Hence, the book's theme of homophobia was changed to one about racism and anti-Semitism. The book was published while Brooks was serving in the Marine Corps. A fellow Marine by the name of Robert Ryan met Brooks and told him he was determined to play in a version of the book on screen.[10][11]

Director Todd Haynes is considering a remake to be based more closely on the original novel.

Premiere and U.S. military distribution notes

The film premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on July 22, 1947.[12]

The US Army showed the film only at its US bases. The US Navy would not exhibit the film at all.[12]

Reception

Critical response

When first released, Variety magazine gave the film a positive review, writing, "Crossfire is a frank spotlight on anti-Semitism. Producer Dore Schary, in association with Adrian Scott, has pulled no punches. There is no skirting such relative fol-de-rol as intermarriage or clubs that exclude Jews. Here is a hard-hitting film [based on Richard Brooks' novel, The Brick Foxhole] whose whodunit aspects are fundamentally incidental to the overall thesis of bigotry and race prejudice... Director Edward Dmytryk has drawn gripping portraitures. The flashback technique is effective as it shades and colors the sundry attitudes of the heavy, as seen or recalled by the rest of the cast."[13]

The New York Times film critic, Bosley Crowther, lauded the acting in the drama, and wrote, "Mr. Dmytryk has handled most excellently a superlative cast which plays the drama. Robert Ryan is frighteningly real as the hard, sinewy, loud-mouthed, intolerant and vicious murderer, and Robert Mitchum, Steve Brodie, and George Cooper are variously revealing as his pals. Robert Young gives a fine taut performance as the patiently questioning police lieutenant, whose mind and sensibilities are revolted—and eloquently expressed—by what he finds. Sam Levene is affectingly gentle in his brief bit as the Jewish victim, and Gloria Grahame is believably brazen and pathetic as a girl of the streets."[14]

Critic Dennis Schwartz questioned the noir aspects of the film in 2000, and discussed the cinematography in his review. He wrote, "This is more of a message film than a noir thriller, but has been classified by most cinephiles in the noir category... J. Roy Hunt, the 70-year-old cinematographer, who goes back to the earliest days of Hollywood, shot the film using the style of low-key lighting, providing dark shots of Monty, contrasted with ghost-like shots of Mary Mitchell (Jacqueline White) as she angelically goes to help her troubled husband Arthur."[15]

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 81% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on twelve reviews.[16]

Box office

The film made a profit of $1,270,000.[17][18]

Awards

Wins

  • Cannes Film Festival: Award, Best Social Film (Prix du meilleur film social); 1947[19]
  • Edgar Allan Poe Awards: Edgar; Best Motion Picture, John Paxton (screenwriter), Richard Brooks (author), Dore Schary (producer), Adrian Scott (associate producer) and Edward Dmytryk (director); 1948

Nominations, 20th Academy Awards

Other nominations

References
  1. "The Little Foxes: Detail View". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  2. Scott Eyman, Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer, Robson, 2005 p 420
  3. https://archive.org/stream/variety171-1948-07#page/n0/mode/1up
  4. "Top Grossers of 1947", Variety, 7 January 1948 p 63
  5. Variety film review; June 25, 1947, p. 8.
  6. Harrison's Reports film review; June 28, 1947, p. 102.
  7. Crowther, Bosley. "Crossfire". NY Times. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
  8. Crossfire at IMDb.
  9. Staff. "1947 Academy Awards, Winners and History". AMC Filmsite. American Movie Classics Company LLC. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
  10. Daniel, Douglass K. (2011). Tough as Nails: The Life and Films of Richard Brooks Univ. of Wisconsin Press. p. 34
  11. A detailed account of adapting The Brick Foxhole for the screen and the producers' battles with the censors is in James Naremore (1998). More Than Night: Film Noir in its Context. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 114-123. ISBN 9780520212947 OCLC 803190089
  12. Brown, Gene (1995). Movie Time: A Chronology of Hollywood and the Movie Industry from Its Beginnings to the Present (paperback). New York: MacMillan. p. 186. ISBN 0-02-860429-6.
  13. Variety. Film review, 1947. Last accessed: February 26, 2008.
  14. Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, July 23, 1947. Last accessed: February 26, 2008.
  15. Schwartz, Dennis. Ozus' World Movie Reviews, film review, February 18, 2000. Last accessed: February 26, 2008.
  16. Crossfire at Rotten Tomatoes. Last accessed: June 9, 2008.
  17. Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p. 222
  18. Richard B. Jewell, Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures, Uni of California, 2016
  19. "Festival de Cannes: Crossfire". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on February 20, 2012. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
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