AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Michael_Elliott Crossroads (1942) *** (out of 4)Great performances highlight this thriller about a diplomat (William Powell) who is quickly rising in power and has recently been married (Hedy Lamarr). His life turns upside down when a defendant in a trial accuses him of being a criminal, which he might be but he wouldn't remember since he suffered amnesia for some early years of his life. Things take a turn for the worse when a man (Basil Rathbone) shows up claiming to be his former partner and he wants cash to keep quiet. There are a few minor problems with the screenplay including Rathbone's character being able to predict what would eventually become of Powell but outside of that this is a pretty good little thriller that contains some great performances, nice direction and some early touches of shadows that make this very much like a noir (but before the term came to be). I think the most impressive thing here are the performances as they're all extremely good but you can also tell that the actors are having fun playing off one another. Powell is his usual charming self as he perfectly handles the more dramatic parts but he of course adds all sorts of light humor. Lamarr doesn't get as much to do as the wife but she still gets a couple good scenes early on. Rathbone was one of the best when it came to playing villains and he adds another good character to his resume. His performance is right on the mark but the way he and Powell act off one another is the most entertaining thing and it's what keeps the film moving. We also have Claire Trevor playing Rathbone's assistant and she too gets some wonderful moments with Powell. The rest of the supporting cast includes H.B. Warner, Margaret Wycherly and Felix Bressart. The noir genre didn't really get started until a few years later but many of those touches can be found here. You have the wonderful use of darkness and shadows, the femme fetale and of course the good guy behind held captive by thugs. I really enjoyed the visuals here and the way director Conway used the shadows to build up some nice atmosphere and this here really helped push the film over the edge. Add the atmosphere with the performances and you've got a pretty good little gem that's well worth watching.

dougdoepke Slickly done MGM programmer. It may not be a top-of-the-line production, but it still has the studio's signature polish and glamor. The premise is an intriguing one-- is successful diplomat Powell also a murderer with a bad case of memory. With luscious wife La Marr and an ascending career, he's got a long way to fall if he is. Powell is his usual urbane self, while La Marr and Trevor get to play dress-up, big time, while Rathbone gets a break from Sherlock by playing a rather nasty villain. There's nothing special here, just an entertaining diversion with a rather unsurprising ending. For those interested in European types, this is a good opportunity to catch them under a single roof, as it were-- especially Felix Bressart, whose pixilated professor lifts the sometimes stolid proceedings. Aesthetically, there's one really striking composition of black and white photography. Powell's on his way to the river to end it all. But next to the coursing dark waters separated by a zigzagging wall is a shimmering cobblestone boulevard lit by three foggy street lamps. It's an uncommon depth of field with subtly contrasting shades of black and gray. All in all, it's a real grabber, and demonstrates vividly those values that have been lost in the wholesale move to Technicolor.

Neil Doyle WILLIAM POWELL and the gorgeous HEDY LAMARR co-star in a tale of an amnesiac who can't recall what happened to him when a train wreck wipes out part of his memory. Two very cunning crooks (BASIL RATHBONE and CLAIRE TREVOR) take advantage of him by posing as people who want to help him and then plotting to extort money from the wealthy French diplomat and his wife in order to hush up the crime they say he actually did commit.While the story itself seems far-fetched at points, it does make for an intriguing tale and it's played to the hilt by a very competent cast--although Powell as a French diplomat is a bit hard to swallow.The sinister overtones are well played by Rathbone and Trevor, both of whom always excelled at playing shady characters in films of the '40s, with Rathbone shifting from his Sherlock Holmes roles to those of the villain. They do much to give the film a flavor of film noir, as does the B&W cinematography.It's a clever tale, well directed by Jack Conway, and gives Powell and Lamarr a much better chance to emote than they would have two years later in a misguided comedy called THE HEAVENLY BODY.

bkoganbing William Powell is an amnesiac who can't recall his past beyond waking up in a hospital in Marseille in 1922. He had just survived a train wreck, but has no memory of the event or any of his past. Now of course he's a rising young man in the French Diplomatic Corps about to get a big appointment in pre-World War II France and he's accused of being a former master criminal. The evidence against him is 50/50.Basil Rathbone who says he's a former partner in crime with Powell now is engaging in a bit of blackmail and he's contrived quite a scheme to convince Powell he's who Rathbone says he is. A quite unbelievable scheme at that.It's sad that MGM wasted the talents of some of its best players for a story that's quite unbelievable. I don't want to write any spoilers, but let me say in order for this scheme to have worked Rathbone would have had to have psychic abilities to rival Nostradamus. Hedy Lamarr has little to do, but be Powell's faithful missus. And Claire Trevor, Felix Bressart, Margaret Wycherly and H.B. Warner have all done much better films.In fact the only reason it gets as many as three stars is for all the stars in this thing, God Bless 'em.