Across the Bridge

2/17/2014

He's got one friend left. Across the Bridge is directed by Ken Annakin and adapted to screenplay by Guy Elmes and Dennis Freeman for a Graham Greene story. It stars Rod Steiger, David Knight, Marla Landi, Noel Willman, Bernard Lee and Eric Pohlmann. Music is by James Bernard and cinematography by Reginald Wyer. High powered business man Carl Schaffner (Steiger) is crooked and the net is finally closing in on him. Fleeing to Mexico he initiates a sequence of events that finds him taking on the identity of another man. If he thought this was going to be his way out of a jam? He has no idea... The implosion of a morally corrupt shyster drives this excellent and under seen Brit noir production. Fronted by Steiger turning in one of his greatest performances, he himself called it the se

11/14/2022

Talk about hoist by your own petard! Rod Steiger is the manipulative British/German businessman "Chaffner" who has embezzled a great deal of money from his business. Bent on escape from the USA to Mexico, he gets his train timings wrong! Facing capture, he drugs a fellow passenger and steals his identity. Initially that seems like a good idea, he even makes it to Mexico - only there does he discover that the man he is pretending to be is even worse than him and the Mexican authorities, as well as pursuing Scotland Yard Inspector "Hayden" (Bernard Lee) turn the tables on their quarry in an ingenious and rather cruel, effective and ostracising manner. Steiger is really good here as his situation becomes more and more desperate. The tight photography from Reginald Wyer coupled with some taut