''Across the Bridge'' is a 1957 British

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by

Ken Annakin Kenneth Cooper Annakin, OBE (10 August 1914 – 22 April 2009) was an English film director. His career spanned half a century, beginning in the early 1940s and ending in 2002, and in the 1960s he was noticed by critics with large-scale adventu ...

and starring Rod Steiger, David Knight and

Bernard Lee John Bernard Lee (10 January 190816 January 1981) was an English actor, best known for his role as M in the first eleven Eon-produced James Bond films. Lee's film career spanned the years 1934 to 1979, though he had appeared on stage from ...

. It is based on the 1938 short story " Across the Bridge" by

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

. According to his obituary, it was director Annakin's favourite film.

Plot

Carl Schaffner ( Rod Steiger) is a widowed British businessman, born in Germany, who flees to Mexico with the police hot on his heels after stealing company funds. He has a fortune stashed in a Mexican bank to keep it out of reach of the British authorities. While traveling by train, Schaffner drugs and switches identities with fellow train passenger Paul Scarff ( Bill Nagy), who looks like him and has a Mexican passport. He throws Scarff off the train, injuring Scarff. As part of the ruse, Carl is forced to take possession of Scarff's dog. The plan seems foolproof, but it backfires when Carl, discovers that Scarff is a wanted political assassin. Carl tracks down Scarff, who is incapacitated by his injuries, and gets back his original passport. Carl arrives in Mexico and is captured by the local police, who mistake him for Scarff. Carl has to reveal his true identity to the local police, but at first he is not believed. He tells the Mexican police where to find the real Scarff and they pass the information to the American police, and Scarf is killed when they go to arrest him. The local Mexican police chief, who at first seemed amenable to Schaffner’s approaches to bribe him, connects with Scotland Yard inspector Hadden. They conspire to keep Schaffner trapped in the Mexican border town of Katrina, and then will try to get him to cross the bridge into the U.S., where he can be apprehended. The misanthropic Schaffner has by now grown attached to Scarff's pet spaniel. He is tricked by Hadden and the police chief into having to cross the dividing line of the bridge to recover the dog. Schaffner realizes what is happening, but is determined to get the dog back. He is accidentally killed when he tries to run back across the border and a police car knocks him down. The realization of his own humanity has cost the cynical, friendless Schaffner his life.

Cast

* Rod Steiger as Carl Schaffner * David Knight as Johnny * Marla Landi as Mary *

Noel Willman Noel Willman (4 August 1918 – 24 December 1988) was an Irish actor and theatre director. Born in Derry, Ireland, Willman died aged 70 in New York City, United States. Willman's films included '' The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (1956), '' Across ...

as Chief of Police *

as Chief Inspector Hadden *

Eric Pohlmann Eric Pohlmann (german: Erich Pohlmann; born Erich Pollak; 18 July 1913 – 25 July 1979) was an Austrian theatre, film and television character actor who worked mostly in the United Kingdom. He is known for voicing Ernst Stavro Blofeld, th ...

as Police Sergeant *

Alan Gifford Alan Gifford (born John Lennox; March 11, 1911 – March 20, 1989) was an American-born actor from Taunton, Massachusetts, who worked mainly in the UK, where he died in Blairgowrie, Scotland at age 78. Known best for his role in '' 2001: A ...

as Cooper *

Ingeborg von Kusserow Ingeborg von Kusserow (28 January 1919 – 14 April 2014) was a German film actress. Biography Kusserow was born in Wollstein, Province of Posen, Germany (today Wolsztyn, Poland). She starred in Nazi propaganda films during the Third Reich, w ...

as Mrs. Scarff (as Ingeborg Wells) * Bill Nagy as Paul Scarff * Faith Brook as Kay *Marianne Deeming as Anna

Production

The story was expanded by the screenwriter to provide a backstory for the lead character played by Rod Steiger. Steiger accepted the role not long after achieving fame for his role in '' On the Waterfront''. Charles Laughton had originally been proposed for the lead. In his autobiography the director Ken Annakin recalled that once Steiger had studied his lines, he never referred to the script for the entire shoot. Annakin travelled by train from New York to

Laredo, Texas Laredo ( ; ) is a city in and the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Laredo has the distinction of flying seven flags (the flag of th ...

to scout locations. However, most exteriors were shot in Lora del Río, Spain, about an hour outside Seville. It was lensed by cinematographer

Reginald Wyer Reginald H. Wyer BSC (1901–1970) was a British cinematographer. Among his notable early credits were ''The Seventh Veil'' (1945) and ''Quartet'' (1948), ''So Long at the Fair'' (1950) and ''Four Sided Triangle'' (1953), the last two of whic ...

. Only establishing shots were filmed in the United States, using a documentary film crew. Filming started 21 January 1957.

Reception

Reviews for the film were mostly positive. Britmovie's review of the film singles out Steiger's performance as one of the film's highlights: "Rod Steiger produces a gripping and highly charismatic performance as the conceited financier trapped in limbo with luck running out." An American comedy remake, '' Double Take'', was released in 2001.

References

;Bibliography * Rank Film Library,"16mm Entertainment Film Catalogue 1978,9"

External links

* * {{Authority control 1957 films 1950s chase films 1950s crime thriller films British black-and-white films British chase films British crime thriller films Films based on short fiction Films set in Mexico Films directed by Ken Annakin Films scored by James Bernard Films based on works by Graham Greene Films about identity theft 1950s English-language films 1950s British films