| | | Sensational? No, it's dynamite!
Features: DVD, English, French, Spanish, Subtitled
Years of police work have taught Detective Finlay that where there's crime, there's motive. But he finds no usual motive when investigating the beating death of a man. The man was killed because he was a Jew. "Hate," Finlay says, "is like a gun." Robert Young portrays Finlay, Robert Mitchum is a laconic army sergeant assisting in the investigation of G.I. suspects and Robert Ryan plays a vicious bigot in a landmark film noir nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Edward Dmytryk (Murder, My Sweet) directs, draping the genre's stylistic backdrops and flourishes around a topic rarely before explored in films: anti-Semitism in the U.S. Here, Hollywood took aim at injustice, and caught bigotry in a Crossfire.
Editor's Note
This unusual and worthwhile black-and-white film noir was one of the first movies to deal with issues of anti-Semitism. A weary Washington detective (Robert Young) must get to the bottom of a seemingly motive-lacking murder, with the prime suspect a boozy soldier who can only vaguely recall the events of the night. The story really digs its heels into lots of postwar issues--how soldiers need a place to put all their violence once the war is over and the other problems of readjusting to civilian life. Robert Mitchum stars as a friend of the accused soldier who helps the detective solve the case. Edward Dmytryk had already established himself as a fine noir director with MURDER, MY SWEET, made a few years earlier. Here he takes the shadowy, midnight world of desperate people and seedy dives and slyly turns it into a vehicle for the exploration of bigotry. The result is a quietly stunning, low-key classic. Young is especially good as the detective and gets ample help from Mitchum and Robert Ryan in this well-written, atmospheric drama.
Plot Summary
CROSSFIRE is a rare 1940s indictment of anti-Semitism and bigotry. The theme is wrapped around a murder case with Robert Ryan as the hateful murderer.
| Features | Audio: English Mono | | Featurette: Hate Is Like A Gun | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Turner Home Entertainment |
| Release Date: 7/5/2005 |
| Running Time: 86 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1947 | | Catalog ID: 7249 | | UPC: 00053939724929 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: B&W |
Aspect Ratio | | Standard 1.33:1 [4:3] |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Oscar (1948) | | | Robert Ryan, Nominee, Best Supporting Actor | | | Gloria Grahame, Nominee, Best Supporting Actress | | | Edward Dmytryk, Nominee, Best Director | | | Adrian Scott, Nominee, Best Picture | | | John Paxton, Nominee, Best Writing, Screenplay |
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