Crosstrap's history and back story is perhaps more interesting and intriguing then the film itself. For many years I've had an interest in lost treasures, and remember reading how highly regarded the film was. I'd forgotten all about it and couldn't wait to watch, sadly the result was a little bit of a disappointment, the story is fairly intriguing, but the execution is very clumsy, the motives and behaviours of all the main players make absolutely no sense, and at times it looks a little cheap. I did however enjoy some of the performances, Laurence Payne and Zena Marhsall both come across rather well. I would imagine if you gave this plot to a decent script writer, something good could be made of it. It's watchable, but sadly a little bit of a mess. 5/10
13 Reviews
Weak British crime thriller
zippgun27 July 2017
"Crosstrap" was a lost film for years. Quite recently rediscovered, viewing it leads one to conclude it would have been as well if it had stayed lost. One of the many short B feature crime movies being churned out at the time in the UK, this is one of the poorer examples. A cast of mainly seasoned pros can't overcome miscasting, clumsy direction, and a lack of any real tension for most of the running time in a movie which is meant to be a thriller. Plot wise, it's a sort of proto "Straw dogs" with a young couple menaced by criminals in the remote British countryside. Arriving at a cottage he's rented, where he hopes to write his book in some peace, an American novelist and his fairly new bride soon find they have fallen among not one gang of ruthless thieves but two. One gang, who have staged a robbery in which a murder was committed, are using the cottage as a base while they wait for their getaway plane to arrive; the other gang, lurking outside in the dark, are after the loot for themselves. One major casting problems of the film is Laurence Payne as Duke, the womanising leader of the heist gang. Payne, once familiar to my generation as TV's Sexton Blake in the 1960s, just can't convince as a ruthless master criminal. His lecherous pursuit of the writer's rather chubby and frumpy wife, at the expense of his glamor puss moll (portrayed by Zena Walker) also appears rather strange. Bill Nagy, a Hungarian born actor (who often played Americans) made a career in British movies and TV in the 50s and 60s, and was capable of delivering interesting characterizations even with routine scripts, but here he's just wasted in a stock "henchman with a gat" role. The film does pick up a bit near the end with some quite well done action/violence scenes.
Décent cast poor script
malcolmgsw10 September 2017
This is not the best or worst of British B movies.It tries too hard to include too many plot strands in too little time with,consequently,too little explanation.Why does Laurence Paume étant to take Jill Adams away with him rather than Zena Marshall.It is good that this film has been rescued from oblivion
Substandard thriller
DPMay24 July 2018
This crime thriller is one of many that the British film industry churned out quickly and cheaply in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Some titles managed to overcome their limitations and emerge as taut pieces of superb character drama that remain powerful some fifty years later. Alas, Crosstrap is not one of them.
Briefly, it's plot concerns a young married couple celebrating their anniversary with a return to a remote romantic haven only to find that is now being utilised by a gang of jewel thieves who take them prisoner. This gang in turn are soon under siege from a rival gang of crooks, which makes their captors more desperate and limits the chances of the husband and wife escaping with their lives even further.
Sadly, the film frequently gives the impression that it has been thrown together with little thought. Many shots just don't match up, with jarring changes between studio work and location filming, and lighting levels are inconsistent, with a character appearing in twilight, then broad daylight, then twilight again in a single sequence.
The incidental music seldom reflects the events that are unfolding on screen.
The plot seems hopelessly confused at times and largely centers on the lead villain allowing an instant and unlikely infatuation with the young woman to risk the success of the whole operation. The gang are waiting for an aircraft to arrive for them, so naturally they have chosen a densely wooded area to facilitate this move. Hmmm....
The characters themselves range from the bland to the mildly interesting, and that's about as good as this one gets, unfortunately. It might help you pass an hour, but there are much better examples of the genre out there to be found.
Briefly, it's plot concerns a young married couple celebrating their anniversary with a return to a remote romantic haven only to find that is now being utilised by a gang of jewel thieves who take them prisoner. This gang in turn are soon under siege from a rival gang of crooks, which makes their captors more desperate and limits the chances of the husband and wife escaping with their lives even further.
Sadly, the film frequently gives the impression that it has been thrown together with little thought. Many shots just don't match up, with jarring changes between studio work and location filming, and lighting levels are inconsistent, with a character appearing in twilight, then broad daylight, then twilight again in a single sequence.
The incidental music seldom reflects the events that are unfolding on screen.
The plot seems hopelessly confused at times and largely centers on the lead villain allowing an instant and unlikely infatuation with the young woman to risk the success of the whole operation. The gang are waiting for an aircraft to arrive for them, so naturally they have chosen a densely wooded area to facilitate this move. Hmmm....
The characters themselves range from the bland to the mildly interesting, and that's about as good as this one gets, unfortunately. It might help you pass an hour, but there are much better examples of the genre out there to be found.
Hideout
bkoganbing28 July 2019
Married couple Gary Cockrell and Jill Adams rent an isolated cottage so that he
can finish a book. What they don't know is that a gang of crooks headed by
Laurence Payne has been using the place as a hideout and a place to store loot.
Payne's got a lot to contend with, a rival mob outside as he waits for a plane in the morning to get away and a moll played by Zena Marshall who ain't happy with his attentions to Adams.
Marshall steals this film whenever she's on screen a woman you do not scorn. Sadly though this one is one of those quota quickies or at least has the look of one from the old days in the 30s in Great Britain.
Payne's got a lot to contend with, a rival mob outside as he waits for a plane in the morning to get away and a moll played by Zena Marshall who ain't happy with his attentions to Adams.
Marshall steals this film whenever she's on screen a woman you do not scorn. Sadly though this one is one of those quota quickies or at least has the look of one from the old days in the 30s in Great Britain.
Oh the Payne...
matthewmercy7 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Thought to be a lost film for a good few decades, this apparently acquired an underground reputation as a minor gem of 1960s' British cinema, but now it has been re-discovered and made available, it appears as though its 'sight unseen' reputation has evaporated. An ASDA Smart Price reworking of Key Largo, it's the tale of a happily honeymooning couple who run into trouble when they fetch up at the same rural cottage a group of thugs are using for a hideout, and it's pretty bloody awful. Various characters stagger around in the dark being shot at over a stash of cash, the smoking hot Zena 'Dr. No' Marshall's gangster's moll somehow loses the attention of her meal ticket to the chunkier Jill Adams, lots of slaps look like they really hurt, Bill Nagy annoys so much you can't wait for him to die, and finally a plane blows up.
Crosstrap was directed by Robert Hartford-Davis, and has a body count comparable to that of the Peter Cushing death-fest Corruption (1968), even though it's nothing like as explicit. And Laurence 'Vampire Circus' Payne is amusingly miscast, as his eyebrow-raising playboy routine transposed onto a crime boss-cum-sex pest called Duke ends up feeling like a 'dark side of the moon' version of Roger Moore, which is just as weirdly off-balance as it sounds.
Crosstrap was directed by Robert Hartford-Davis, and has a body count comparable to that of the Peter Cushing death-fest Corruption (1968), even though it's nothing like as explicit. And Laurence 'Vampire Circus' Payne is amusingly miscast, as his eyebrow-raising playboy routine transposed onto a crime boss-cum-sex pest called Duke ends up feeling like a 'dark side of the moon' version of Roger Moore, which is just as weirdly off-balance as it sounds.
"That's what he likes to do, hurt people"
hwg1957-102-2657046 October 2018
Warning: Spoilers
A young couple, Geoff and Sally, arrive at a country cottage to get away from it all and find a dead man in the bathroom. Then gangsters who have pulled off a jewel robbery appear and use the cottage as a hideout until their plane arrives. Another group of gangsters are also in the area looking for the diamonds. Mayhem ensues until eventually most of the cast are killed or injured. A lot going on but not much excitement really.
Laurence Payne is not really convincing as Duke the head of the jewel gang. Bill Nagy, Robert Cawdron and Zena Marshall solidly play his cronies and as the couple caught up in the criminals' scheme Jill Adams and Gary Cockrell are adequate. The script needed more plausibility and definitely more tension.
Laurence Payne is not really convincing as Duke the head of the jewel gang. Bill Nagy, Robert Cawdron and Zena Marshall solidly play his cronies and as the couple caught up in the criminals' scheme Jill Adams and Gary Cockrell are adequate. The script needed more plausibility and definitely more tension.
Mildly interesting, but that's about it
Leofwine_draca31 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
CROSSTRAP is one of those potboiler thrillers that Britain churned out throughout the 1950s and in the early 1960s. It was once a lost film but the good folk at Renown Pictures have once again made it available for public viewing. It has a standard plot in which an innocent pair of newlyweds arrive at a remote farmhouse only to discover a dead body and a gangster plot to boot.
This one was directed by Robert Hartford-Davis, a man with an interesting career in the horror genre; highlights include THE BLACK TORMENT, CORRUPTION, and THE FIEND. This is one of his lesser outings. The plot is too familiar and the events depicted not entirely realistic. The cast is okay, but actors like Bill Nagy are wasted and Laurence Payne has little to do as the 'leader of the pack'. In the end it all boils down to a lot of running around and attempted peril, but only mild interest.
This one was directed by Robert Hartford-Davis, a man with an interesting career in the horror genre; highlights include THE BLACK TORMENT, CORRUPTION, and THE FIEND. This is one of his lesser outings. The plot is too familiar and the events depicted not entirely realistic. The cast is okay, but actors like Bill Nagy are wasted and Laurence Payne has little to do as the 'leader of the pack'. In the end it all boils down to a lot of running around and attempted peril, but only mild interest.
Hell Hath No Fury.....
kidboots6 July 2018
Warning: Spoilers
There seems to be quite a few of these British potboilers revealed
to be lost golden nuggets, unfortunately this one should have remained
buried. Laurence Payne so fabulous in "The Tell Tale Heart" excels as the
debonair "top man" to a motley group of criminals - he is the reason to
watch. When a couple rent an isolated house so the husband can finish
his novel they come across carnage as firstly finding a body in the bath,
then they are over run by a gang of crooks and with references to "them"
and "they" realise there is another gang hiding outside!!
Payne finds an immediate attraction in the young married woman which doesn't make any sense considering his "moll" is the very seductive Zena Marshall who is willing to do anything he asks!! The cottage is being used as a hideout and also where money and property can be stashed from the robberies committed - they are all waiting for a plane due to fly them to the Continent.... But get ready for an ending full of fireworks as Payne discovers that "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned".....
Payne finds an immediate attraction in the young married woman which doesn't make any sense considering his "moll" is the very seductive Zena Marshall who is willing to do anything he asks!! The cottage is being used as a hideout and also where money and property can be stashed from the robberies committed - they are all waiting for a plane due to fly them to the Continent.... But get ready for an ending full of fireworks as Payne discovers that "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned".....
Possibly the Worst Film I Have Ever Seen
crumpytv10 June 2021
Very Cheap & Very Nasty
richardchatten3 October 2019
Anyone familiar with the later work of director Robert Hartford-Davis will not be unduly surprised at the nihilism and sleaziness of his debut feature, with a noisy jazz score by Steve Race.
An early home invasion film following in the footsteps of 'The Petrified Forest', 'The Desperate Hours' and 'Private Property; complete with the creepy sexual element the latter had recently introduced to the genre. Despite the heroine remarking upon the prettiness of the countryside surrounding the holiday home upon which two rival criminal gangs converge, the bleakness of the surrounding landscape actually heightens the general grimness of the piece.
The creaky production values (not helped by the fuzziness of what may be the only surviving print) at first makes it resemble a old TV play, but it's air of ill-contained violence (and lust) - not to mention the abandon with which guns get waved about - would at the time have emphatically have made it drive-in fodder had they then had drive-ins in Britain...
An early home invasion film following in the footsteps of 'The Petrified Forest', 'The Desperate Hours' and 'Private Property; complete with the creepy sexual element the latter had recently introduced to the genre. Despite the heroine remarking upon the prettiness of the countryside surrounding the holiday home upon which two rival criminal gangs converge, the bleakness of the surrounding landscape actually heightens the general grimness of the piece.
The creaky production values (not helped by the fuzziness of what may be the only surviving print) at first makes it resemble a old TV play, but it's air of ill-contained violence (and lust) - not to mention the abandon with which guns get waved about - would at the time have emphatically have made it drive-in fodder had they then had drive-ins in Britain...
Holiday home shocks
wilvram23 October 2022
A young couple have a nasty surprize to find the isolated cottage they have rented to be occupied by a murdered man and a violent gang of jewel thieves led by woman chasing psycho Duke, ably played by talented actor and author Laurence Payne. His first critically acclaimed crime novel, The Nose On My Face was published in the same year as this film was made. Jill Adams, brunette rather than her usual blonde, is the hostage he lusts after, despite having a moll in the form of glamorous Zena Marshall. Crude though it is in both characterisation and direction, Crosstrap in some ways prefigures the kind of Brit gangster movie of later decades especially when a rival gang lays siege to the cottage with ensuing mass shootout.
Based on a novel by John Newton Chance a now forgotten author who churned out dozens of crime potboilers over decades, it is at least never dull. Enjoyed most of all the driving jazz score, which couldn't get out of my head, from Steve Race, a once familiar figure on BBC television and radio.
Based on a novel by John Newton Chance a now forgotten author who churned out dozens of crime potboilers over decades, it is at least never dull. Enjoyed most of all the driving jazz score, which couldn't get out of my head, from Steve Race, a once familiar figure on BBC television and radio.
Don't These People Know To Keep Away From Isolated Houses?
boblipton28 January 2023
Gary Cockrell and Jill Adams have rented an isolated house so he can finish his latest book. They find a corpse, and then an entire gang, led by psychopathic Laurence Payne. They're waiting for a plane to take them and the takings from their most recent job out of the country. Payne doesn't want to leave any witnesses, so he plans to kill Cockrell and take Miss Adams with them for fun and games. His current mistress, the sultry Zena Marshall doesn't like this plan at all. They've got other problems: another gang has them trapped in the house, taking pot shots at anyone who sticks a head out.
It's a nicely complicated bit of thriller from a story by John Newton Chance, even if the characters are just sketches, and the day-for-night photography of Eric Cross is a bit too obvious for comfort.
Miss Marshall was born in Nairobi to French and Anglo-Irish parents. After her father's death, she and her mother moved to Leicestershire. She made her film debut as a handmaid in 1945's CAESA AND CLEOPATRA. Her career languished, but she played a Bond Girl int he first film in the franchise. She died in 2009 at the age of 84.
It's a nicely complicated bit of thriller from a story by John Newton Chance, even if the characters are just sketches, and the day-for-night photography of Eric Cross is a bit too obvious for comfort.
Miss Marshall was born in Nairobi to French and Anglo-Irish parents. After her father's death, she and her mother moved to Leicestershire. She made her film debut as a handmaid in 1945's CAESA AND CLEOPATRA. Her career languished, but she played a Bond Girl int he first film in the franchise. She died in 2009 at the age of 84.
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