I came to this film via in interest in Rod Steiger, though to tell the truth I am also rather a noir maven.
I was disappointed with the script. The key problem is the fact that the plot has a level of contrivance beyond the furthest sky-scraping ambitions of Alfred Hitchcock. One of the main appeals of noir is to show how people can become the desperate victims of chance, Detour is a particularly good example of where this is made to work perfectly, In Across the Bridge the model is stretched and exaggerated.
The premise of the movie is intriguing, the fall of a plutocrat, a man once powerful who will become reduced to penury, indigency and pariah status, ultimately caught up in the noir grinder. The contrivances that are used to get from A to B though really test one's patience. There are coincidences of the most bizarre variety that you will rarely find in any farce. The film also becomes unabashedly sentimental, and starts to centre around Schaffner's companionship with the dog Delores.
There is an element in reviews of this film of seeing the past through rose-tinted spectacles. The film was unavailable for home viewing for a long time and seemed to have lapsed into obscurity. It doesn't deserve that fate, but it is certainly not the noir masterpiece it is made out to be.
I was disappointed with the script. The key problem is the fact that the plot has a level of contrivance beyond the furthest sky-scraping ambitions of Alfred Hitchcock. One of the main appeals of noir is to show how people can become the desperate victims of chance, Detour is a particularly good example of where this is made to work perfectly, In Across the Bridge the model is stretched and exaggerated.
The premise of the movie is intriguing, the fall of a plutocrat, a man once powerful who will become reduced to penury, indigency and pariah status, ultimately caught up in the noir grinder. The contrivances that are used to get from A to B though really test one's patience. There are coincidences of the most bizarre variety that you will rarely find in any farce. The film also becomes unabashedly sentimental, and starts to centre around Schaffner's companionship with the dog Delores.
There is an element in reviews of this film of seeing the past through rose-tinted spectacles. The film was unavailable for home viewing for a long time and seemed to have lapsed into obscurity. It doesn't deserve that fate, but it is certainly not the noir masterpiece it is made out to be.