07 Mar Fashion in Classic Film Noir: Criss Cross (1949)
Criss Cross is based on a Don Tracy novel of the same name and was originally supposed to be produced by Mark Hellinger, known for producing classics such as They Drive by Night (1940), High Sierra (1941), and The Killers (1946). He died suddenly just before filming started, which almost derailed the whole film. Michael Kraike took over and that might be at least part of the reason why this film was so lackluster. Not sorry.
The general opinion is that Lancaster was miscast in this role. I have to agree, and I also think Duryea is awkward in his role as a gangster. But De Carlo and the cinematography make up for what the two male leads lack. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this is a must-see noir, but the opening sequence is fantastic and if you’re a fan of Lancaster’s big arms in his white tank (before Brando there was Lancaster doing the white tank justice!), then this film can still be a good watch.
The story is about a 20-something man, Steve Thompson (Burt Lancaster), who returns to his hometown of Los Angeles where he runs into his ex-wife, Anna (Yvonne De Carlo) who’s taken up with gangster Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea). Surprise, surprise, they’re still in love with each other, but… it’s complicated.
In the opening sequence, above, Anna wears a dark satin sweetheart neckline gown with a fur stole. As this scene chronologically occurs near the end of the storyline, this is Anna’s most powerful moment as a femme fatale, ensuring Steve does exactly as she wants.
Steve’s outfits, by the way, aren’t particularly interesting (typical, since it was most likely from Lancaster’s own wardrobe), but this two-toned sports jacket with elbow patches is rather modern looking. The point I want to make is, here they are both dressed in their darkest outfits in the film, indicating this is the moment that sets their fates, intertwined and doomed, into action.
After the set-up scene at the nightclub, Steve gets in the armored truck and starts to drive, at which point, the story goes into the flashback. As the narrator, Steve takes us back to his return to Los Angeles after 2 years on the road. He keeps insisting he’s done with Anna and doesn’t care about her anymore, but of course his actions say otherwise and ultimately, he finds her at a nightclub, their old hangout.
Anna is re-introduced to us in this floral-patterned V-neck midi dress with a cute tie just below the bust, cape sleeves and pleated skirt, above. Notice how light and feminine it is. When she spots Steve watching her from across the dance floor, she retrieves him and brings up the nostalgia of their past. She is everything he fell in love with back then. It’s sort of a rebirth.
Steve and Anna have a little quarrel in the scene above. Anna wears gingham high-waist trousers with a single pleat down the middle, pinstriped shirt with two buttons undone and rolled at the sleeves, a thick jewelled bangle, and sandals. I love this outfit, it’s a complete contrast to her previous one without playing on the dark versus light thing. She’s not just a pretty face nor an innocent young girl, nor necessarily a “prize” of a woman (as she will bitterly remark later in the film).
After that, Anna does a 180 on Steve (again) and gets married to Slim. He shouldn’t be surprised at this point, come on Steve! After the wedding, they are reunited at Union Station. Again, Steve as the narrator claims he wasn’t looking for her, she just happened to be there.
Anna wears a white midi dress with matching gloves and bolero jacket and a fur coat hanging off her left arm. Now that she’s married to Slim, she can have that fur coat and the diamond ring. I love when characters have fur coats in places like Los Angeles. Because really, what’s more glamorous or excessive than owning this status symbol coat when it serves you no functional purpose whatsoever? It’s all just for show, and so is Anna’s act, it seems.
Afterwards, Anna dramatically confesses to Steve that she only married Slim because she was sick and tired of running after Steve all the time. She claims his family and his friend the Lieutenant (Stephen McNally) were warning her to stay away from him. But now she’s scared because Slim and his goons are killers and she’s not sure how she got mixed up in this.
“Oh Steve, what are we going to do?”
We??
Cue: femme fatale luring the ‘good’ man into doing something dangerous to win her love.
Moving on, Slim is no fool and suspects an affair between the two. He finds Steve and Anna together at Steve’s house when she comes to warn him. To protect Anna, Steve asserts he was the one who called Anna over and only because he wanted to get in touch with Slim and didn’t know another way to do so. He tells Slim that he wants to use his position as an armored truck driving cop to pull off the robbery with Slim and his goons’ help. Slim eventually agrees, though he will later “criss cross” Steve.
Anna wears a polka dot dress with gathered cap sleeves. Only Yvonne De Carlo could possibly pull off that thing, I don’t know what to tell you. Her wardrobe is getting darker at this point as she has Steve set up the robbery just to protect her even though it was never in his plans to begin with. It was all for her!
Back into the present and after the heist, Steve escapes the hospital and meets Anna, who has all the money, at a cottage outside of the city where they had arranged to meet after the heist.
This is the final scene and I won’t spoil it… though I’m sure you can guess how it ends—it is a film noir, after all. Anna wears a white blouse tucked into a black A-line midi skirt. This is her getaway outfit, so it’s not supposed to be glamorous. She is apparently without her furs and diamond ring, so we can deduce maybe she really did want to start over with Steve. Unfortunately for them that never happens. Funny how their outfits sort of mirror one another as if to say, in the end, they deserve each other.