6 JUNE 2023
JBC rating: ***
James Bond Connections (2):
- Starring Roger Moore (James Bond, 1973 – 1985) as hero Gary Fenn.
- Featuring Bernard Lee (M, 1962 – 1979) as villain Chilmore.
Crossplot is a lightweight, but fun, “wrong man” thriller starring a pre-Bond Roger Moore. Produced immediately after Moore’s long stint as crime fighter Simon Templar in the classic British TV series The Saint, the film was clearly an attempt to launch his career as a movie star whilst keeping his Bond ambitions afloat following a near miss with the role in 1968 (in an aborted version of The Man with the Golden Gun). Indeed, Gary Fenn, a London-based advertising executive who finds himself unwittingly involved in a spy plot, shares Bond’s love of luxury and beautiful women. The film also includes a pre-credits sequence followed by psychedelic titles overlayed with a (rather warbly) theme song. However, unlike 007, Fenn has no obvious military background and story-wise Crossplot is a throwback to pre-Bond spy thrillers where spies are the villains. Whilst its (by then) old-fashioned plot may have limited its box office appeal in 1969, the film offers Bond fans the chance to see Roger Moore effectively adjust his professional adventurer star persona to play a civilian with no track record of outwitting villains.
Crossplot was produced with Moore’s BAMORE partner Robert S. Baker and several other crew members were alumni of The Saint. Alvin Rackoff defies a low budget and some appalling back projection to provide occasionally stylish direction. The script is credited to frequent Saint writers Leigh Vance and John Kruse who, despite struggling to fully convey the complex plot, deliver some entertaining scenes with a few good jokes amongst the expected action. The story takes off when Fenn hires Hungarian model Marla Kuglash (Claudie Lange, top image with Moore) to front a new advertising campaign. Unbeknownst to Fenn, Marla is being hunted by a group of enemy spies after overhearing part of their plot to assassinate a visiting foreign leader. Fenn soon finds himself embroiled in events, pursued by the villains and implicated in a murder he didn’t commit.
A LOW-BUDGET VERSION OF NORTH BY NORTHWEST
The film is heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic North by Northwest (1959), from which Cary Grant’s fun-loving advertising executive is clearly the template for Roger Moore’s character. Fenn spends much of the film pitted against chief henchman Ruddock, played by an enjoyably urbane but menacing Francis Matthews in a role with superficial similarities to Martin Landau’s character in the Hitchcock film. A nice little chase scene involving a low flying helicopter is obviously inspired by the earlier film’s famous crop duster sequence. Later, Fenn escapes the villains by causing mayhem at a wedding in a scene with heavy echoes of the hilarious moment when Cary Grant evades capture at an art auction. However, whilst entertaining throughout, Crossplot remains inevitably inferior to Hitchcock’s classic movie. For example, while American actress Martha Hyer (below, right) is potentially intriguing as a female main villain, the screenplay allows her none of the sparkling menace enjoyed by James Mason in the Hitchcock film. Likewise, although actress Claudie Lange is capable, charming and glamorous as love interest Marla, her role is no match for Eva Marie Saint’s sophisticated yet compromised heroine in North by Northwest.
Crossplot does work as a great timepiece, containing several fashions and influences from the period. Moore opens the film wearing a ruffled front dress shirt, literally weeks before George Lazenby would sport similar attire on-screen in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). Scenes set at an Edwardian antique car rally reflect the then craze for all things from around that era. The most obvious 1960s influence comes from Alexis Kanner’s offbeat but fun Lord Etherly, a young aristocrat who ironically is also the leader of a group of counter-culture youths targeted by the villains. Upon mistaking Fenn for one of the villains, Lord Etherly tries to dispatch him by fitting him up on a dope charge in a very swinging 60s twist! There are also several amusing scenes sending up the youthful pretentions of his hippy followers.
The frequently chaotic developments following the decolonisation of the African continent provided plot points and topical colour for several action-adventure writers and producers throughout this period. Here, Lord Etherly’s counter-culture gang are seen protesting against the anti-democratic activities of (fictional) President Maudula, the visiting leader of an African state who is also the target of the assassination plot. However, the villains hope to frame the hippies for the President’s death and use the ensuing outrage as phase one in their attempt to install a dictatorship in Great Britain. Whilst the script is rather hazy about how Bernard Lee’s minor character is involved (above), this development possibly reflects conspiracy theories of the late 1960s, as documented by historian Dominic Sandbrook in his superb analysis of late 1960s Britain White Heat, concerning establishment plots to remove the democratically elected Labour government (in office 1964 – 1970).
A CAREER MISTEP?
In his autobiography My Name Is My Bond, Moore describes Crossplot as a career disappointment. Rushed into production with an unfinished script, the film was a flop on release and did not help launch his career as a film star. Indeed, Moore would soon return to TV with The Persuaders (1971-72). More than most of Roger Moore’s non-Bond movies, Crossplot is rarely shown on UK television and is something of a forgotten film. It deserves to be better known, however. Whilst essentially a low budget and inevitably inferior version of North by Northwest, it features fun performances, lively action and some great 1960s fashions and colour. Above all, Crossplot is worth watching to see a pre-Bond Roger Moore, in a departure from his usual professional adventurer roles, very effectively play an innocent man out of his depth and on the run.