Crossroads

A man and woman (Basil Rathbone and Claire Trevor) blackmail a diplomat (William Powell) for a crime he may have committed but can’t remember.

Crossroads is a glossy middle-of-the-road mystery with an all-star cast that doesn’t live up to its potential.

The plot concerns a diplomat, played by William Powell, who finds himself blackmailed by a pair of shady dealers, played by Basil Rathbone and Claire Trevor, for a crime he may or may not have committed years before. See, Powell has amnesia and can’t remember anything about his life prior to a few years back. It’s an interesting premise, but it’s executed very poorly.

For starters, Rathbone, a great antagonist, doesn’t make his entrance until the film’s almost half over, at which point you realize the first half of the film was really just a half hour of exposition. Also wasted is Hedy Lamarr, who has nothing to do as Powell’s wife. Finally, there’s Claire Trevor, who might have worked in a genuine, hard-boiled noir, but just seems lost here.

The script lacks any kind of tension or intrigue. What should have been a constant guessing game as to whether Powell was or wasn’t a criminal in a past life is reduced to a waiting game to see how Powell’s going to prove he wasn’t. In the end, the only mystery is why they set the script in Paris, when none of the cast is French.