I've watched some of the British crime films of that era and this is not bad at all,a good example of making the best of what you have(actors, budgets,etc)💎
If you watch expecting a "so bad it's good" classic, you'll probably be disappointed. IMHO it's a perfectly reasonable example of the genre - the plot's a bit contrived and confused (something that affected much of Gerry's later work), the acting and scripting could be better, but it's a perfectly serviceable little period movie that kept me entertained.
I think it makes a refreshing change and a reminder of my young days when we were more innocent. I am pretty sure the police sergeant is the same one who was the sergeant in Dixon of Dock Green.
i watch a lot of British B pictures on Talking Pictures TV and for an entertainment of it's limited type it isn't really as bad as the anecdotes make out.
@@ewaf88Ah yes the glory days when you could engage in casual racism. Why even bring it up? I’m surprised you didn’t use the go buzzword, “woke”. Though you probably don’t know what it means.
For £16.5k (that’s just over £500,000 in 2024 money) I’d say it was pretty good. It had a story, a beginning, middle and end, decent (albeit probably stock) sets and a few action pieces…What more do you want from a B movie? 😎
"Home, Parker" "Sorry mlady, I can't take you home because I've just dropped the effing car keys down the effing drain!" One of the outtakes from Thunderbirds! 😂
Hmm. Yes. Unfortunate. But then, I remember thinking that the huge budget, all-star, full-colour sci-fi epic 'Journey to the Far Side of the Sun' lacked greatness, too.
I enjoyed this, looking back at the realities of making 1950s/60s British cinema, everyone involved are just trying to make a living, and we don't realise today how meagre the wages and resources often were... I've never heard of Crossroads to Crime before now, but Talking TV show a lot of these vintage cheap films and some are actually good, others are charming because of the time they were made in, and still others (like this film) are disposable filler. I was astonished to hear this was shot in around two weeks! But while there a certain charm to the Children's Foundation films of this era that charm comes from their naivity and simplicity - chasing a bed through London is absurd for instance, with potboilers like Crossroads to Crime we expect a little more substance, and instead get a very mediocre very basic plot that might have filled an episode of a Police show of the time like 'Scotland Yard', or Dixon of Dock Green'... There isn't enough meat to the bone for sustaining a 60-90 minute film. And that's the problem - not enough substance.
Two weeks to shoot and £16k budget. It's impossible to get all the coverage to edit this properly, in that time. That makes it very static and it's overlit all the time :/
Quite frankly, I enjoyed it...... For the small budget and to do it in a fortnight.. I feel that it was very good? I think that they did a great job, and should certainly not be embarrassed with the result.... I'm not a film maker, but I'm sure that I could not have made it, even for much more time and money?
Typical B movie if the time, they weren't making a Hollywood blockbuster, I think they do themselves down, reminded me of Hell drivers, Stanley Black, Patrick mcgoohan etc.
I'll have to ask you for dates, times, names, addresses, a note from your optician, and sworn corroborative statements from fifteen independent witnesses before I can even begin to accept your claim...😁
