Crosstrap

Gary Cockrell and Jill Adams have rented an isolated house so he can finish his latest book. They find a corpse, and then an entire gang, led by psychopathic Laurence Payne. They're waiting for a plane to take them and the takings from their most recent job out of the country. Payne doesn't want to leave any witnesses, so he plans to kill Cockrell and take Miss Adams with them for fun and games. His current mistress, the sultry Zena Marshall doesn't like this plan at all. They've got other problems: another gang has them trapped in the house, taking pot shots at anyone who sticks a head out.

It's a nicely complicated bit of thriller from a story by John Newton Chance, even if the characters are just sketches, and the day-for-night photography of Eric Cross is a bit too obvious for comfort.

Miss Marshall was born in Nairobi to French and Anglo-Irish parents. After her father's death, she and her mother moved to Leicestershire. She made her film debut as a handmaid in 1945's CAESA AND CLEOPATRA. Her career languished, but she played a Bond Girl int he first film in the franchise. She died in 2009 at the age of 84.

This is not the best or worst of British B movies.It tries too hard to include too many plot strands in too little time with,consequently,too little explanation.Why does Laurence Paume étant to take Jill Adams away with him rather than Zena Marshall.It is good that this film has been rescued from oblivion

Gary Cockrell ("Geoff") and his wife Jill Adams ("Sally") retreat to an isolated rural house so he can concentrate on finishing his magnum opus. Once there, however, peace and quiet is the last thing they get. The discover a corpse in the bathtub and are soon inundated by Laurence Payne ("Duke") and his gang of hoodlums who have been using the remoteness of the house as an ideal base to fence their stolen goods. It's got quite an irritating jazz-style soundtrack, the ambitious attempt to film outdoors makes the lighting dingy and the over-complicated plot is far too clunkily scripted to keep your attention from straying elsewhere. Payne and Adams - alongside Zena Marshall "Rina" try their best, but it's all just too feeble and the ending is daft.

A young couple arrive at their dream weekend away house only to find they're in the middle of a case of handbags at ten paces between two rival gangs. As a plot, it could have worked so much better if the script, direction, editing, incidental music etc etc were handled with more care and attention, but after all this is a quickie churned out from Twickenham studios, with the urbane Laurence Payne, who appears to be the B films answer to James Mason, in the lead role.

As mentioned in previous reviews, Payne's character takes a sudden interest in Jill Adams, all sensible shoes and cardie, while Zena Marshall (soon to set the screen on fire with her turn in 'Dr No'), is relegated to the part of scorned lover.

Crosstrap's history and back story is perhaps more interesting and intriguing then the film itself. For many years I've had an interest in lost treasures, and remember reading how highly regarded the film was. I'd forgotten all about it and couldn't wait to watch, sadly the result was a little bit of a disappointment, the story is fairly intriguing, but the execution is very clumsy, the motives and behaviours of all the main players make absolutely no sense, and at times it looks a little cheap. I did however enjoy some of the performances, Laurence Payne and Zena Marhsall both come across rather well. I would imagine if you gave this plot to a decent script writer, something good could be made of it. It's watchable, but sadly a little bit of a mess. 5/10