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Across the Bridge
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Across the Bridge
Across the Bridge DVD cover
Directed by
Ken Annakin
Produced by
John Stafford
Written by
Graham Greene (story)
Guy Elmes
Denis Freeman
Starring
Rod Steiger
David Knight
Distributed by
Rank Film Distributors Ltd.
Release date(s)
September 6, 1957 (UK release)
Running time
103 min
Language
English
Across the Bridge is a short story by Graham Greene.
The story is told first-person by an unnamed narrator who reveals little about himself, other than that he is a wandering stranger stranded in a small Mexican border village. The narrator is fascinated by Joseph Calloway, a famous con-man believed to be extremely wealthy, who is in the Mexican village on the run from the law. The narrator claims to feel sympathy not for Calloway but for Calloway's dog, an ugly creature that he repeatedly kicks. Two detectives enter the village looking for Calloway, but though they have several conversations with the con-man, they never realize he is their quarry. Meanwhile, Calloway, overcome by homesickness for America, manages to get himself secreted across the border. In the end, Calloway is killed by the detectives' car, apparently while trying to save the dog's life. The narrator claims to find something comic in the end of Calloway's life. He writes "Death doesn't change comedy to tragedy." The reader is left to evaluate the meaning of this statement and to weigh both the tragic and the comic elements of the story.
The story builds its tension on dramatic irony, with the narrator knowing more about the story than both Calloway and the detectives, and the Mexican natives knowing more than the narrator, who says, "Any man doing dusty business in any of the wooden booths in the town is better fitted by long observation to tell Mr Calloway's tale than I am."
Contents
1 Film
2 Reception
3 Featured cast
4 References
5 External links
[edit] Film
Main article: Across the Bridge (film)
The story was made into a 1957 film starring Rod Steiger with Ken Annakin directing.
Carl Schaffner (Steiger) is a crooked American businessman who flees to Mexico after stealing company funds. While travelling by train, Schaffner decides to evade authorities by murdering a fellow passenger and assuming his identity. The plan seems foolproof until he is forced to care for the dead man's dog.
[edit] Reception
Reviews for the film are mostly positive. Britmovie's review of the film [1] signals out Steiger's performance as one of the film's highlights: "Rod Steiger produces a gripping and highly charismatic performance as the conceited financier trapped in limbo with luck running out."
An American remake, Double Take, was released in 2001.
[edit] Featured cast
The movie starred Rod Steiger as Carl Schaffner, David Knight as Johnny, Marla Landi as Mary, Noel Willman as the Chief of Police, and Bernard Lee as Chief Inspector Hadden.
[edit] References
Rank Film Library,"16mm Entertainment Film Catalogue 1978,9"
[edit] External links
Across the Bridge at the Internet Movie Database
v  d  eWorks by Graham Greene
Novels
The Man Within (1929)  The Name of Action (1930)  Rumour at Nightfall (1932)  Stamboul Train (1932)  It's a Battlefield (1934)  England Made Me (1935)  The Bear Fell Free (1935)  A Gun for Sale (1936)  Brighton Rock (1938)  The Confidential Agent (1939)  The Power and the Glory (1940)  The Ministry of Fear (1943)  The Heart of the Matter (1948)  The Third Man (novella; 1949)  The End of the Affair (1951)  The Quiet American (1955)  Loser Takes All (1955)  Our Man in Havana (1958)  A Burnt-Out Case (1960)  The Comedians (1966)  Travels with My Aunt (1969)  The Honorary Consul (1973)  The Human Factor (1973)  Doctor Fischer of Geneva (1980)  Monsignor Quixote (1982)  The Tenth Man (1985)  The Captain and the Enemy (1988)  No Man's Land (2005)
Travel books
Journey Without Maps (1936)  The Lawless Roads (1939)  In Search of a Character: Two African Journals (1961)
Plays
The Living Room (1953)  The Potting Shed (1957)  The Complaisant Lover (1959)  Carving a Statue (1964)  The Return of A.J. Raffles (1975)  The Great Jowett (1981)  Yes and No (1983)  For Whom the Bell Chimes (1983)
Screenplays
The Future's in the Air (1937)  The New Britain (1940)  21 Days (1940)  Brighton Rock (1947)  The Fallen Idol (1948)  The Third Man (1949)  Loser Takes All (1956)  Saint Joan (1957)  Our Man in Havana (1959)  The Comedians (1967)
Short story collections
Twenty-One Stories (1954)  A Sense of Reality (1963)  May We Borrow Your Husband? (1967)  The Last Word and Other Stories (1990)
Short stories
"Proof Positive" (1930)  "The Basement Room" (1936)  "Across the Bridge" (1938)  "Alas, Poor Maling" (1940)  "The Blue Film" (1954)  "The Destructors" (1954)  "A Shocking Accident"  "The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen"  "The Last Word"
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Across_the_Bridge&oldid=445815137"
Categories:
English-language films
1938 short stories
Film noir
Short stories by Graham Greene
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This page was last modified on 20 August 2011 at 12:27.
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