Across the Bridge is a 1957 British thriller film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Rod Steiger, David Knight and Bernard Lee.

[1][2] Carl Schaffner is a widowed British businessman, born in Germany, who flees to Mexico with the police hot on his heels after stealing company funds.

The local Mexican police chief, who at first seemed amenable to Schaffner’s approaches to bribe him, connects with Scotland Yard inspector Hadden.

They conspire to keep Schaffner trapped in the Mexican border town of Katrina, and then will try to get him to cross the bridge into the U.S., where he can be apprehended.

He is tricked by Hadden and the police chief into having to cross the dividing line of the bridge to recover the dog.

"[4] The story was expanded by the screenwriter to provide a backstory for the lead character played by Rod Steiger.

[5] In his autobiography the director Ken Annakin recalled that once Steiger had studied his lines, he never referred to the script for the entire shoot.

[8] Annakin later wrote the film "opened in London to great critical acclaim, gaining the most wonderful notices I have ever had.

Adapted from a short story by Graham Greene, the film carries its author's unmistakable imprint in its emphasis on human squalor and despair.

Ken Annakin's tightly-paced direction, assisted by a thoroughly mannered but effective performance by Rod Steiger, capture the perverse fascination of the ruthless Carl Schaffner; and the film is most forceful and balanced in its concentrated character study of the murderous runagate financier.

Steiger plays a fraudster on the run who murders a man and assumes his identity, only to discover his victim is also a fugitive.

"[12] Leslie Halliwell said: "This star tour de force is unconvincing in detail and rather unattractive to watch (British films never could cope with American settings), but the early sequences have suspense.