[3] Steve Thompson returns to Los Angeles looking for his ex-wife Anna, eager to rekindle a new romance with her against all better judgment.

But seeing Thompson's wounded condition and fearing that Dundee will track them down, Anna shocks him with her "criss cross" by telling him that she will take the money and leave him behind.

Criss Cross features the screen debut of Tony Curtis (then known as Anthony Curtis), who briefly appears as an uncredited extra in a key scene at the Round-Up Bar dancing with De Carlo to "Jungle Fantasy" performed by Esy Morales and his Rhumba Band.

Reportedly, Lancaster was unhappy with the way Siodmak and Fuchs had reworked Hellinger's idea of a racetrack heist into a fatal romantic triangle.

For the planning of the heist, Siodmak used the exterior and interiors of the rambling, rundown Sunshine Apartments on the steep Third Street steps between Hill and Olive, just opposite the Angels Flight funicular, seen in the background through the windows of the hotel room.

The New York Times gave the film a mixed review, writing, "A tough, mildly exciting melodrama about gangsters and a dame named Anna who 'gets into the blood' of a guy named Steve and causes him no end of trouble...In many ways Criss Cross is a suspenseful action picture, due to the resourceful directing of Robert Siodmak.

But it also is tedious and plodding at times, due partly to Mr. Siodmak's indulgence of a script that is verbose, redundant and imitative.

It's 1940s film noir at its most influential as far as style goes, that is further enhanced by the beautiful dark photography of Frank Planer, the tight script by Daniel Fuchs, and the taut pacing by Siodmak.