Crossplot (1969)

Crossplot was a 1969 film that starred Roger Moore. Italian actress Claudia Lange was also featured in her largest English-speaking role. Bernard Lee, famous for his role as M in the James Bond films, also appeared.

The film is essentially a thriller. Roger Moore is Gary Fenn, a London advertising executive, who is trying to select a model for a promotional campaign. A series of events means that only one girl will be good enough for his bosses, a Hungarian Marla Kugasg (Lange). He finds her among the anti-war movement in the bohemian depths of swinging London. She is in the company of a young man, Tarquin, who is extremely protective of her and overtly aggressive to Fenn.

The young Hungarian, an illegal refugee from her native homeland, accompanies Fenn to a photoshoot. However she admits she is in fear of her life, and seems disturbed by the presence of her aunt. When she is nearly killed, the girl drops out of sight and Fenn has to go on the run himself, suspected of a separate murder. He locates her to a country house, which turns out to be the home of Tarquin, an aristocrat in spite of his anti-war sentiments.

It is revealed that Marla's aunt is part of a shadowy organisation trying to destabilise the existing world order so they can take over themselves. They will go to any length to try and shut Fenn and Marla up, including sending a helicopter after them. Fenn and his friend manage to escape to London, where they realise that the shadowy movement are planning to assassinate a visiting African Head of State in Hyde Park. They manage to foil the plot.

The film is not particularly well regarded by critics. One suggested that the film quickly became "tedious" in spite of the numerous action sequences, and the plot was far too "convoluted" and "confusing". Another critic called it "dull", "unsuccessfully trying to emulate the feel of a Bond film" and it was also compared to feeling like an extended episode of The Saint. It is now seen largely as a dry-run for the Bond role Roger Moore would take on four years later.

Crossplot
Directed by	Alvin Rakoff
Produced by	Robert S. Baker
Written by	Leigh Vance John Kruse
Starring	Roger Moore Claudie Lange Alexis Kanner
Music by	Stanley Black
Cinematography	Brendan J. Stafford
Editing by	Burt Rule
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	25 November 1969
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English