THE CROOKED ROAD (1965)

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Don Chaffey

SCREENWRITER: Don Chaffey, Jay Garrison

FILM STARS: Robert Ryan, Stewart Granger, Nadia Gray, Katherine Woodville, Marius Goring, Robert Rietty

COUNTRY: Great Britain – Yugoslavia

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Morris West

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Pan

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1964

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1957

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The Big Story

NOTES

GENRE: Political Thriller

WORDS: The most significant change between novel and film is the locale.  The book is set in Italy though the film is set in a small unnamed Balkan state (perhaps changed because it was filmed along the then Yugoslavian (now Croatia, and parts of Slovenia) coastline).  Robert Ryan is always great and Stewart Granger makes a convincing dictator. The film was mid-budget (which mostly went on the cast I suspect). There are elements of guerrilla filmmaking which you occasionally see in (lower budgeted) English language films filmed on location in non-English speaking countries. “Guerrilla” shooting essentially means shooting a film in public with no permits and in most cases, no permission from any property owners. I doubt that would have happened in Communist Yugoslavia but there certainly weren’t controlled exterior sets. The locals are, quite clearly out to see the Hollywood stars, cameras be damned, and clearly some have been recruited for small roles, acting ability be damned. Robert Ryan is the star though Stewart Granger whose Hollywood career has faded was fresh off his Old Surehand sauerkraut western (a German western) success (a European hit) which was also filmed in Croatia (and other parts of Yugoslavia).

This is an early Morris West novel, but like all his novels it’s an easy, and entertaining, read with (a lot) more than meets the eye. Amongst the cat and mouse shenanigans (Ryan’s reporter is trying to expose the corrupt local dictator) there are thematic hints on power, corruption and guilt.  West was, perhaps, Australia’s most successful novelist.