Double Cross – 1955 | 71 mins | Thriller | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Light-hearted espionage drama adapted from Kem Bennett’s spy thriller The Queer Fish.

Two Soviet spies, Clifford (Allan Cuthbertson) and Dmitri Krassin (Anton Diffring), kill a Bristol security guard whilst stealing secret radar-related files and are forced to go on the run accompanied by Krassin’s Hungarian wife Anna (Delphi Lawrence). They flee to the Cornish coast, but when their expected passage to France fails to materialise, they persuade local salmon poacher Albert (Donald Houston) to ferry them across the English Channel in a stolen boat.

Once at sea, Albert overhears the trio discussing the murder, and after striking up a friendship with Anna she confesses they intend to kill him when onto dry land in France. Albert cunningly begins to turn the boat homeward bound without alerting Krassin and Clifford. When the ship sights land Albert claims it to be France, it is in fact Lands End, and after a scuffle he maroons Krassin and Clifford ashore in a secluded cove. Albert and Anna return to Cornwall to face questioning from both the police and pompous river warden Whiteway (William Hartnell).