Over the next few months Network DVD will be releasing two of Gerry Anderson’s first encounters with real film – and not puppets! The most significant of these is Crossroads to Crime. The crime thriller for Anglo-Amalgamated was Gerry Anderson’s directorial film debut, and the only feature-length film to be made by AP Films, co-founded by the legendary puppet pioneer in 1957.
Released in 1960 between the making of Four Feather Falls and Supercar, Crossroads to Crime features the talents of several of Anderson’s later Supermarionation collaborators, including voice artists George Murcell and David Graham, Anderson’s future wife Sylvia Thamm (an uncredited continuity supervisor), and Barry Gray, whose iconic themes famously complemented the Supermarionation series of the 1960s. Released here for the first time, the film is presented in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements.
It is hoped they will try to interview the only known living member of the cast, the stalwart of the Anderson studios David Graham, who was in so many of Anderson’s productions especially as the fantastic Parker in Thunderbirds. The DVD will be available on the 19th of August 2013 price £6.98.
The other release is David MacDonald’s Devil Girl From Mars (released today and pictured here) which is a rare science fiction piece from the notorious British b-movie studio of the Danziger brothers. At this point in his career Gerry was a freelance Sound Editor, gaining his first experience in Science Fiction under the name which he was usually billed as at the time, Gerald Anderson.
This British B-movie cult classic stars Patricia Laffan as a vinyl-clad, ray gun-toting Martian on the hunt for Earthmen to repopulate her home planet. Devil Girl from Mars is to be released in a brand-new transfer from original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio.
The DVD is now on sale through Network’s website, priced £6.98.