Three Steps North is a 1951 Italian-American film noir directed by W. Lee Wilder and starring Lloyd Bridges, Lea Padovani and Aldo Fabrizi. The film is known as Tre passi a nord in Italy.
Contents
Plot
Dishonorably discharged after a four-year stint in a military prison for dabbling in black markets while stationed in Italy during World War II, American former soldier Frank Keeler wants to discreetly recover a stash of money that he buried near Amalfi prior to his arrest. His mission is complicated when he is tailed by police and local shady characters guess the purpose of his presence.
Cast
Lloyd Bridges as Frank Keeler
Lea Padovani as Elena Ravezza
Aldo Fabrizi as Pietro
William Tubbs as Jack Convay
Dino Galvani as Massina
Adriano Ambrogi as Baldori
Gianni Rizzo as The Greek
Peggy Doro as Mrs. Day
Adam Genette as Policeman Falzone
Reception
In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote that the film "follows the routine pattern of low-budget American crime films" and concluded: "[A]ll of the tedious maneuvering that Mr. Bridges does to recover his buried treasure, on which other criminals seem to have designs, is grimly routine and unexciting, and the pay-off, which clears up everything, is one of those fatuous fast shuffles that is acceptable only to our prim Production Code."