THE CROOKED ROAD doesn’t lead to much other than a whiz-by excuse for fans of Robert Ryan or Stewart Granger, picking up quick and easy paychecks for a talky ‘thriller’ that peeked out in 1965 with barely a ripple of notice. Aside from the presence of the by-then weathered but still durable stars and some interesting behind-camera credits, it at least offers snicker amusement for its vintage advertising posters.

Hard-nosed American newsman ‘Richard Ashley’ (Ryan, 55) plans to post a story exposing the ‘Duke of Orgagna’ (Granger, 51), a suave and ruthless power-player intent on becoming dictator of a Balkan country. Ashley also has a flame still burning for the Duke’s wife, so it’s a personal as well as political and philosophical web of intrigue that may cost more than bad press and rankled feelings.

“You, my dear Ashley, are a man of a new world, America. A great country, a great people, but sometimes so naïve. Your country invested millions and millions of dollars here for one reason, to prevent a communist government. Is there a communist government? No! Well then, why are you so outraged at some of the methods we adopt to that end?”

Directing on location in Yugoslavia was Don Chaffey (Jason And The Argonauts), his cameraman was Stephen Dade (Zulu). With Jay Garrison, Chaffey co-wrote the script, based on Morris West’s 1957 Italy-set novel “The Big Story”. The ruined romance subplot is weak and the low-budget skimped on shooting in color, which would’ve taken better advantage of the Zagreb and Dalmation scenery. Granger has fun being a total sleaze.

Capable supporting players Marius Goring and George Coulouris are on hand as is Robert Rietty, dubbed (the word fits) the “Man Of A Thousand Voices” for deploying his recognizable vocal instrument to hordes of movies: 007 advocates can ‘see’ the guy whose voice they heard as ‘Emilio Largo’ in Thunderball and ‘Tiger Tanaka’ in You Only Live Twice.

With Nadia Gray and Katherine Woodville. 92 minutes.

* Europe beckons. After co-starring in the 1960 John Wayne hit North To Alaska, Granger commenced the second half of his career by venturing abroad, including a slew of pictures done in budget-friendly Yugoslavia, which was welcoming capitalist cash in minor epics like The Long Ships and Genghis Khan, and Granger’s WW2 actioner The Secret Invasion.