Topaz (1969)

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Topaz (1969) – A. Hitchcock

Is Topaz (1969) Alfred Hitchcock’s worst movie? I suspect there were bad films in his early silent days but this does represent a turn for the worse after so many great films in the previous decades (I’ll have to rewatch Torn Curtain, 1966, soon).  Hitch inexplicably gave the lead, French spy Andre Devereaux, to Frederick Stafford, who comes across rather like a wooden Roger Moore – so all the good acting happens around him (especially in the third act in Paris where Michel Piccoli and Philippe Noiret appear). Leon Uris’s novel may have been foisted upon Hitchcock but Uris himself soon left the project and Hitch and Vertigo writer Samuel Taylor apparently wrote the script on the fly.  Maybe it shows – the film feels very long (with its three acts taking place in America, Cuba, and France) and some of its plot mechanics feel abrupt.  Perhaps that’s because Hitchcock never seems to care much about the MacGuffin (the secrets about the Russian nuclear missiles in Cuba) – as usual, it’s just a device to allow him to build suspense.  However, there isn’t a lot of suspense here.  Perhaps we worry that Devereaux’s contact (and mistress) in Cuba will be caught – but we don’t get much of a chance to know her (and during that time we are dismayed that Devereaux is cheating on his wife, spoiling his good guy image).  Perhaps we are invested in finding out who Columbine is (the French diplomat working for the Russians) but it takes a long time to get to Paris and the possible suspects aren’t introduced until that third act.  Nevertheless, this is still Hitchcock and he is still a masterful director.  Just watching how he sets up his shots, edits efficiently to provide maximum information to the viewer, and, of course, dazzles with some trick shots (Karin Dor collapsing into her purple dress) is worth the price of admission.  Just don’t expect anything on par with Vertigo, Rear Window, Notorious, Psycho, or even Marnie (1964).