Topaz (1969 film)
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| Topaz | |
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 original film poster |
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| Directed by | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Produced by | Associate producer: Herbert Coleman Uncredited: Alfred Hitchcock |
| Written by | Novel: Leon Uris Screenplay: Samuel A. Taylor |
| Starring | Frederick Stafford Dany Robin Claude Jade Michel Subor John Forsythe Karin Dor John Vernon Michel Piccoli Philippe Noiret Roscoe Lee Browne |
| Music by | Maurice Jarre |
| Cinematography | Jack Hildyard |
| Editing by | William H. Ziegler |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  December 19, 1969 |
| Running time | 143 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$ 4,000,000 |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Topaz, director Alfred Hitchcock's 51st movie, filmed between 1968 and 1969, was adapted from the book Topaz (ISBN 0-553-23547-8) by Leon Uris. It is a Cold War and spy story.
It stars Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin, Claude Jade, Michel Subor, Karin Dor, John Vernon, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret, John Forsythe, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Per-Axel Arosenius.
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Plot
When a high-ranking Soviet intelligence officer defects to the West with a story of an agreement between the Russians and Cubans and the existence of a "mole" within the French intelligence service, CIA agent Nordstrom (John Forsythe) enlists the aid of his friend and French agent André Devereaux (Frederick Stafford), encouraging him to accompany his daughter Michèle (Claude Jade) on her honeymoon with journalist François Picard (Michel Subor) as a premise to get him to New York. André accepts, but his wife Nicole (Dany Robin) is worried for him.
After managing to get hold of some seriously damaging papers from the visiting Cuban official Rico Parra (John Vernon), in New York to appear at the United Nations and staying in Harlem to show solidarity with "the masses", sneakily of course, a concerned Devereaux jets off to Cuba and catches up with his mistress Juanita de Cordoba (Karin Dor), who is now secretly involved with a local underground movement whilst also being involved in another way with Parra. Parra finds out and kills Juanita in a highly stylized memorable scene. Devereaux then is recalled to Paris, where he attempts to get to the bottom of this whole leak problem. Michèle wants to reconcile her parents.
Nicole cheats on André after his Cuban affair with the man who proves to be the leader of the spy ring, "Topaz", Jacques Granville (Michel Piccoli), their old friend from their days together in the French Resistance. François goes on to find out who "Topaz" is by interrogating NATO official Henri Jarre (Philippe Noiret). A short time late Michèle finds the murdered Jarré – and François is missing. A short time later François arrives at Michèle and her parents and shows her a drawing of Jarré. Nicole knows him and tells André, that Granville is the head of "Topaz"...
In the original ending, there was a duel between André and Jacques. This was panned by audiences, and Hitchcock changed the ending.[1] Another rejected ending had Jacques escaping.
Reaction
The film was not particularly well-received or successful at the box office by Hitchcock standards. Hitchcock changed the script shortly before the beginning of the filming and the distributor Universal forced a different ending to the one preferred by Hitchcock [2]. For Topaz, Hitchcock engaged the 19-year-old French actress Claude Jade from Truffaut's "Stolen Kisses". She and Dany Robin, cast as her mother, would provide the glamour in the story. "Claude Jade is a rather quiet young lady," Hitchcock said later, "but I wouldn't guarantee [that] about her behavior in a taxi".
Criticism
Some American critics said that there was no star in the movie—no Bergman, no Grant. The cast in fact was full of renowned international film stars (Jade, Piccoli, Noiret), whose previous successes had come primarily in France. As the film centered on a spy in the French intelligence service, however, the decision to have a predominantly-French cast could be considered a logical one. It is further believed that because of the negative experience Hitchcock had working with Paul Newman on Torn Curtain, he decided not to cast actors who were big American "stars" in this film in retaliation. Some believe this created an aloof and detached atmosphere to American audiences.
When American Movie Classics aired the film in the 1990s it included alternative endings filmed by Hitchcock, which had been kept in the Universal vaults. It was also noted that the film had gained a following since its original release, a view supported in one of the leading video guidebooks published in 1997.
Hitchcock's Cameo
The Master of Suspense makes one of his more humorous cameo appearances in this film. During the LaGuardia airport scene, Hitchcock is pushed in a wheelchair by a nurse from the left of the screen toward the right. She stops him on the right of the screen, and he nonchalantly stands and greets a man, proceeding to walk off the screen.
Real-Life Influence
- The film begins with a Russian KGB agent defecting along with his wife and daughter. It was based on that of Anatoliy Golitsyn.
- André Devereaux was based on French agent Philippe Thyraud de Vosjoli of the SDECE.
- "Juanita de Cordoba" is loosely based on Castro's daughter Alina Fernández who fled Cuba and defected to America. Castro disowned her for her treason. This is not the case in the novel and as such is highly questionable.
- The red haired army captain known as "Hernandez" is based on Manuel Piñeiro.
- Fidel Castro makes an uncredited (and, presumably, uncompensated) appearance in the film along with Che Guevara. While in Cuba, Deveraux attends a Castro rally in order to keep up the appearance of his official cover, that of a French trade attaché. The film spliced in actual footage of a real Castro rally of the era to add to the realism.
- Alfred Hitchcock's cameo is a signature occurrence in most of his films. In Topaz he can be seen (32 minutes into the film) at the airport, seated in a wheelchair as he is being pushed by a nurse.
- The French title is L'Étau (English : ~bench vice, ~stranglehold), to avoid any reference to Topaze, a most very well known French opus by Marcel Pagnol (play in 1930, first film version in 1936 with Arnaudy in the title role, second film version in 1951 with Fernandel in the title role). In the French script, the topaz gemstone is even replaced by "l'opale" (opal).
External links
References
- ^ Sullivan, Jack. Hitchcock's Music, 296.
- ^ "Topaz trio", The Times, 27th January 1970
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