Notable cast/crew: Frederick Stafford as Andre Devereaux. John Vernon as Rico Parra. Karin Dor as Juanita de Cordoba. Roscoe Lee Browne as Philippe Dubois. John Forsythe as Michael Nordstrom. Forsythe had previously been in The Trouble With Harry. Original Music by Maurice Jarre. Costume Design by Edith Head.
Running time: 143 minutesDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
MacGuffin: The spy ring
Hitchcock cameo: Seated in a wheelchair then standing to greet a man he walks off with
Hitchcock themes:
- Sophisticated villain
Verdict: Topaz is probably Hitchcock's largest failure from his American films. The frustrating thing about it is that there is buried in it the possibility of a great film, but it is too laden down with plot dead ends and a colossal failure to end the movie. The film was forced on him (he wanted to do Frenzy which the studio wasn't interested in yet), and it resulted in the script being written as the movie was filmed. The result is a very disjointed movie that doesn't seem to go anywhere. In fact, the first 100 minutes are largely irrelevant to the title of the film. Imagine The 39 Steps where the first 2/3 of the movie are about something other than foiling the spy ring's plot. It gets even worse in that we don't even know what Topaz is (aside from a brief mention of the word early in the movie) until after the entire affair in Cuba has been wrapped up. We aren't introduced to the villain until the final 30 minutes of the film.
The cast is largely foreign and unfamiliar to American viewers which also hurt the box office. John Forsythe is solid in one of the larger roles, but he is given little to do other than transition the narrative from one area to the next. Roscoe Lee Browne is excellent (as he is in everything) in his brief role as a French operative infiltrating the Cubans' hotel in Harlem. John Vernon (better known for playing Dean Wormer in Animal House) is outstanding playing a high-ranking member of Castro's revolution. The rest of the cast is serviceable but unremarkable.
Based on the 1967 Cold War novel "Topaz" by Leon Uris, the story is closely based on the 1962 Sapphire Affair, which involved the head of French Intelligence, SDECE, in the United States and spy Philippe Thyraud de Vosjoli who played an important role in helping the U.S. discover the presence of Russian offensive missiles in Cuba. This film was Hitchcock's biggest financial failure. It cost approximately $4,000,000 to make and received only $1,000,000 at the box office. Running at 143 minutes, this is Alfred Hitchcock's longest film. However, this is edited down from the original, longer running time that tested negatively with audiences. Realistically, the idea of the spy ring should have been worked into the story much earlier to make it more relevant to the plot. The result is what feels like two movies that were stuck together: one about the Cuban Missile Crisis, the other about a French spy ring leaking NATO secrets to the Soviets. The spy ring plot could have been removed entirely (while also requiring a title change to the film) and made into a sequel continuing with Devereaux as the main character, and it would have resulted in two better films.
The major failing of the movie was the inability to come up with an ending that made sense and was satisfying. In the original ending, there was a duel between André Devereaux and Jacques Granville in a French football stadium, shot by associate producer Herbert Coleman when Hitchcock had to return to the U.S. for a family emergency. This ending was panned by audiences during test screenings. It made no sense: after foiling the spy ring, why would the hero then accept a duel from the head of the ring who has already been defeated? Under pressure from the studio, Hitchcock shot an ending he actually liked better with Jacques escaping on an Aeroflot flight to the Soviet Union just at the same time as André and Nicole are boarding their Pan Am flight to the States. This ending was also controversial as after two and a half hours the bad guy gets away unscathed. As a compromise, Hitchcock used existing footage to create a new ending: Granville is exposed and expelled from a NATO meeting and commits suicide behind his drawn curtains. This was necessitated by the fact that it was too late to reshoot so they did a zoom-in freeze frame on the house as a gunshot rings out. While better for wrapping up the plot, it was obviously rushed and feels like the movie ends abruptly just for the sake of getting it over. Eventually, the studio decided to release different endings in different countries: the suicide in the U.S. and France, and the airport ending in Britain. The duel ending was thought lost until Patricia Hitchcock found it in her father's garage after his death.
There are a number of good scenes and shots in the film: the zoom-in on the house to a man's reflection in the mirror, the hotel in Harlem scene, Devereaux looking to Jarre at lunch. The film is best known for the shot of Juanita's execution. We see her, terrified, in Parra's arms as he describes what will be done to her for betraying the revolution, and then the gun fires, unseen. After cutting to the gun being lowered in Parra's hand (which had been on the other side of her body where we couldn't see it), the scene cuts to an overhead shot looking down on her as she slowly slides to the ground. Her robe slowly spreads out under her giving the impression of a pool of blood flowing out of her. This was done with several strings being attached to her robe which were pulled by stagehands and results in a striking image. You feel as if you've seen a very bloody death, but there is no blood to be seen unless you look closely at Parra's hand as he lets her body slip to the floor.
Out of five bananas, I give it:
The cast is largely foreign and unfamiliar to American viewers which also hurt the box office. John Forsythe is solid in one of the larger roles, but he is given little to do other than transition the narrative from one area to the next. Roscoe Lee Browne is excellent (as he is in everything) in his brief role as a French operative infiltrating the Cubans' hotel in Harlem. John Vernon (better known for playing Dean Wormer in Animal House) is outstanding playing a high-ranking member of Castro's revolution. The rest of the cast is serviceable but unremarkable.
Based on the 1967 Cold War novel "Topaz" by Leon Uris, the story is closely based on the 1962 Sapphire Affair, which involved the head of French Intelligence, SDECE, in the United States and spy Philippe Thyraud de Vosjoli who played an important role in helping the U.S. discover the presence of Russian offensive missiles in Cuba. This film was Hitchcock's biggest financial failure. It cost approximately $4,000,000 to make and received only $1,000,000 at the box office. Running at 143 minutes, this is Alfred Hitchcock's longest film. However, this is edited down from the original, longer running time that tested negatively with audiences. Realistically, the idea of the spy ring should have been worked into the story much earlier to make it more relevant to the plot. The result is what feels like two movies that were stuck together: one about the Cuban Missile Crisis, the other about a French spy ring leaking NATO secrets to the Soviets. The spy ring plot could have been removed entirely (while also requiring a title change to the film) and made into a sequel continuing with Devereaux as the main character, and it would have resulted in two better films.
The major failing of the movie was the inability to come up with an ending that made sense and was satisfying. In the original ending, there was a duel between André Devereaux and Jacques Granville in a French football stadium, shot by associate producer Herbert Coleman when Hitchcock had to return to the U.S. for a family emergency. This ending was panned by audiences during test screenings. It made no sense: after foiling the spy ring, why would the hero then accept a duel from the head of the ring who has already been defeated? Under pressure from the studio, Hitchcock shot an ending he actually liked better with Jacques escaping on an Aeroflot flight to the Soviet Union just at the same time as André and Nicole are boarding their Pan Am flight to the States. This ending was also controversial as after two and a half hours the bad guy gets away unscathed. As a compromise, Hitchcock used existing footage to create a new ending: Granville is exposed and expelled from a NATO meeting and commits suicide behind his drawn curtains. This was necessitated by the fact that it was too late to reshoot so they did a zoom-in freeze frame on the house as a gunshot rings out. While better for wrapping up the plot, it was obviously rushed and feels like the movie ends abruptly just for the sake of getting it over. Eventually, the studio decided to release different endings in different countries: the suicide in the U.S. and France, and the airport ending in Britain. The duel ending was thought lost until Patricia Hitchcock found it in her father's garage after his death.
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| Death in Cuba |
There are a number of good scenes and shots in the film: the zoom-in on the house to a man's reflection in the mirror, the hotel in Harlem scene, Devereaux looking to Jarre at lunch. The film is best known for the shot of Juanita's execution. We see her, terrified, in Parra's arms as he describes what will be done to her for betraying the revolution, and then the gun fires, unseen. After cutting to the gun being lowered in Parra's hand (which had been on the other side of her body where we couldn't see it), the scene cuts to an overhead shot looking down on her as she slowly slides to the ground. Her robe slowly spreads out under her giving the impression of a pool of blood flowing out of her. This was done with several strings being attached to her robe which were pulled by stagehands and results in a striking image. You feel as if you've seen a very bloody death, but there is no blood to be seen unless you look closely at Parra's hand as he lets her body slip to the floor.
Out of five bananas, I give it:
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