Topaz (1969 film)
| 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 |
Topaz, director Alfred Hitchcock's 51st movie, released in 1969. It is a Cold War and spy story, adapted from the book of the same name by Leon Uris.
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 from a tortured underground member and confronts Juanita, shooting her to save her from being tortured to death. In one of the film's most memorable shots Juanita is seen from overhead, her dress spreading out on the floor like a bloodstain (although it is not red) as she falls. 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. André and Michèle return to Nicole's where they find that François is missing. A short time later François arrives and shows 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 to one in which Jacques apparently shoots himself off-screen (since no footage of his doing so existed).[1] Another rejected ending had Jacques escaping.
Reaction
The film was not particularly well-received or successful at the box office. 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[who?] said that there was no Hollywood star in the movie—no Bergman, no Grant; the cast did included renowned international film stars (Jade, Piccoli, Noiret), whose previous successes had come primarily in France. Some[who?] attribute Hitchcock's casting choices to the negative experience the director had working with Paul Newman on Torn Curtain.
Alternate endings
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.[citation needed] The "Signature Collection" DVD released by Universal restores a number of deleted scenes and uses the ending in which Jacques escapes. All three endings appear as extras on the DVD, together with an "Appreciation" by Leonard Maltin in which Maltin discusses the deleted scenes and alternate endings among other things.
Hitchcock cameo
Hitchcock's signature cameo appearance occurs 32 minutes into the film, at the airport: he is seated in a wheelchair as he is being pushed by a nurse. She stops as he nonchalantly stands and greets a man, proceeding to walk off screen with him.
Real-life influences
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This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008) |
- 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 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.
- 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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