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Topaz (1969)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
3/06, 9/23
3/06:
Topaz didn't have to run for 143 minutes.
Really, that's unnecessary. What a dull sitting the film makes for. It's clear Alfred Hitchcock had lost it during the 60's
although he would make a strong comeback the following decade with Frenzy and
Family Plot.
There's less wooden acting this time around as compared to Torn Curtain; the story is
fair. John Vernon, who's usually a poor actor, does well. I like Philippe Noiret the most.
All in all, despite the direction by Alfred Hitchcock, you're better off not knowing that Topaz exists.
9/23:
What's impossible to look past in Topaz is the lack of big-name stars.
It's only a bunch of decent thespians pretending to be of a specific nationality. Take Cuba, John Vernon had Armenian,
German, and Polish bloodlines while Karin Dor hailed from Germany. For France, Frederick Stafford was actually a Czech.
Playing a Russian defector, Per-Axel Arosenius was 100% Swedish.
The next problem is the unbelievable running length. I mean, is this necessary, Mr. Hitchcock? It's a whopping 143 minutes
for no reason, his longest movie ever. If it had stars, then maybe okay which is the reason why
Torn Curtain was
tolerable, but he did the same story to death a thousand of times before. Try something new for a change, please.
The ending sucks...it's so anticlimactic.
Equally hard to stomach is the presence of Dany Robin as Nicole Devereaux. Just shut the hell up, and stay out of the way.
She's an excuse to show off Hitchcock's fetish for blond-haired actresses and Edith Head's gaudy outfits.
To Dany Robin's credit, she retired from acting immediately afterwards. By the way, the director makes his cameo about
thirty-four minutes into the show when he's being wheeled at the airport; it's a long time to wait for him to appear.
On the positive side, Philippe Noiret steals the show as Henri Jarré in the tradition of Peter Ustinov. There's a good moment
when John Vernon's character killed the female traitor and showed off his steely blue eyes. Then, Karin Dor dropped down with
her purple dress spreading out like a pool of blood. The Harlem sequence is also well-done.
All in all, boring as hell, Topaz is too long.