Torn Curtain (1966)

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writer:

Brian Moore (written by)
(more)

Release Date:

July 1966 (UK)

Genre:

Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Suspense! Azione! Sorpresa! [Suspense! Action! Surprise!]

Plot:

An American scientist publicly defects to East Germany as part of a cloak and dagger mission to find the solution for a formula resin and then figuring out a plan to escape back to the West.

Plot Keywords:

Scientist | Germany | Defection | Europe | East Berlin East Germany

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Paul Newman	...	Professor Michael Armstrong
Julie Andrews	...	Sarah Sherman
Lila Kedrova	...	Countess Kuchinska
Hansjörg Felmy	...	Heinrich Gerhard (as Hansjoerg Felmy)
Tamara Toumanova	...	Ballerina
Wolfgang Kieling	...	Hermann Gromek
Ludwig Donath	...	Professor Gustav Lindt
Günter Strack	...	Professor Karl Manfred
David Opatoshu	...	Mr. Jacobi
Gisela Fischer	...	Dr. Koska
Mort Mills	...	Farmer
Carolyn Conwell	...	Farmer's Wife
Arthur Gould-Porter	...	Freddy - the Bookseller
Gloria Gorvin	...	Fräulein Mann
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Boon	...	Professor Winkelmann (uncredited)
Peter Bourne	...	Professor Olaf Hengström (uncredited)
Linda Carol	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Rico Cattani	...	Heinrich - Escape Bus Driver (uncredited)
Andrea Darvi	...	Gretl Koska (uncredited)
Maurice Doner	...	Hugo - Baggage Manager (uncredited)
Harold Dyrenforth	...	Otto Haupt (uncredited)
Horst Ebersberg	...	East German Interpreter (uncredited)
Ben Frommer	...	Sceptical-Looking Airline Passenger (uncredited)
Sasha Harden	...	Border Guard (uncredited)
Joe Harris	...	Ballet Member (uncredited)
Mischa Hausserman	...	Idealistic Young Man (uncredited)
Alfred Hitchcock	...	Man in Hotel Lobby with Baby (uncredited)
Erik Holland	...	Hotel Travel Clerk (uncredited)
Nancy Kilgas	...	Ballet Member (uncredited)
Peter Lorre Jr.	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Jan Malmsjö	...	Swedish Photographer (uncredited)
Hedley Mattingly	...	Airline Official (uncredited)
Norbert Meisel	...	Factory Manager (uncredited)
Frank Oberschall	...	Airport Security Man (uncredited)
Gerd Rein	...	East German Arresting Officer in Bus Sequence (uncredited)
Gene Roth	...	Guard in Post Office (uncredited)
Norbert Schiller	...	Professor Gutman (uncredited)
Lyle Sudrow	...	Swedish Captain (uncredited)
Wilhelm von Homburg	...	Blonde Twin in Bus (uncredited)

Directed by
Alfred Hitchcock

Writing credits
Brian Moore		(written by)
Willis Hall		contributor to screenplay (uncredited)
Keith Waterhouse		contributor to screenplay (uncredited)

Produced by
Alfred Hitchcock	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
John Addison

Cinematography by
John F. Warren		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Bud Hoffman		(film editor)

Production Design by
Hein Heckroth

Art Direction by
Frank Arrigo

Set Decoration by
George Milo

Makeup Department
Jack Barron	....	makeup supervisor
Lorraine Roberson	....	hair stylist
Hal Saunders	....	hair stylist: Miss Andrews
Peter R.J. Deyell	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Jack Corrick	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Donald Baer	....	assistant director

Art Department
Joseph Musso	....	production illustrator (uncredited)

Sound Department
William Russell	....	sound
Waldon O. Watson	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Albert Whitlock	....	pictorial designs

Stunts
David Sharpe	....	stunt coordinator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Leonard J. South	....	camera operator (as Leonard South)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Edith Head	....	costume designer: Miss Andrews
Grady Hunt	....	costume supervisor

Music Department
John Addison	....	conductor (uncredited)
Edward B. Powell	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Peggy Robertson	....	assistant: Mr. Hitchcock
Lois Thurman	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Universal Pictures (presents) (as Universal)

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1966) (USA) (theatrical)
• Universal Pictures (1966) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Universal (1966) (France) (theatrical) (as Universal Films, Inc.)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1970) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• MCA Videocassette (1982) (USA) (VHS)
• Universal Pictures (1999) (Germany) (VHS)
• Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (2002) (Germany) (VHS)
• Universal Film (1966) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Väinän Filmi (1966) (Finland) (theatrical)
• CIC Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• Esselte Video (1980s) (Finland) (VHS)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (199?) (USA) (VHS) (199?)
• Nelonen (1998) (Finland) (TV)
• TV3 (1989) (Finland) (TV)
• Universal Home Video (Brazil) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Finland Oy (2002) (Finland) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (2001) (Germany) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Nordic (2002) (Sweden) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  camera cranes

Also Known As:

Runtime:

128 min | Germany:126 min | France:126 min | Netherlands:118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | Swedish | Norwegian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

France:U | Spain:18 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Germany:12 (re-rated) (video) | Brazil:14 | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Peru:14 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:16 (f) | UK:A (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The opening credits lists the most comprehensive cast - all 14 members; the end credits lists only 12 of those members with character names. IMDb policy, therefore, requires the opening cast list to be used.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Or their shadow, anyway. On the road-level shot of Armstrong's taxi leaving the farm (Gromek's motorbike is visible on the left of the screen), just at the very bottom of the image can be seen the shadow of the camera (4:3 television version only).

Quotes:

[first lines]
Professor Karl Manfred:Are they ever going to get the heating fixed?
Norwegian crewman:They are working at it, Professor. Perhaps some of you scientists would like to give us a helping hand!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Plotting 'Family Plot' (2001) (V)

Soundtrack:

The Emperor Waltz (Kaiserwalzer, Op. 437)

less than Hitch's best

The first time I watched "Torn Curtain," I grew bored and turned it off before it was over. I've watched it in its entirety more than once since then. It's difficult not to conclude that the master director's age was beginning to take its toll by 1966. It could have been a great film except for some major flaws.

First, the main characters. Newman and Andrews look distinctly ill-at-ease and their acting is wooden. There is very nearly no chemistry between them, and viewers are not really drawn into their somewhat implausible situation. Both actors are compelling in other films, but for some reason not in this one.

Second, Hitchcock would have done better to keep his villains' identity less specific. In "The Lady Vanishes", "The Thirty-nine Steps," and "North by Northwest," the identity of the foreign agents is left deliberately vague and thus little plausibility need be attached to their actions. Here they are East German communists, of which we know rather a lot.

Third, there are inconsistencies in the plot. At one point Newman and Andrews are forced to go out into an open space to avoid being overheard. But in another scene a pro-western spy communicates confidential information to Newman in a hospital room, seemingly oblivious to the possibility of wiretaps.

Finally, there's John Addison's score, which seems to have been written quite independently of the film's action. A suspenseful scene is inappropriately matched with cheerful, melodic music. Everyone knows, of course, that Hitch's longtime musical collaborator, Bernard Herrmann, wrote a mostly complete score for the film, but the two had a falling out on the set and Herrmann was dismissed. Another example of poor judgement on Hitchcock's part. Herrmann's score would have immeasurably improved a mediocre film. (Look at "Obsession" nearly a decade later.) With all the recent film restorations, I would love to see someone redo "Torn Curtain" and put in as much of Herrmann's score as the composer was able to finish. (But perhaps there would be copyright problems.) Had Herrmann's score been used, the murder sequence in the farmhouse might have become as famous as the shower scene in "Psycho."

As I was watching the protagonists flee through the East German landscape in their efforts to reach the west, I found myself thinking that, if they had only waited another twenty-three years, the wall would have come down anyway and they could simply have walked out! That's how much their plight gripped me.