Topaz (1969)

A French intelligence agent becomes embroiled in the Cold War politics first with uncovering the events leading up to the 1962 Cuban Missle Crisis, and then back to France to break up an international Russian spy ring.

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Leon Uris (from the novel by), Samuel A. Taylor (screenplay)

Stars:

Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin, John Vernon

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Frederick Stafford	...	Andre Devereaux
Dany Robin	...	Nicole Devereaux
John Vernon	...	Rico Parra
Karin Dor	...	Juanita de Cordoba
Michel Piccoli	...	Jacques Granville
Philippe Noiret	...	Henri Jarre
Claude Jade	...	Michèle Picard
Michel Subor	...	Francois Picard
Per-Axel Arosenius	...	Boris Kusenov
Roscoe Lee Browne	...	Philippe Dubois
Edmon Ryan	...	McKittreck
Sonja Kolthoff	...	Mrs. Kusenov
Tina Hedström	...	Tamara Kusenov (as Tina Hedstrom)
John Van Dreelen	...	Claude Martin
Donald Randolph	...	Luis Uribe (as Don Randolph)

Storyline

A high ranking Russian official defects to the United States, where he is interviewed by US agent Michael Nordstrom. The defector reveals that a French spy ring codenamed "Topaz" has been passing NATO secrets to the Russians. Michael calls in his French friend and counterpart Andre Devereaux to expose the spies.

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Plot Keywords:

agent | spy | cuba | nato | mistress | 

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Taglines:

Hitchcock takes you behind the actual headlines to expose the most explosive spy scandal of the century!

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Genres:

Thriller

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Certificate:

M

Details

Official Sites:

Topas: Gallery, Credits, Plot, Links.

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish French Russian

Release Date:

19 December 1969 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz

Filming Locations:

Copenhagen, Denmark

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

143 min 127 min (edited)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Knowing that he had no ear for music, Alfred Hitchcock didn't even bother listening to Maurice Jarre's completed score for the film, slotting it onto the images without a quibble.

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Goofs

A shot during the May Day parade sequence at the beginning of the film clearly reveals the parade to be taking place during the 50th anniversary of the October revolution (around the 1:29 mark), putting it in 1967 as opposed to 1961-63 when the story is supposed to have taken place. Therefore a person watching this parade could not have possibly defected to the USA and warned them of the Soviet missile deployment in Cuba (as is claimed in the beginning of the film).

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Quotes

Michèle Picard: Oh, the Cubans. I love the Cubans. They are so wild!

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Connections

Featured in 'Topaz': An Appreciation by Film Critic/Historian Leonard Maltin (2001)

User Reviews

Doing A Favor For An Ally

Topaz was the third from the last of the great Alfred Hitchcock's films and in those last few films Hitch eschewed using big American box office names. No doubt he'd come to the conclusion that his was the biggest box office name on the credits.

But if the leading and many of the supporting players were not known to American audiences they were certainly known to French audiences. Dany Robin, Frederick Stafford, Phillippe Noiret, Michel Subor, Michel Piccoli all have had substantial careers in the French cinema.

Topaz is certainly an international thriller with the action going from Copenhagen, to Harlem, to Cuba, and finally Paris. Only Cuba was not shot on actual location for obvious reasons.

The film is based on a spy novel surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis. A Russian defector whose defection with his family is very nicely shot in Copenhagen hints at some major problems coming our way in the Pearl of the Antillies. Our biggest problem though is that because of the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion, we've got no real intelligence on the ground in Cuba. What to do?

Well if you're John Forsythe there's been a reason you've been cultivating the French for years. He goes to Frederick Stafford of French intelligence and asks him to find out what's happening in Cuba.

History in 1962 bares witness to what was happening in Cuba at that time, but also Stafford is concerned the Russians have a spy real high up in the French government, code name, Topaz.

There's a romantic angle here to, so very French. Stafford makes use of his mistress, a Cuban girl played by Karin Dor who wife Dany Robin has reasons to be suspicious of. Then again she's not sitting home waiting for the grass to grow under her feet. She's having a fling with Michel Piccoli who is a friend of her husband.

International Geopolitics and romantic affairs are all tied together in this novel which Hitchcock serves up with his usual touch.

What a sad end both the leads in this film had. Frederick Stafford was killed in a plane crash in 1979 and Dany Robin and her husband died in an apartment house fire in 1995. Truly a cursed film.

Besides those mentioned look for good performances by John Vernon as a Castro aide and wannabe and from Roscoe Lee Browne who's an operator for French Intelligence in Harlem. I kid you not.

It's not one of Alfred Hitchcock's best films, but Topaz is entertaining enough and Hitchcock fans won't be disappointed.