Written by Samuel Taylor (Sabrina, Vertigo, Avanti), novel Leon Uris.
Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin (wife), John Vernon, Karin Dor (mistress), Michel Piccoli (Bunuels), Philippe Noiret (Cinema Paradiso), Claude Jade (daughter, Truffauts), Roscoe Lee Brown.
Music - Maurice Jarre. Ph. Jack Hildyard.
Forty years on, Hitch begins Topaz like Blackmail - as a near silent film (and later plays a trick with the audio of a fountain). Another great silent scene featuring Stafford and Brown at a hotel leads to film's best suspense moment: photographing of papers and chase (Browne is unfortunately the most charismatic character in it). Though plenty of good touches (cameras in sandwiches) film is restrained and one of the longest Hitchcocks isn't sustained by enough suspense. Still, much underrated. Hitch appears leaping from a wheelchair!
Stafford-Dor love scenes not very convincing, either.
No comments:
Post a Comment