Torn Curtain (1966 Halfred Itchcock)

It's too long (but not as long as Topaz).  Not for forty minutes is it revealed that Newman is there as a double agent. What would I have cut? That's another matter. The scene in the museum? (All footsteps.)

Written by  novelist Brian Moore (and Hitchcock), polished by Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse (who didn't think much of it).

I often thought it was very like his early British films. And with all the German going on, maybe a touch of UFA...

Newman and Andrews. Great supporting cast, especially Hansjorg Felmy, Lila Kedrova and Ludwig Donath (professor). With Tamara Toumanova as the frequently upstaged ballerina, Wolfgang Keiling (Gromek), Carolyn Conwell.

Contains several classic sequences apart from the farmhouse murder, including a tense bus journey.

Weird to see a Thomas Cook office the week it went bust.