Topaz

A French intelligence agent (Frederick Stafford) helps a CIA officer (John Forsythe) uncover Soviet activity in 1962 Cuba.

Topaz marked the third in a series of missteps for director Alfred Hitchcock, after Marnie and Torn Curtain. It’s a muddled, uninspired, cold war thriller that was reportedly forced on the director by the suits at Universal.

The script by Samuel Taylor is a mess, lacking any of Hitchcock’s traditional themes, or black humor. Granted, it was a last minute rewrite after Hitchcock rejected the original script by Leon Uris (who wrote the novel the film is based on), but it’s still overlong and boring. Compounding matters, studio heads forced Hitchcock to change the ending after test screenings, robbing the film of precious edge.

Hitchcock himself later admitted he made Topaz as something of an experiment, using colors, predominantly red, yellow and white to aid in revealing the plot. An experiment, he admits, that did not succeed.

It’s not all bad, though. There are some good moments, including several memorable shots, and a great turn by Roscoe Lee Browne. But not even Roscoe, who makes any film better, can save the mess that is Topaz. Fortunately, Hitchcock more than redeemed himself with his next film, Frenzy.