Torn Curtain (1966) may be directed by Alfred Hitchcock and may star two really big names, the amazingly talented Paul Newman and the gorgeous Julie Andrews but it wasn't one of his biggest successes. It might not be Hitchcock's strongest film (for me it stands next to The Man Who Knew Too Much) but it has some really powerful scenes, nonetheless.
Professor Armstrong (Paul Newman) is an American scientist who is heading to Stockholm to attend a physics conference.
He is accompanied by his secretary and fiancée, Sarah (Julie Andrews). However it is immediately apparent that he is hiding something from her.
Armstrong soon tells her that he has some different plans than what they had talked about before the trip. Irritated, Sarah wants to change her tickets and return to the US but finds out that Armostrong is going to East Germany, behind the Iron Curtain and decides to follow him.
Sarah is shocked when she finds out that Armstrong has arrived to East Germany in order to continue his nuclear research there after his project was canceled in the US.
The real reason behind this decision, however, is that he wants to obtain information from a famous German scientist.
This is one of the films that Hitchcock had many problems with. For starters, he did not want two big names to star, mainly for financial reasons. He objected to Julie Andrews, as he wanted Eva Marie Saint but the studio disagreed.
Hitchcock also had a huge disagreement with his constant collaborator Bernard Herrmann. The score Herrmann had written wasn't accepted by the studio and when the two men couldn't agree anymore, the score was dropped and they never worked together again.
One of the most iconic scenes in the film (and most disturbing for that matter) is the scene of an important character's murder. It is a long breathtaking scene, and its purpose was to show how difficult it is to kill a man.
Eventually, the score was written by John Addison and I have to admit that I enjoy it very much.
Director Cameo: Alfred Hitchcock can be seen early in the film, in the hotel lobby with a baby on his knee.
0 σχόλια :
Post a Comment