A Hitchcock a Day - Topaz

We have just 5 films left for the end of our tribute to Alfred Hitchcock and today we are visiting one of his experimental movies, Topaz (1969) with a very different story than what we're used to from the beloved director. It is a slow-burning and rather complicated film about secret missions and spies during the Cold War and the Cuban incident. Let's take a look.

The film starts in Russia, where the family of a high ranking official that's against the current regime, makes a deal with the Americans and asks for asylum in the United States.

The only thing that he has to give them in return is some information.

What he tells them is that there is a group of French spies codenamed "Topaz" who have been passing NATO secrets to the Russians.

Now, it is up to the French Agent, Andre Devereaux (Frederick Stafford) to expose the spies.

What he finds will lead him to Cuba, next to his mistress Juanita de Cordoba (Karin Dor) who is also the girlfriend of Rico Parra (John Vernon), a Cuban official.

Alfred Hitchcock himself has called this one of his experimental movies. The plot is revealed through the dialogue and also via the use of colours, such as yellow, red and white. He has admitted that this didn't work out.

According to Donald Spoto's book "The Art of Alfred Hitchcock: Fifty Years of His Motion Pictures", this film was forced on the great director by the Universal executives. It is reported to have been one of Hitchcock's most unhappy directing jobs.

This film was Hitchcock's biggest failure. It cost $4,000,000 and it made only $1,000,000 at the box office.

Hitchcock had envisioned a duel scene for the ending of the film. While he was shooting it though, he learned that his wife had been hospitalised. Before his departure, he gave precise instructions on how to shoot the rest of the scene. However, the editing of the duel sequence ended up being a really sore point.

Director Cameo: About 30 minutes into the film, Alfred Hitchcock is the man in the wheelchair that arrives on the airport, sees the man he is supposed to meet, stands up and greets him.