Torn Curtain  

 

Year: 1966.

Starring: Paul Newman, Julie Andrews, Ludwig Donath, Wolfgang Kieling, Lila Kedrova.

Production: Alfred Hitchcock, Universal Pictures.

Screenplay: Brian Moore.

Photography: John F. Warren (Technicolor).

Music: John Addison.

Duration: 119 min.

Color: color.

Cast:

Argument:
Michael Armstrong is an american scientist who wants to get the key of a new rocket gun, which has been developed by the communist block. In order to achieve this, he fakes desertion and tries to contact a german scientist, Gustav Lindt, who knows all about the project Armstrong wants to steal.

Armstrong and his assistant and girl-friend, Sarah Sherman, arrive to Leipzig, in whose university Lindt works, and offer their knowledge, so that they might have the opportunity to get the information and flee back to the United States.

Although, their intentions are discovered by a communist secret service, and finally they fairly manage to escape with the information with aid from the anti-communist resistance and an excentric polish comtess.

'Torn Curtain' was defined by Hitchcock himself as one of his weakest movies, because it appeared not to contain any of Hitchcock's classical strokes; it was rather uninteresting and introduced an extremely weak argument, except for some concrete stages.

Besides, Hitchcock didn't get satisfied with Paul Newman's actuation, something undoubtely true, because he didn't at any time appear to be a "real scientist", in clear contrast to Prof. Lindt's role wonderfully played by Ludwig Donath. However, it must be very difficult (if not impossible!) for an actor to play both roles in one: a convincing scientist and the classical handsome and fearless adventurer; they simply seem to be incompatible.

The film's circular structure, with the movie's situation located in the Scandinavian Region, East Berlin, Leipzig, again Berlin and back to Scandinavia was used in anterior movies like 'Foreign Correspondent', and should be analysed as an effort to express Armstrong's whole journey's inutility, making the viewer decide if the whole adventure was really worth it.

On the other hand, the fleeing stage is relatively well designed, with determined suspense shots, which where typical of Hitchcock, for example the bus or the scandinavian ship sequences. Although, this film's quality is far, far away from anterior ones like 'Psycho' or 'The Birds'.