Topaz (1969)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Starring Frederick Stafford, John Vernon, John Forsythe, Karin Dor, Michel Subor, Claude Jade, Philippe Noiret, Dany Robin, Michel Piccoli, Roscoe Lee Browne, Per-Axel Arosenius, Edmon Ryan, John Van Dreelen, Carlos Rivas, Donald Randolph. [PG]

Flat, talky, and uninteresting Cold War drama from Hitchcock, with hardly any evidence of his usual visual flamboyance or mastery of spine-tingling moments (a swelling violet skirt after an intimate gunshot, perhaps…). CIA officer Forsythe and French intelligence agent Stafford work to uncover and destroy a Soviet spy ring in France, an affair that also involves a Cuban official (Vernon), Stafford’s mistress (Dor), a double agent with NATO (Noiret), and more. Convoluted international intrigue hops around the globe for flavorful location shoots, but nothing sticks, and Stafford is a lackluster lead, reminiscent of Roger Moore-era Bond at his most detached. Browne does elegant work as an agent in Harlem (he wants to go undercover as a journalist for Playboy, but Stafford insists on Ebony instead, the poor guy), so it’s a shame that he disappears too soon. On the plus side, the director does make one of his funniest cameos as a man in a wheelchair (and also…not). Hitch shot three different endings—the two scrapped finales were sometimes restored for reissues—and the final film has been released at different lengths ranging from a little over two hours to almost two-and-a-half.

51/100