alr

Topaz

Screening on Film
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
With John Forsythe, Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin.
US, 1969, 35mm, color, 127 min.

One of Hitchcock’s only overtly political films, Topaz is a densely-layered spy story set during the Cuban Missile Crisis, inspired in part by the director’s admiration for John F. Kennedy. Taken from the best-selling novel by Leon Uris and based on an allegedly true account of a communist spy being discovered within General Charles de Gaulle’s entourage, the film also served as Hitchcock’s opportunity to create a “realistic” counterpoint to the James Bond films, which in his mind had plagiarized and ruined his trademark brand of romantic suspense. Featuring a huge cast without any stars and relying largely on dialogue to forward its complex plot, Topaz engages with reality on a level unseen in Hitchcock’s other films, even incorporating actual footage of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.

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