Pluskylang Great Film overall

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

dromasca I love seeing films half a century after their initial releases. It's not only a cinematographic experience that in many cases brings up unexpected gems, but also an opportunity to compare the acting and directing styles, the technical means, and the perspective on events, which some were actuality at the time the films were made and became history since then. In some cases it's also the opportunity to compare a fresh viewing with our own memories about the film, although this is not the case here with Torn Curtain , a late film by Alfred Hitchcock, whose Cold War theme seen from the Western perspective had no chance to pass the filter of the censorship in my native Romania at that time.There are many interesting elements in this story about a an American scientist (Paul Newman,) who plays spying games and simulates a crossing of the lines to East Germany in order to discover the status of a key weapon in the rockets arsenal of the Communist block. When his unknowingly fiancée (Julie Andrews) joins him against his will, his mission becomes more complicated. It's at the same time a psychological thriller (the fight of the minds between the American professor and his East German counterpart), an action movie, and a relationship story with some of the Hitchcock touch. As in many of his films, Hitchcock succeeds wonderfully in the thriller part, partially succeeds (or partially fails) in the action area, and fails completely in the romantic zone.50 years later, the very interesting part of the film is the rendition of the Cold War atmosphere. I have seen several films about that period, some more recent, and I was surprised how well Hitchcock succeeded to catch the feeling of the area without falling in any black-and-white clichés, describing a world close to what I knew, with people living under the pressure of a dictatorship, but still managing to joke, eat, drink, dance even under the scrutiny of the portraits of Karl Marx. There are less credible scenes - for example the whole auto-bus episode (why were these people traveling together at all?), but they belong to the action part of the script. Acting is decent, with Newman and Andrews doing what I remember they were supposed to do, but the most wonderful surprise is a poignant scene with the Russian-born actress Lila Kedrova which some may remember from Zorba the Greek . Her role there was unforgettable, so is the one here if you have the chance to see the film. A few daring Hitchcockian camera takes build the thriller part. A film to watch, especially if you are Hitchcock fans.

BA_Harrison American physicist Professor Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman) shocks his assistant/fiancée Sarah (Julie Andrews) when he suddenly and very publicly defects to East Germany. What Sarah doesn't realise is that Michael is part of a covert operation to try and acquire the missing piece to a scientific puzzle that could render nuclear weapons obsolete.A disappointing suspense flick from Alfred Hitchcock, Torn Curtain suffers from a lacklustre script that offers up way too few classic moments (but one or two unintentionally funny ones) and is hampered by a leading couple who share very little chemistry. Worse still, Hitch's direction feels very much like the work of a once great director still desperately trying to impress, but failing, his carefully orchestrated, supposedly exciting set pieces including a yawn-inducing walk through a gallery accompanied only by the sound of footsteps, and an escape by bus that is about as thrilling as catching my local service into town.The finalé, which once again takes place in a theatre (as in Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much versions 1&2), is utterly ridiculous, Newman avoiding capture by shouting 'Fire!', thereby inciting immediate panic in the audience. This is followed by an equally inept scene where our hero and heroine are smuggled out of Germany in costume hampers, only to face possible death at the final hurdle.There is a glimpse of Hitchcock's greatness during the murder of security man Gromek (Wolfgang Kieling), a drawn out death scene that brilliantly illustrates the ugliness of violent death, but this moment only serves to highlight just how frustratingly mediocre the rest of the movie is.

Kirpianuscus an exercise. about a delicate theme. not real convincing , not very inspired, but a Hitchcock. and not a bad one. its sin - the desire to use the Cold War for a thriller. the result - only decent , a status as result of the familiar ingredients of a Hitchcock drama and, more important, for happy idea of the presence in cast of Lila Kedrova. a film who gives a superficial portrait of the clash between East and West, too predictable, an experiment who seems far by classic recipes of director and , in many scenes, artificial. it is not an uninspired Hitchcock. and in the context of the "60's, for public , it could be more than exciting. but , for a viewer behind the Iron Courtain, as me, the pretext of Cold War for a thriller who remains, first, only a film with Paul Newman and Julie Andrews is , maybe as too subjective verdict, almost extravagant.

emmerich-mazakarini I've learned that the master himself did not like this movie at all. He was wrong - it is, in my opinion, one of his best. Wonderful cast, somehow old fashioned set design, lovable score - all this creates a wonderful, very much exciting atmosphere. The German actors in the cast are just brilliant, first of all Wolfgang Kieling as menacing STASI officer. The whole movie presents Hitchcock's idea of suspense at its best: Just remember the bus-scene or the moments at the countryside, when Dr. Armstrong is confronted with the Kieling-character. The set design in combination with explicit scenes of violence culminate to a perfect example of mid-Sixties American cinema: Looking back an looking forward at the same time. One can just enjoy this movie!!!