Rent Topaz (1969)

Cold War Thriller 2. - Topaz review by Steve

Hitchcock's longest film is another cold war espionage thriller. He was inspired to make his previous film, Torn Curtain, by news stories about the Cambridge spy ring, but really Topaz is a more similar story, though with French government officials handing over secrets to the Soviets from an office in Cuba.

It's tempting to compare the Master's two cold war films. There's a danger of illogically criticising them both for not being what the other one is. Torn Curtain is a very typical Hitch film and received negative reviews because he was repeating himself. And Topaz gets forgotten because it's not a conventional Hitchcock. It's a good thing that he should make an occasional atypical film. There are no stars, no romantic leads and no set piece bravura suspense scenes.

 The most memorable visual image is a view from above of a shot Cuban counter-revolutionary, her dress pooling beneath her as she falls like spreading blood. There is an ensemble cast mostly made up of French actors. Topaz has a nice atmosphere. It looks appealingly unglamorous. It's just a bit long and slow.

For a film made by a major director, Topaz seems to have been mostly forgotten. It tells a convoluted story reasonably well, and while not adding anything to the director's reputation, it is an interesting period piece and has a nicely cynical and understated conclusion.

Underrated - Topaz review by NP

The sprawling, epic nature of this espionage story is its chief pleasure and most of the spy-craft sequences showcase Hitchcock's technical genius (especially the set-piece with the florist – a character entirely deserving of his own franchise). Okay, some of the actors leave something to be desired, but when the filmmaking is this impeccable I'm willing to overlook the flaws.