TOPAZ

US, 1969,126 minutes, Colour.
Frederick Stafford, John Forsythe, Dany Robin, Claude Jade, Karen Dor, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Topaz is a change of style for Hitchcock from the suspense dramas for which he is so well known. On the other hand, Hitchcock has always been interested in espionage. From The 39 Steps, through Foreign Correspondent to North by Northwest and Torn Curtain. Critics, who seem to have pre-conceived ideas about Hitchcock, did not take this into account, and so the reception of Topaz was rather cool. Yet, it is quite an absorbing story based on Leon Uris’ best selling novel about international espionage.

This time Hitchcock' employs a cast which is not so well known to international audiences. His hero, Frederick Stafford, is not a particularly good actor and is stolid beside so many outstanding actors of the French cinema. Hitchcock made the film when he was about seventy years old.

1. Was this an entertaining spy film? Did it retain its interest in characters and incidents and the mystery of Topaz? How?

2. Comment on the effect of the opening sequences in Copenhagen. Did the mood of the film change as it transferred to America?

3. What comment was being made by the character of Michael Nordstrom and his handling of the defection? Is this typical, do you think, of defections and their results?

4. Was the character of Devereaux built-up during the film or did he remain stilted? Why was he a spy?

5. Comment on the relationship between Devereaux and his wife, Nicole.

6. What did the sequences involving the negro Dubois and his interview with Rico Para add to the atmosphere of the film? What particular features of Hitchcock's suspense were in evidence here?

7. How did the change of scene in the film to Cuba change the mood of the film?

8. Did the film give any indication of the real situation in Cuba? Did it provide insight into the political difficulties there?

9. Comment on Hitchcock's techniques in the sequences where the Cuban spies were at work, and their deaths.

10. How did the atmosphere of French politics and spying change the atmosphere of the film? What did it add to the film?

11. What impression did the French politicians make? How was it possible that high ranking officials should be Soviet spies? How well did Hitchcock sketch in the reality of these people in their politics, in France, in their spying?

12. Comment on the sequence where the French official visited Topaz and the audience expected him to be murdered, especially in what he drank. How was Hitchcock manipulating audience expectation? Is this a typical example of Hitchcock suspense and adroit manipulation of audiences?

13. How well done was the resolution? The death of the officials and the breaking of the spy ring?,

14. Why are spy thrillers so popular? Are they meant to be instructive or merely entertaining? Does it matter if they are realistic or not?

15. Comment on Hitchcock's visual technique for impact and mood, e.g. the effect of Juanita's death emotionally and photographically with the blood-coloured dress spread out; the engineering of escapes and Devereaux's leaving Cuba; the role of Francois' sketches for the resolution of the film?