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Topaz (1969) | 
| Actors: Per-axel Arosenius, Roscoe Lee Browne, Karin Dor, John Forsythe, Tina Hedstroem
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: Video
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $0.47
You Save: $14.51 (97%)
New (17) Used (23) Collectible (3) from $0.47
Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 14437
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original Recording Reissued, Original Recording Remastered, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 143 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0783235615
UPC: 096898470537
EAN: 9780783235615
ASIN: 0783235615
Theatrical Release Date: December 19, 1969
Release Date: August 3, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Alfred Hitchcock hadn't made a spy thriller since the 1930s, so his 1969 adaptation of Leon Uris's bestseller seemed like a curious choice for the director. But Hitchcock makes Uris's story of the West's investigation into the Soviet Union's dealings with Cuba his own. Frederick Stafford plays a French intelligence agent who works with his American counterpart (John Forsythe) to break up a Soviet spy ring. The film is a bit flat dramatically and visually, and there are sequences that seem to occupy Hitchcock's attention more than others. A minor work all around, with at least two alternative endings shot by Hitchcock. --Tom Keogh
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| Customer Reviews: Read 27 more reviews...
 Great Hitchcock November 16, 2008
David D. Brezinski (Streamwood, Illinois USA)
Great Hitchcock film reminding me of how things have changed as well as not changed with governments and the world.
Topaz July 14, 2008
Love the oldies (Cedarhurst, NY USA)
A great Hitchcock film. It's the supposed effort of one French intelligence
man & the US to expose the Russian missile buildup in Cuba in 1962. The mix of fact & fiction is seamless. I found it to be entertaining & full of twists & turns that kept me on the edge of my seat. Hitchcock in top form.
 terrible April 27, 2008
Michael Anson Wright (Rackerby, CA USA)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm a fan of Hitchcock and have seen most of his films. I missed Topaz when it came out, so I borrowed the VHS tape. What a waste of time! This is the worst Hitchcock film I've ever seen and one of the worst films ever.
This is nominally a spy thriller, but at every point where suspense is possible, Hitch defuses the thrills. There's way too much talk, and the few action scenes are predictable and flat. The tradecraft is unbelievable: what intelligence officer waits across the street while his operative waves to him and then walks into a hotel filled with Cubans?
The actors are wooden and glum, with the exception of Phillipe Noiret, who manages to inject his character with some shades of feeling.
It feels like a bad propaganda film, one made by the State Department to warn the Russians that we're serious about the Monroe Doctrine.
Topaz January 27, 2008
John Mozuke (Parts Unknown, WV United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I saw this movie for the first time today and must say that it is a first rate espionage thriller. The movie has a great cast and a great cast of characters. It is smart and exciting. This is a cold war espionage movie of the first order and I rank it right up there with The Spy That Came In From The Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Everything about this movie is top notch and I would expect nothing less from the master Alfred Hitchcock.
 A disappointing cold-war thriller from the Master June 18, 2007
Peter Hoogenboom (New Zealand)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Topaz" is a tired Cold War thriller from the Master.
After the disaster of "Torn Curtain", Hitchcock had a go at making another "Bond-like" film but once again he missed the mark and never tried it again. If he had not made the brilliant "Frenzy" three years later one could easily have come to the conclusion that he was well past his best.
One of the major problems with "Topaz" is that the actors are all second-rate - particulary Frederick Stafford in the lead role of a French intelligence agent.
There are some interesting touches - for example the scene in the flower shop where we can't hear what the actors are saying - but this film smacks of a once-great director struggling to find his feet in the "modern" cinema.
"Topaz" should be seen once by all Hitchcock fans, but despite the advocacy of Leonard Maltin and other reviewers, Hitchcock's third-to-last film doesn't have much to recommend it.
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