MovieChat Forums > Torn Curtain (1966) Discussion > Hitchcock's Worst...bad, bad film

Hitchcock's Worst...bad, bad film

posted 9 years ago by gershbec
5 replies | jump to latest

Oh man, I've seen almost all of Hitch's films and this one is indefensible. The suspenseful scenes arent't suspenseful and the plot is laughable. The guy waltzes in to a Communist country and they basically let him do whatever they want and then send the Keystone Commie Cops after them? He tricks a genius into disclosing a secret formula they day after he meets him? Not to mention that both leads are so wooden. When Newman announces that he's defecting he seems so glum about it that you have to wonder why they didn't just send him back on the spot. The three movies that followed are much better, even Topaz for all of its problems. Honestly, I can think of a Hitchcock film that has less to offer.

[–] philipshepp 8 years ago

I think Under Capricorn is the worst, the only Hitchcock I never even made it to the end of.

[–] ShellOilJunior 8 years ago

Under Carpicorn is a bad film, no doubt. Apologists often cite "symbolism" and Cardiff's work. It's still a dull film.

Torn Curtain is no masterwork but highly entertaining. I think its biggest flaw is never being sold on Newman's character defecting.

[–] jsk32870 8 years ago

I agree. I just saw it last night and was not aware of its 'poor' reputation prior to viewing. So I went into the film with zero pre-conceived notions of what I'd see. The only thing I knew was that it wasn't as popular as Vertigo, Psycho and several others but I didn't know why.

So, watching this film with no pre-conditioning of it being 'bad,' I found that it was exactly as you wrote - highly entertaining. Not perfect or tremendous but certainly effective and suspenseful at times. A solid '7' I would say.

[–] seahawk3133 8 years ago

I feel Marnie was by far his worst work.

But I did have a lot of trouble getting into Torn Curtain or caring about the main characters which never happens with Hitchcock movies for me (seen 25)

So I'd say this is his 2nd worst film

[–] HarlemEagle42 (17735) 3 years ago

Topaz comes close but there's some nice things I can say about it. The Paradine case is an absolute bore. And I Confess was a big disappointment too.