MovieChat Forums > Torn Curtain (1966) Discussion > Was the Stasi shorthanded, or what?

Was the Stasi shorthanded, or what?

posted 14 years ago by JLearn
3 replies | jump to latest

I'm just wondering why the Stasi apparently had only one officer assigned to watch such a high-level defector such as Prof. Anderson. Maybe it was summer and everyone was on vacation?

The easiest way to insert a double agent is to use a defector, c'mon. So they would have had at least two guys watching Anderson (maybe one watching the girl friend) and more watching the agents watching the professor.

Of coruse, if there were so many agents, you'd have to cast them... And Anderson would've never gotten off the farm, if he had made it that far. It would've been a very short, very sad movie.

[–] Altho73 13 years ago

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Was the Stasi shorthanded, or what?
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NO! Just thick!!!!

[–] Charlot47 10 years ago

I first thought Gromek was a stooge and that the real shadows were operating invisibly around the clock. When that seemed not to be the case, I then wondered if Anderson had been an East German agent all along and the defection was just a stunt to publicise their triumph. Never realised it was going to be such a nursery story: lad goes into dragon’s lair, by wiles extracts treasure and with girl in tow hightails home.

[–] jayrussell1993 9 years ago

Maybe it wasn't intentional on writers' or director's part, but I bet the Stasi was shorthanded back then. Khrushev had the Berlin Wall built because even East German police officers were escaping to the freedom in West Berlin...the first person shot trying to escape over the wall in '61 was policeman.