MovieChat Forums > Topaz (1969) Discussion > I'll watch Topaz on my deathbed!

I'll watch Topaz on my deathbed!

posted 16 years ago by Max_Planck
34 replies | jump to latest

When I was a kid at school our English teacher told us she'd read every single play by Shakespeare.

Except one.

She'd deliberately never read The Life and Death of King John because she didn't like the idea of going through life without a "new" Shakespeare play to discover.

When I started getting into Hitchcock in my teens, I vowed I'd see every feature of his (even The Mountain Eagle if I could find it!!). When I'd seen a good many of them I remembered my English teacher and decided, like her, I should leave something for later. Naturally, I wasn't going to miss out on an important classic. So Topaz, widely regarded as a relatively minor effort, seemed as good a choice as any for my "rainy day" Hitchcock movie.

Since then, I've seen the rest (a very high proportion on the big screen - thank you BFI Southbank). And that includes things like Mary, the silent version of Blackmail and Dial M For Murder in 3-D. Today, Topaz is the only Hitchcock feature that I've never seen.

So...still looking forward to checking it out eventually. Got a lovely DVD of it, just waiting! I'm not expecting great things, so hopefully it won't be too much of a let-down. Who knows? I might even decide it's one of my favourites! I'll let you know in about...ooh....40 years' time.

50, if I'm lucky.

[–] Egg_MacGuffin 13 years ago

What if you get ran over tomorrow?

Personally, while I do love there being more Hitchcock films for me to discover, I don't like the idea of exiting this life without seeing as much Hitchcock as I possibly can. Death is something you do not go to - it comes to you. You can't plan for such a thing, so I say watch them all, and know that The Mountain Eagle is probably still out there somewhere.

[–] feodoric 12 years ago

Hurry to watch your last "novel" Hitchcock movie, man, before you get too old to really appreciate it to its fullest. Topazes are gems and Topaz is no exception... OK, that was an easy one, but still, the essence of this is that that movie is one the most entertaining movies in Hitchcock's repertoire. That's the major quality of Topaz, and that's what the master truly wanted to achieve: a decent, truly entertaining movie for the intelligent masses (an oxymoron? not in the sense I use it here - understand: not only the elite, but anyone with eyes open to the world and political reality). And it succeeds at that, even though there are no major American stars in the movie. After having spent a small fortune simply to hire two megastars of the time (Julie Andrews and Paul Newman) for Torn Curtain who ended up offering wooden, lifeless performances, almost ruining the entertainment value of an otherwise decent script completely.

And one should exert caution here: although saying Topaz has no stars has become a cliché (one that is reinforced by many of Leonard Maltin's comments on the Alfred Hitchcock's Collection DVD), it is a falsehood: Philippe Noiret and Michel Piccoli, just to name these two, were already major, very popular French movie stars. In a way,Topaz was Hitchcock's next logical step after Torn Curtain - and its several German and Russian actors- in a sort of return to old Europe and European ways, which culminated with the truly British Frenzy.

Don't wait any more and enjoy Topaz for what it is, a well-oiled spy story that will keep you riveted to your seat and smiling... plus many morceaux de bravoure such as well-known scenes (Juanitas's death, the Cordoba's agony, etc.). Much better than the rumour generally goes about it.

[–] hisgrandmogulhighness 12 years ago

Hitchcock had a superb, skilled cast in this movie--one of his best, even though, I must say Frederick Stafford is wooden, lifeless . . . the movie is beautifully photographed . . . one of my favorites . . . though it is most different from the novel . . .

[–] garyedgecombe 12 years ago

I don't know about watching
"Topaz" on your deathbed..but it'll PUT you on your deathbed!
Try viewing this mess of a movie, & you'll surely DIE of boredom! The gifts & tricks that Hitchcock had to burn deserted him on this shoot! ( & I'm English & a fan too! ) The film is nothing more than a monument to public patience.
Definitely an Alan Smithee movie! It's a mess!

[–] hisgrandmogulhighness 12 years ago

Well, it really isn't that bad . . . beautifully filmed . . . oh, well . . .

[–] simplemines 11 years ago

If you watch "Topaz," it'll put you ON your deathbed.

I love Hitchcock, but I can't tell you how many times I've tried to watch this movie and been bored to death by it. It's simply awful.

[–] starrynight05 9 years ago

You said you've seen every single Hitchcock film except "Topaz"? So then you found "The Mountain Eagle"? Can you tell me where you saw it, or, that is to say, how I can see it?