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Torn Curtain
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Torn Curtain (1966) is a political thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring his trademark characters and camera techniques.
movie opens on a cruise ship en route to Copenhagen, where Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman), an esteemed American physicist and rocket scientist, is to attend a scientific conference. Once there, he begins acting suspiciously, eventually flying to East Berlin, where he is welcomed by representatives of the East German government.
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Encyclopedia
Torn Curtain (1966) is a political thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring his trademark characters and camera techniques.
Plot
The movie opens on a cruise ship en route to Copenhagen, where Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman), an esteemed American physicist and rocket scientist, is to attend a scientific conference. Once there, he begins acting suspiciously, eventually flying to East Berlin, where he is welcomed by representatives of the East German government. His assistant and fiancée, Sarah Sherman (Julie Andrews), follows him there, believing he has defected to the other side. Sherman, however, is extremely uncomfortable with this move, realizing if the apparent defection is in fact real, given the circumstances of the Cold War of the period, she would likely never see her home or family again. They are constantly accompanied by Professor Karl Manfred (Günter Strack), who took part in arranging Armstrong's defection to the East.
It soon becomes apparent to the viewer that Armstrong's defection is in fact a ruse to gain the confidence of the East German scientific establishment, in order to learn just how much their chief scientist Gustav Lindt (Ludwig Donath) and by extension, the Soviet Union knows about anti-missile systems. Armstrong has made preparations to return to the West which are threatened (along with the entire escape network, known as Pi) when he is followed to the home of his contact (on an isolated farm) by Hermann Gromek, a Stasi officer (Wolfgang Kieling) assigned to his case. Armstrong kills Gromek, who is then buried, along with Gromek's motorcycle, by the "farmer" (Mort Mills) and his wife (Carolyn Conwell), but the taxicab driver (Peter Lorre Jr.) who drove Armstrong to the farm reports his suspicions to the police (Volkspolizei).
Armstrong visits the physics faculty of Karl Marx University in Leipzig, where his loyalty is suspected because of the missing Gromek. The faculty try to interrogate his fiancee /assistant about her knowledge of the American "Gamma Five" anti-missile program, but she refuses to cooperate and runs from the room. At this point Armstrong secretly confides to her his actual motives, and asks her to go along with the ruse. Later at a social gathering, Armstrong tries (unsuccessfully at first) to prod Lindt for information, offering hints that the American efforts have had some success due to Armstrong's work. While he is discussing the anti-missile question with professor Lindt in Lindt's office, he successfully goads him into revealing his anti-missile equations in a fit of pique over what Lindt believes are Armstrong's mathematical mistakes. Lindt hears however, over the university's loudspeaker system, that Armstrong and his fiancee are being sought for questioning, and realizes finally that he has given up his secrets while learning nothing in return. Armstrong must make a harrowing escape, along with Sherman, with the help of the university clinic physician Dr. Koska (Gisela Fischer).
They travel to East Berlin, pursued by the Stasi, in a false bus operated by the Pi escape network, whose leader is Mr. Jacobi (David Opatoshu). Roadblocks, highway robbery by Soviet army deserters, and bunching with the real bus increase the suspense. The escape eventually leads to an alliance with the exiled Polish countess Kuchinska (Lila Kedrova), and a typical Hitchcock set piece, an escape through a crowded theatre after being spotted by the lead ballerina (Tamara Toumanova), who arranges to contact the Volkspolizei. (The ballerina is annoyed at the beginning of the movie when she flies to East Berlin, on the same airplane as Armstrong, and waves to the gathered press corps upon arrival, thinking they are there to greet her. Instead, they rudely tell her to stand aside as their attention is focused on Armstrong.) They then get loaded with the props, in which they have hidden themselves, belonging to a travelling Czech troupe which made its final appearance in East Berlin prior to a tour of Sweden. The troupe travels to Sweden on a freighter across the Baltic Sea. The ballerina makes a mistake in uncovering where Armstrong and Sherman are hiding on the ship, thus diverting the crew's attention; meanwhile, Armstrong and Sherman escape by jumping overboard and swimming to a Swedish dock.
Background and production
The film caused some controversy in the United States for its somewhat racy (for the era) scenes featuring star Julie Andrews, who had recently made several successful family films, including Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. The criticism concerned the depiction of the two lead characters sharing the same bed in a romantic context without being married, which had never been previously allowed under the MPAA's Production Code.
Initially, Hitchcock wanted to cast Eva Marie Saint, the blond star of North by Northwest but the studio forced him to cast Julie Andrews. Hitchcock also spoke in 1965 to Cary Grant about appearing in the film, only to learn that Grant intended to make just one more film and then retire.
Torn Curtain was released without any rating on 14 July 1966 (see original 1966 movie poster above). However, the film was given an "M" (for "Mature" -- later changed to "PG") under the MPAA film rating system that took effect November 1, 1968.
Hitchcock later complained that Universal executives insisted on famous stars being cast -- after The Birds and Marnie both featured his discovery Tippi Hedren -- and that both Andrews and Newman were "recommended" to him rather than being his real choices. However, it was a minor hit for Hitchcock and an honorable effort, though rarely considered a Hitchcock classic. Torn Curtain features a memorable murder scene with Paul Newman and Wolfgang Kieling that Hitchcock made specifically to show the audience how difficult it is to kill a man.
During production, the film faced some major setbacks, beyond the controversy surrounding its female star. The original script was deemed unsuitable by both Hitchcock and Universal. Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall had to do extensive re-writes and script doctoring before any filming could be completed, despite their efforts going uncredited.
Bernard Herrmann, a long-time collaborator of Hitchcock, completed a full score before the film's completion, but both Hitchcock and Universal had asked for a more upbeat score, with pop and jazz influences. Biographer Patrick McGilligan wrote that Universal hoped Herrmann might even write a song for Julie Andrews. However, even when Herrmann revised his score, it still was not what Hitchcock or the studio wanted. Herrmann and Hitchcock had a major falling out, and the long-time collaborators never worked together again. Instead, Hitchcock used the British composer John Addison, who had recently achieved notoriety with his offbeat scoring of the film version of Tom Jones.
Financial problems and several filming location changes also delayed the production.
The working relationship between Hitchcock and Newman was also said to be problematic. Newman came from a different generation of actors than the likes of Cary Grant and James Stewart and questioned Hitchcock about the script and the characterization throughout filming. Hitchcock later said he found Newman's manner and approach unacceptable and disrespectful. Newman insists that he meant no disrespect towards Hitchcock, and once said "I think Hitch and I could have really hit it off, but the script kept getting in the way." Newman, who was known as a "Method" actor, consulted Hitchcock about his character's motivations and the director replied that Newman's "motivation is your salary." Furthermore, as Hitchcock discovered, the expected onscreen "chemistry" between Newman and Andrews failed to materialize. McGilligan wrote that Hitchcock shifted his attentions to the colorful international actors who played supporting roles in the film.
Brian Moore's own dissatisfaction with the project can be seen in his novel Fergus (1970), which features Bernard Boweri, an unsympathetic character based on Hitchcock.
Alfred Hitchcock's cameo is a signature occurrence in most of his films. In Torn Curtain he can be seen (8 minutes into the film) sitting in a hotel lobby holding a blonde baby.
Paul Newman slightly misspells the Danish word for Copenhagen when he answers the radiogram by writing Kobenavn instead of København.
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