Review of Torn Curtain (1966) by Sam A — 16 Dec 2013

Certainly one of Hitchcock's lesser works, Torn Curtain is still quite enjoyable if not just for the performances. Coming of her success in Mary Poppins in 1964 and The Sound of Music in 1965, Julie Andrews fascinated me in this role simply because I have never seen her do anything like it.

The German supporting cast was also pretty good with strong supporting characters like Countess Luchinska played by Lila Kedrova (who is actually French/Russian) and Professor Lindt played by Ludwig Donath.

It's shortcomings however are a suspect script with somewhat flat dialogue and editing that is not quite as sharp as I would have liked it to have been. Having said this Hitchcock still utilises his skills as a master of suspense with a couple of excellent scenes, one a scene in which a us is slowly catching up to the escapees Andrews and Paul Newman that will give away their escape and another in a ballet as Newman and Andrews try to evade police after a ballerina on stage recognises them.

Despite his career declining from here, Hitch still had that flair for popular, commercial film making with Torn Curtain.