Topaz I don't think is Alfred Hitchcock's- my favourite director- weakest film, Jamaica Inn still gets my vote for that. But it is one of his most disappointing. I cannot say though that it is an irredeemable film, because it isn't and I have yet to see a Hitchcock film to be so. It is a well made film, the sets are attractive and atmospheric enough and the camera work and editing in Juanita's murder scene was brilliant. The murder was also Topaz's most memorable scene for me, mainly because of how stunningly aesthetic it was. The brief torture scene was suspenseful and shocking also, and Hitchcock's cameo was very entertaining. There are a couple of good performances. Karin Dor was the most impressive, she was deserving of more to do but she was intensely sensual and seemed to genuinely care about her situation. Roscoe Lee Brown's is very colourfully characterised also. John Forsythe was quite good also, and Phillippe Noiret is engaging. On the other hand, the film's pacing is plodding, and while there are some nice touches- the murder scene- and an entertaining cameo Hitchcock didn't seem to have his heart in it as much of it seemed rather flat.
There are too many characters, and a lot of them are thinly sketched, and nobody else really shines in their roles with Frederick Stafford especially stone-faced and wooden throughout. John Vernon tries hard and has some nice deadpan humour but was severely underused for his villain to be any more of a threat. Dany Robin doesn't have anything to do and doesn't register as a result. The script is too talky and confused, and the storytelling suffers from too much going on to hide a rather thin structure for a film that is too long in the first place, a lack of excitement or nail-biting danger and three alternative endings that manage to be drawn-out and abrupt. It is also rather convoluted, and while Cuba was quite colourfully done atmosphere wise, everything else seemed drab and bland in comparison. Even Maurice Jarre's(responsible for the classic scores of Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago) score was a disappointment, there are moments but at the same time too much of it seemed inappropriate and would be more fitting in a different film. Unlike the two scores mentioned, it was also not very memorable, or at least not to me, of all the scores for Hitchcock's films only Torn Curtain's fares worse with me. Overall, I don't think it is as bad as some people have said both in the IMDb reviews, on various message boards and from critics but at the same time I can understand the disappointment. 5/10 Bethany Cox
There are too many characters, and a lot of them are thinly sketched, and nobody else really shines in their roles with Frederick Stafford especially stone-faced and wooden throughout. John Vernon tries hard and has some nice deadpan humour but was severely underused for his villain to be any more of a threat. Dany Robin doesn't have anything to do and doesn't register as a result. The script is too talky and confused, and the storytelling suffers from too much going on to hide a rather thin structure for a film that is too long in the first place, a lack of excitement or nail-biting danger and three alternative endings that manage to be drawn-out and abrupt. It is also rather convoluted, and while Cuba was quite colourfully done atmosphere wise, everything else seemed drab and bland in comparison. Even Maurice Jarre's(responsible for the classic scores of Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago) score was a disappointment, there are moments but at the same time too much of it seemed inappropriate and would be more fitting in a different film. Unlike the two scores mentioned, it was also not very memorable, or at least not to me, of all the scores for Hitchcock's films only Torn Curtain's fares worse with me. Overall, I don't think it is as bad as some people have said both in the IMDb reviews, on various message boards and from critics but at the same time I can understand the disappointment. 5/10 Bethany Cox