Topaz

(Alfred Hitchcock, US 1969, 128 min., 35mm)

Hitchcock in Winter. Hitchcock’s second venture into the murky world of Cold War espionage is an elaborate yarn of a French intelligence officer who becomes involved both in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and then plays a key role in breaking up an international Soviet spy ring. Unhappy with the experience of working with two superstars on his previous spy thriller (Paul Newman and Julie Andrews in Torn Curtain), Hitchcock surrounded himself with a top-notch international cast of slightly less known but equally talented actors, such as Frederick Stafford, Michel Piccoli, and Philippe Noiret.