‘You told me nothing. You know nothing. I forbid you to leave this room…’
While being a minor box office hit upon release in 1966, Torn Curtain, Alfred Hitchcock’s fiftieth film (!), was viewed as a disappointment. Critics held it up as evidence that Hitch was yesterday’s man. With Easy Rider less than three years away, there is no denying that Torn Curtain feels like the end of an era. Hitchcock only made three more films after this one, and it is clear that his best days were behind him…
The plot concerns Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman), a US physicist, defecting to East Germany (although as you can imagine things are not quite as they seem). Much to our protagonist’s chagrin, his lover Sarah (Julie Andrews) also comes along for the ride.
Considering the production history of Torn Curtain, it’s a miracle that it’s not a total dud. Hitch didn’t want Newman or Andrews, and the two share zero chemistry. Long-time collaborator Bernard Hermann wrote a score that was rejected eventually ending the working relationship between the two men for good. The new score, from John Addison, harms the film rather than enhances it. Plans to shoot on location in the Eastern Bloc were thwarted. Canadian writer Brian Moore was hired to write the script but he and Hitchcock never hit it off and rewrites were ordered. The result is a film that is too long, too archaic and too pedestrian. The plot, relentlessly questioned by Newman, is both implausible and slow. And yet… this is still a Hitchcock film. so of course, there are moments here and there that remind you of his genius. The long murder sequence in a rural farmhouse is stunning (and seems to have been Hitch’s main motivation for making the film in the first place). There is also a beautifully filmed chase scene between two buses that should have concluded the film but sadly it meanders on for another half an hour afterwards. It should also be noted that while Newman is uncharacteristically wooden and Andrews is clearly miscast, Wolfgang Kieling is superb as the bubble gum-chewing sleuth Gromek.
Torn Curtain is proof positive that nobody can remain at the very top of their chosen profession for their whole career. While this is Hitchcock very much winding down, there is still more ingenuity here than most filmmakers demonstrate in a lifetime. Torn Curtain is flawed but intermittently inspired – I think most directors would take that from their fiftieth film.
