TOPAZ (1969) C widescreen 126m dir: Alfred Hitchcock

w/John Forsythe, Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin, John Vernon, Karin Dor, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret, Claude Jade, Michel Subor, Roscoe Lee Browne

From The Movie Guide: "An espionage story that takes the cameras to Copenhagen, Paris, New York City, Harlem, Virginia, and a California hacienda that doubles as Cuba. Loosely based [written by Samuel Taylor, who based his screenplay on the novel by Leon Uris] on the true-life exploits of French spy Philippe de Vosjoli and the 1962 'Sapphire' scandals in which top French officials were uncovered as Soviet agents, the film has a sense of authenticity but fails to fire up as much suspense as most of Hitchcock's intrigues. With an international cast of semirecognizable names (Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret, and just one American, John Forsythe), TOPAZ gleaned most of its attention from the star status of its director. Hitchcock considered the film a disaster because it went into production without a finished script (in complete antithesis to his normal working methods of full preparedness), without full casting, and without an ending."