TOPKAPI (1964) C widescreen 120m dir: Jules Dassin

w/Melina Mercouri, Maximillian Schell, Peter Ustinov, Robert Morley, Akim Tamiroff, Gilles Segal

An exciting gem of a film about an ingenious theft of a jewel-encrusted dagger from the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul. The big heist scene may strike you as a more elaborate reshooting of the classic scene from RIFIFI, and you'll be right because there're both the work of ace director Dassin. He has assembled a flawless cast of charming rogues and charlatans.

From Variety's review of the film: "Jules Dassin has taken a minor novel by Eric Ambler [The Light of Day] and turned it into a delightful and suspenseful comedy spoof of his own Rififi."

An Oscar was awarded to Ustinov as Best Supporting Actor.