Topaz (film)

The action takes place in 1962. A senior Soviet intelligence officer joins the United States. He states that the Soviet Union and Cuba have signed a secret cooperation agreement, including in the military sphere. However, finding out details about what is happening on the island is very difficult. Therefore, CIA agent Michael Nordstrom asks his French friend Andre Devro to use his Cuban ties and find out as much information as possible. The matter is complicated by the fact that in the upper echelons of the French government there is a group of people working for Soviet intelligence ...

The prototype of Andre Devro was the French intelligence officer Philippe Tiro de Vojoli, the prototype of the KGB defector - Anatoly Golitsyn.

• Frederick Stafford - Andre Devro
• Dani Robin - Nicole Devro
• John Vernon - Rico Parra
• Karin Dor - Juanita de Cordoba
• Claude Jade - Michelle Picard
• Michelle Soubor - Francois Picard
• Michelle Piccoli - Jacques Granville
• Philippe Noiret - Henri Jarre
• Pere-Axel Arosenius - Boris Kusenov
• Roscoe Lee Brown - Philippe Dubois
• John Forsyth - Michael Nordstrom
• Anne Doran - Mrs. Forsyth (uncredited)

The plot of a potential “ blockbuster ” was imposed on Hitchcock by a studio that bought back the rights to an adaptation of a fashionable political novel. The result was, according to Hitchcock, a well-known creative specialist, “one of the most uneven films in the history of cinema,” where glimpses of genius drown in a mass of reactionary platitudes ^[1] .

The film was based on the true story of the French spy Philippe de Voigoli and the scandals with the Sapphires in 1962 , during which senior French officials were exposed as Soviet spies. Hitchcock considered this work to be unsuccessful, as it went into production without a finished script and with a shortage of actors. As a result, Hitchcock made two versions of this film with different endings (the short version of the film is 127 minutes, the long version is 143 minutes) ^[2] .

After an unsuccessful experience with American stars in the previous movie “The Broken Curtain, ” Hitchcock chose to work with European actors. As a result, stars of French cinema Michel Piccoli starring in the role of Topaz Jacques Granville and Philippe Noiret in the role of Henri Jarre starred in minor roles. According to the memoirs of Claude Jade, Hitchcock regretted that he did not take Michel Piccoli to the main role (the one played by Stafford). Claude Jade , who played Michel Picard, before “Topaz” played in the movie “ Stolen Kisses ” by Francois Truffaut .

• Philippe Noire in the spring of 1968, falling from a horse, broke his leg. Therefore, his agent told Hitchcock that the actor cannot act in a film without a crutch.
• In 1970, the film received awards from the National Council of Film Critics of the United States for Best Director (Alfred Hitchcock) and Best Supporting Actor (Philippe Noiret).

• Webpage about the movie "Topaz"