Torn Curtain
by Alfred Hitchcock
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DVD details
Actor: Julie Andrews, Paul NewmanDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
Brand: NEWMAN,PAUL
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); German (Original Language); Norwegian (Original Language); Swedish (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Dubbed)
Format: Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 128 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-02-07
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Torn Curtain
DVD Review: 1966 Hitchcock Film.
Summary: 3 Stars
Not one of Paul Newman's best films. Julie Andrews didn't really add to the film much. So, this wasn't one of Hitchcock's best films, but it did contain some good scenes, depicting suspenseful moments, which is what Hitchcock is well known for. There might also have been problems with the two actors getting along, or working with Hitchcock.DVD Review: Too Much Set Up for Too Little Suspense
Summary: 3 Stars
Michael Armstrong, noted American scientist, (Paul Newman) is in Sweden for a conference where he is to give a big speech. At least that's what his fiancee and assistant Sarah Sherman (Julie Andrews) thinks. In reality, Michael is defecting to East Germany and hoping to work with one of their best scientists. When Sarah finds out, she tags along, further complicating matters. Will she stay or go? What is Michael really up to? And kind of danger will they face?
I had heard this wasn't one of Hitchcock's best, and unfortunately, that turned out to be the case. My problem with the film was the set up. It was just too long. Yes, we did need to know most of the material, but it could have been cut back to half the length and made for a better film.
On the other hand, there are multiple great moments. A life and death struggle in a farmhouse is very memorable. The final third of the film had me on the edge of my seat most of the time. The idea behind the story wasn't bad, it just needed to be cut back at the beginning.
The film is worth seeing, but it isn't worth rushing out to see until you have seen some of Hitchcock's better films.
DVD Review: Paul Newman is always great, but...
Summary: 2 Stars
Torn Curtain has many Hitchcock associates not involved with this fiolm, and it shows. The Bernard Hermann score is not here, the Robert Burks cinematography is not here, and the casting is not very good.
Julie Andrews is Mary Poppins, a governess, and Maria Von Trapp, a governess, or a one dimensional secretary in Throughly Modern Millie. She is not Grace Kelly or Kim Novak or Janet Leigh, great stars and great artists. Paul Newman, a great actor, struggles with Andrews' monotone deliveries, and it seems as though Hitchcock has given up on the film less than half way through, as set pieces with no drive accumulate.
For example: There are many scenes with Julie and Paul eating, in a theatre staring, waiting for the next thing to occur. It's flat in these scenes and Paul Newman becomes more and more inaccsessible to us as Julie Andrews almost fades away. Paul did this sort of backing away in Exodus and in The Silver Chalice. He just cannot deal with low end talents, and so shuts down.
The best scene is the killing of a person in a kitchen. Very good Hitchcock and very good Newman. Andrews is not there, fortunately.
Lila Kedrova drops in for a long cafe scene, describing at great length her need for a Spnsor to go to the great USA, followed by a long speech on the awful quality of Soviet cigarettes. Newman and Andrews stare at her, and Julie manages a smile and a tentative offer of assistance. Kedrova then takes Paul and Julie to the Post Office , and here we have a long Q and no A scene that goes on and on; not Hitchockian at all; he would have edited this for speed and suspense. It's boring, but again, as some have said, interesting in terms of waiting for inefficient communist systems to work. However, we are far from Psycho or Vertigo or Frenzy with respect to artful suspense.
Indeed, count the number of scenes in restaurants and airports and class rooms and bed rooms, and post offices and street scenes, where Paul and Julie are without dialogue and we are caught up in dull, local matters, as we wait for them to act.
Suspense? This film has about as much suspense as a bus 'ticket round trip.
But, maybe a ticket does have suspense, however, not here.
Note well too, Julie's wardrobe, and her beautiful hair and manicures. This is not East Germany, or even West Germany.
And too, note the excellent camera work in the classroom scene with Paul and that out of control professor of Rocket science. What is happening?
So, there are things, but go back to Marnie even, or The Birds, definately, and of course Psycho.. the credits of Psycho alone, with the old crew on board, the great scripts, the non stop deliberate set pieces that turn into hair raising suspense and , as in Psycho, leave one breathless, anxious for more, and yet dreading it. Note too, drawn out sces as in Torn Curtain, but witjh great differfences: the mezmerizing artistic handling by Hitchcock in the interrogation in Vertigo with all that color and scenery, including discreet, disturbing shots of the fatal tower where Madeleine falls to her death. And in the same scene Henry Jones tearing James Stewart to shreds as an incompetent detective, and Stewart's face, ready to take Jones up the tower(we can imagine) and give him a needed push. The monologue of Jones, almost insane at times in his obvious hatred of Stewart. And then, when all is over and the other detective is trying to get Stewart to leave, we have the museum interposition with the portrait of Madeleine Valdez, and Novak's necklace in the painting. A long scene, but the dynamics and the interplays between Stewart and Jones and the assistant cop are startling. Brillance on so many levels. Torn Curtain has none of this beacuse Hitchcock cannot teach Andrews how to act (noone can), and he cannot get Paul Newman out of that shut down coma he's in, and, Hitchcock does not have his old crew oir any kind of a dramatic script.
BUT, There isn't a
film like Torn Curtain anywhere; it's so camp and crazy and badly acted by Andrews, and you can't stop watching. So, I am doublinbg back, but I am not describiong the brilliance of Vertigo.
DVD Review: The last hitch movie worth watching
Summary: 4 Stars
This is among the last few movies Hitchcock made and while it is not one of his classics it is much better than the highly melodramatic Topaz, Frenzy and Marnie. There are lots of stories around it - Paul Newman and Julie Andrews were not among Hitch's favorites (he insisted on using favorites like Cary Grant and Gregory Peck), but he had to yield to pressure from Universal to use top stars of the time. He wanted a light hearted comedy on the lines of North by Northwest but studio did not think the theme was suited to elements of comedy (which was perhaps true). Newman had a very casual, american style and Hitch was used to more formality and respect as he saw it - that turned him off at once. Julie Andrews was English herself but still she did not find Hitchcock's style appealing either - she thought he treated actors like 'pieces of furniture'. Further there was no real chemistry between Andrews and Newman although it does not seem obvious but both did not vibe well or enjoy each other's styles of acting. But they were professionals and turn out a stellar performance. Some of Hitch's great directorial touches are in the bus scene, the murder in the cottage and the final scene when Newman's identity is revealed. Above all the behind the scene stories are a lesson that sometimes less than ideal situations can produce very watchable outcomes if people involved behave professionally :))DVD Review: much better than the critics say
Summary: 4 Stars
This got really bad reviews when it came out, but seeing it in later years, it really held my interest; and I also like to rewatch it from time to time, which surprises me. Apparently Hitchcock didn't want either Paul Newman or Julie Andrews, which was too bad for all I'm sure. And I think one can sense Paul Newman's unhappiness a bit. Yet Newman is still a compelling leading man. And Julie Andrews, for all the rap that she's "goody goody," is quite charismatic; and I find her very sympathetic as Newman's fiance who is shocked when Newman, with no warning, suddenly defects to East Germany. Even the bad reviews note that the killing of Gromek - which goes on and on, they can't seem to kill him - is a classic scene, upsetting and suspenseful. But there are several other parts of the film that are very exciting too, as others on Amazon have mentioned - especially the bus ride, as Newman and Andrews try to escape; and the theatre scene where a scary looking diva ballerina (well cast) recognizes the couple as wanted by the communists. Anyway, it's entertaining and way better than the original criticism of it indicated.
Description of Torn Curtain
No Description Available.Genre: Mystery
Rating: PG
Release Date: 7-FEB-2006
Media Type: DVD
Paul Newman and Julie Andrews star in what must unfortunately be called one of Alfred Hitchcock's lesser efforts. Still, sub-par Hitchcock is better than a lot of what's out there, and this one is well worth a look. Newman plays cold war physicist Michael Armstrong, while Andrews plays his lovely assistant-and-fianc?e, Sarah Sherman. Armstrong has been working on a missile defense system that will "make nuclear defense obsolete," and naturally both sides are very interested. All Sarah cares about is the fact that Michael has been acting awfully fishy lately. The suspense of Torn Curtain is by nature not as thrilling as that in the average Hitchcock film--much of it involves sitting still and wondering if the bad guys are getting closer. Still, Hitchcock manages to amuse himself: there is some beautifully clever camera work and an excruciating sequence that illustrates the frequent Hitchcock point that death is not a tidy business. --Ali Davis
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