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Topaz Overview:

Topaz (1969) was a Crime - Thriller/Suspense Film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by Alfred Hitchcock and Herbert Coleman.

SYNOPSIS

Hitchcock delves into the murky waters of international espionage as French spy Stafford uncovers the Russian missile sites on Cuba. When CIA man Forsyth learns of the missile movements from a defector, he requests help from Stafford to infiltrate a Cuban spy ring and bring back documentation of the plot. His Cuban girlfriend, Dor, puts her staff at his disposal and, after close calls and assassinations, film of the missiles makes its way to the CIA. Stafford then solves the close-to-home leaks of NATO secrets. Based on Leon Uris's best-selling novel.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

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Topaz Facts
This was the second appearance of Karin Dor in an English Language Feature but the first time her own voice was kept in the original version. She has appeared in You Only Live Twice two years before but was dubbed by another English actress then.
Alfred Hitchcock hired Leon Uris to adapt his own novel. But Uris didn't care for Hitchcock's eccentric sense of humor, nor did he appreciate the director's habit of monopolizing all of his time as they worked through a script. Hitchcock was disappointed that Uris seemed to ignore his requests to humanize the story's villains. In his opinion the novel painted them as cardboard monsters. With only a partial draft completed, Uris left the film.
The shop that the Kusenovs visit just before their defection is Den Permanente, a permanent exhibition of Danish Arts and Crafts. It was founded in 1931 as a cooperative by some Danish artists and craftsmen.
This film was Alfred Hitchcock's biggest failure. It cost approximately $4,000,000 to make and received only $1,000,000 at the box office.
Leon Uris wrote the first draft of the screenplay, but Alfred Hitchcock declared it unshootable at the last minute and called in Samuel A. Taylor (writer of Vertigo) to rewrite it from scratch. Some scenes were written just hours before they were shot.
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