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Torn Curtain
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Torn Curtain (1966) More at IMDbPro »

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Torn Curtain (1966) -- An American scientist publicly defects to East Germany as part of a cloak and dagger mission to find the solution for a formula resin and then figuring out a plan to escape back to the West.
Torn Curtain (1966) -- An American scientist publicly defects to East Germany as part of a cloak and dagger mission to find the solution for a formula resin and then figuring out a plan to escape back to the West.

Overview

User Rating:
6.6/10   7,295 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 2% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Alfred Hitchcock
Writer:
Brian Moore (written by)
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Contact:
View company contact information for Torn Curtain on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
14 July 1966 (USA) more
Genre:
Mystery | Thriller more
Tagline:
Suspense! Azione! Sorpresa! [Suspense! Action! Surprise!] more
Plot:
An American scientist publicly defects to East Germany as part of a cloak and dagger mission to find the solution for a formula resin and then figuring out a plan to escape back to the West. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
15 Bloody Box Sets
 (From Fangoria. 19 January 2009, 8:00 AM, PST)

User Comments:
less than Hitch's best more

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
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Additional Details

Runtime:
128 min | Germany:126 min | France:126 min | Netherlands:118 min
Country:
USA
Colour:
Colour (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)
Certification:
France:U | Spain:18 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Germany:12 (re-rated) (video) | Brazil:14 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Peru:14 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:16 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating)
Filming Locations:
Berlin, Germany more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
According to the book "It's Only a Movie", Hitchcock said: "THERE WAS AN ENDING written which wasn't used, but I rather liked it. No one agreed with me except my colleague at home [his wife Alma Reville]. Everyone told me that you couldn't have a letdown ending after all that. Paul Newman would have thrown the formula away. After what he has gone through, after everything we have endured with him, he just tosses it. It speaks to the futility of all, and it's in keeping with the kind of naivete of the character, who is no professional spy and who will certainly retire from that nefarious business." more
Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible: Or their shadow, anyway. On the road-level shot of Armstrong's taxi leaving the farm (Gromek's motorbike is visible on the left of the screen), just at the very bottom of the image can be seen the shadow of the camera (4:3 television version only). more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Professor Karl Manfred: Are they ever going to get the heating fixed?
Norwegian crewman: They are working at it, Professor. Perhaps some of you scientists would like to give us a helping hand!
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in 'Topaz': An Appreciation by Film Critic/Historian Leonard Maltin (2001) (V) more
Soundtrack:
Francesca da Rimini, Op. 32 more

FAQ

How does it end?
Was the ballerina a real ballerina?
Why did Armstrong go to that farmhouse?
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29 out of 43 people found the following comment useful:-
less than Hitch's best, 3 February 2001
Author: Dtkoyzis from Ontario, Canada

The first time I watched "Torn Curtain," I grew bored and turned it off before it was over. I've watched it in its entirety more than once since then. It's difficult not to conclude that the master director's age was beginning to take its toll by 1966. It could have been a great film except for some major flaws.

First, the main characters. Newman and Andrews look distinctly ill-at-ease and their acting is wooden. There is very nearly no chemistry between them, and viewers are not really drawn into their somewhat implausible situation. Both actors are compelling in other films, but for some reason not in this one.

Second, Hitchcock would have done better to keep his villains' identity less specific. In "The Lady Vanishes", "The Thirty-nine Steps," and "North by Northwest," the identity of the foreign agents is left deliberately vague and thus little plausibility need be attached to their actions. Here they are East German communists, of which we know rather a lot.

Third, there are inconsistencies in the plot. At one point Newman and Andrews are forced to go out into an open space to avoid being overheard. But in another scene a pro-western spy communicates confidential information to Newman in a hospital room, seemingly oblivious to the possibility of wiretaps.

Finally, there's John Addison's score, which seems to have been written quite independently of the film's action. A suspenseful scene is inappropriately matched with cheerful, melodic music. Everyone knows, of course, that Hitch's longtime musical collaborator, Bernard Herrmann, wrote a mostly complete score for the film, but the two had a falling out on the set and Herrmann was dismissed. Another example of poor judgement on Hitchcock's part. Herrmann's score would have immeasurably improved a mediocre film. (Look at "Obsession" nearly a decade later.) With all the recent film restorations, I would love to see someone redo "Torn Curtain" and put in as much of Herrmann's score as the composer was able to finish. (But perhaps there would be copyright problems.) Had Herrmann's score been used, the murder sequence in the farmhouse might have become as famous as the shower scene in "Psycho."

As I was watching the protagonists flee through the East German landscape in their efforts to reach the west, I found myself thinking that, if they had only waited another twenty-three years, the wall would have come down anyway and they could simply have walked out! That's how much their plight gripped me.

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I Agree With Alma - The Ending Where He Burned the Formula Was Better murray_johnc
Farmhouse Murder Conrad1965
the polish baroness malena992
Julie Andrews??!? annisgian
237 James_Goodwin
title shot sequence hairylime
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