Post by Capo on Jul 23, 2007 0:31:32 GMT
Torn Curtain
Alfred Hitchcock 1966 USA
An American physicist 'defects' to East Berlin with the intention of double-playing the enemy and taking back atomic secrets to the West.
Generally overlooked spy hokum, essential viewing due to the dazzling use of colour and the succession of set-pieces throughout: the elongated struggle between Newman and a German spy in a farm barn, culminating in an overhead shot of the latter dying with his head in an oven; the introduction of Newman's counterpart and quarry, with the editing making full use of the frame - Newman is shot in close-up, while the other is seen only in the distance, in a rather empty-looking lecture theatre; an unconventionally tense bus ride from Liepzig to Berlin; and a frantic finish in a crowded theatre hall, the exit from which echoes Cary Grant's escape from the auction in North by Northwest.
Alfred Hitchcock 1966 USA
An American physicist 'defects' to East Berlin with the intention of double-playing the enemy and taking back atomic secrets to the West.
Generally overlooked spy hokum, essential viewing due to the dazzling use of colour and the succession of set-pieces throughout: the elongated struggle between Newman and a German spy in a farm barn, culminating in an overhead shot of the latter dying with his head in an oven; the introduction of Newman's counterpart and quarry, with the editing making full use of the frame - Newman is shot in close-up, while the other is seen only in the distance, in a rather empty-looking lecture theatre; an unconventionally tense bus ride from Liepzig to Berlin; and a frantic finish in a crowded theatre hall, the exit from which echoes Cary Grant's escape from the auction in North by Northwest.