Grade: D+
Synopsis: A US rocket scientist (Paul Newman) defects to East Germany, only to discover his fiancé/assistant (Julie Andrews) has followed him, unaware that his defection is a ploy to gain access to a top German mind.
Aside from one knockout scene, Torn Curtain is utterly forgettable. Paul Newman may be a great actor capable of a great many roles, but he’s horribly miscast as a rocket scientist. He just doesn’t look or feel the part. Further, he and costar Julie Andrews have zero chemistry on screen, making their whole affair feel forced and phony, though at least Andrews is somewhat believable as his assistant.
Chalk this one up to studio interference. Alfred Hitchcock wanted Eva Marie Saint for the female lead and talked to Cary Grant the male lead before Universal execs “suggested” Andrews and Newman. On top of that, Hitchcock didn’t take to Newman’s “method” acting, leading to a cool relationship between director and star. And, as if that weren’t enough, Hitchcock was also unhappy with Brian Moore’s script and brought in Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall to do a page one rewrite, which continued into shooting.
So it’s no wonder the film feels flat, given an unhappy director, an unhappy cast and a script that was practically being written as they went along. Really, the only redeeming quality is a muffled life and death struggle between Newman and Wolfgang Kieling’s characters. The scene, added by Hitchcock specifically to illustrate how difficult it can be to kill someone, is tense, brutal, and brilliant, and almost makes Torn Curtain worth seeing, almost.
