Movie: Torn curtain
Score: 5/10
Duration: 2h08 (I saw a
2h02 version on a French edition DVD)
Torn curtain is a bit of a torn movie. Indeed, I feel that Hitchcock’s 50th
movie (my 22nd I believe) is both enjoyable, yet not completely. The
story isn’t all that uncommon; only the master of suspense managed to keep me
seated watching it out of fidelity and curiosity, created at the very early
stages of the movie.
There are just too many wrong things in this movie... Right from the intro
which should be redone…it's just tasteless like a cookie you dropped in your
tea and left there for hours...
I disliked the colors, however. First, most of Julie Andrews' wardrobe was too
subdued, brown or grey, like the general sensation from the décor and
locations… everything was just too grey, too sad, and in Julie’s case, it made
her look older than she really was, especially with her hair. It’s too bad,
because she’d look absolutely lovely in pastel blues! I think these were the
biggest mistakes and I wish Alfred had gone boldly over the 1960’s colors to
more pastel or vivid ones, depending on the parts. He didn’t ask me! He chose mud
all over his film here, with zero contrast between East Berlin - where
it's logical to see these colors- and Copenhagen, nor between outdoors
and indoors ; everything is just to drab.
Paul Newman played his part
ok, but not great ; he obviously didn't like this role, as it shows throughout
the movie. he did the minimum required, but didn't excell, in spite of specific
scenes where he did go an extra mile.
His chemistry with Julie
Andrews just doesn't convey enough ''relationship''. Maybe they hated one
another? Their lovemaking segment was badly directed, hiding them too much,
when they are both naturally so pretty. Why Hitch hasn't capitalized on these
two sexy people and boldly break taboos like he had done in many previous
movies is just beyond me...
In spite of slow moments,
the pace was overall well done. I enjoyed the off center camera angles on many
scenes and the general feel of the story was ‘’this could have happened
indeed’’, but as too many times, I felt the music wasn’t the best. I have
difficulties accepting certain choices Hitch made for his movies; it didn’t
totally suck in this one, but it did have a few silly or overstated
moments.
I disliked the fur one
character wears, like in many old movies, and in many Hitchcock's as well. This
isn't a new problem, indeed. I disliked all her appearances, in fact, not only
because of her wardrobe, but all because I didn't find any of it believable and
poorly directed in these segments.
There is also the issue of a portion where a crowd leaves a room in an
unrealistic panic, that Alfred left for too long without ANY character pointing
to the obvious lack of real cause...
In spite of all these negative aspects, some good ones are woven, like those
camera angles I mentioned above, and the one rather gruesome, bloody,
murder/death scene filmed in a very original way, which makes up, partially,
for the missup. If you never watched it, you should see it, for this one bit,
and also for a certain cool segment in a bus, which was very well done, and
with an Alfred Hitchcock presents kinda feel: with a lot of humor
(intended or not).
Torn curtain is basically a strong PG13, verging on rated R for a few minutes,
almost halfway through the feature. Actually, I think your kids shouldn’t watch
it anyway, this is an adult topic, with spy/spies, the cold war, and some
sexual references (no nudity, though).
It showed a lot of promise, and this is one instance where I believe it should
be remade but set in its proper historical area of the cold war, instead of
modernizing it. Psssttt, maybe some studios will listen and commission a new project?
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