Video Review

Topaz

EW's GRADE
C+

Details Movie Rated: Unrated; Genres: Action/Adventure, Mystery and Thriller; With: Frederick Stafford

Approximately 17 minutes of footage trimmed from the initial theatrical release of Alfred Hitchcock's 1969 espionage thriller have been restored in this version of Topaz, which only serves to make one of the master's weakest efforts seem that much more interminable. (Hitchcock's original ending is also restored.) Two genuinely suspenseful set pieces, shot at a distance without audible dialogue, demonstrate that Hitch hadn't entirely lost his touch, but the majority of this Cold War potboiler (adapted from the book by Leon Uris) amounts to little more than banal French-, Russian-, and Cuban-accented yackety-yack. C+

Originally posted Aug 06, 1999 Published in issue #497 Aug 06, 1999 Order article reprints

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