{"id":450,"date":"2025-08-01T01:32:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T05:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=450"},"modified":"2026-05-22T16:05:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:05:44","slug":"topaz-1969","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=450","title":{"rendered":"Topaz-1969"},"content":{"rendered":"

Topaz-1969<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Alfred Hitchcock<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Frederick Stafford, Karin Dor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Top 250 Films #163<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #108<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"60020562\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed July 12, 2014<\/p>\n

Grade: A-<\/strong><\/p>\n

Topaz is an intriguing, suspenseful 1969 latter-day Alfred Hitchcock film.<\/p>\n

In the political thriller vein, the film typically suffers from being both overlooked and under-appreciated, yet receives admiration from film buffs. It is certainly not one of his better-known films, and that is quite a shame.<\/p>\n

As with many great films, it is complex and layered, requiring close attention and even multiple viewings.<\/p>\n

The issue with Topaz is that the film suffers from a lack of recognizable stars- a trademark of Hitchcock films in his heyday. Frederick Stafford (Andre) and Karin Dor (Juanita) are the featured romantic couple.<\/p>\n

Despite his being married to another woman, Andre and Juanita are the couple the audience is intended to root for.<\/p>\n

The story involves competing spies from France, the United States, and Cuba, all vying for government secrets concerning the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Each spy does their best to obtain the secrets, some in a sinister fashion.<\/p>\n

The French accents, especially, can be tough to understand, but it is a thrilling film that traverses New York City, Cuba, and France. The main protagonist is Andre, and Stafford has a high level of charisma and a suave manner.<\/p>\n

The character is quite similar to James Bond. The film itself plays out like a Bond film, with exotic locales, beautiful women, and political intrigue.<\/p>\n

As with most Hitchcock films, the set pieces and art direction are beautiful and perfect. One highlight is a particular character’s death scene in Cuba. Throughout the film, the love story is involved, and the death is tragic yet heartfelt and shocking.<\/p>\n

Topaz, sadly, was unsuccessful at the box office due to the lack of Hollywood names attached and limited promotion, although it made several top-ten critics’ lists in 1969.<\/p>\n

Topaz is undoubtedly one of the more obscure of Hitchcock’s films, but an excellent one to discover and revere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Topaz-1969 Director Alfred Hitchcock Starring Frederick Stafford, Karin Dor Top 250 Films #163 Scott’s Review #108 Reviewed July 12, 2014 Grade: A- Topaz is an intriguing, suspenseful 1969 latter-day Alfred Hitchcock film. In the political thriller vein, the film typically suffers from being both overlooked and under-appreciated, yet receives admiration from film buffs. It is … Continue reading Topaz-1969<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7814,25,38,4605,8736,8733,8734,8735,8596,8582,8587,8737,9525,8738,11256,204,7464],"tags":[7815,64,109,4607,8741,8732,8739,8740,8597,8585,8589,8742,9529,8743,11261,258,7460],"class_list":["post-450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-163-favorite-film","category-1969-films","category-hitchcockfilms","category-ann-doran","category-claude-jade","category-dany-robin","category-frederick-stafford","category-john-forsythe","category-john-vernon","category-karin-dor","category-michel-piccoli","category-michel-subor","category-per-axel-arosenius","category-philippe-noiret","category-roscoe-lee-browne","category-thrillers","category-top-250-films","tag-163-favorite-film","tag-1969-movie-reviews","tag-alfred-hitchcock-films","tag-ann-doran","tag-claude-jade","tag-dany-robin","tag-frederick-stafford","tag-john-forsythe","tag-john-vernon","tag-karin-dor","tag-michel-piccoli","tag-michel-subor","tag-per-axel-arosenius","tag-philippe-noiret","tag-roscoe-lee-browne","tag-thrillers","tag-top-250-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=450"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22333,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450\/revisions\/22333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}