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Topaz (1969)
In Hitchcock's slow-paced and plodding Cold War-era
political espionage spy-thriller featured the themes of intrigue,
betrayal, and deceit - it was set on the eve of the two-week Cuban
Missile Crisis (October 14 - 28, 1962), and told about the efforts
of a French intelligence agent to investigate and break up an international
Soviet spy ring that was passing NATO secrets to the Russians and
aiding the Soviets in planning to install missiles in Cuba. It was
based on author Leon Uris' best-selling 1967 novel Topaz -
a retelling of a real-life spy incident that had occurred in France
during the Presidency of Charles de Gaulle.
The film's locales included Copenhagen, Harlem,
Cuba (actually California), and Paris. The film had no American
actor stars (except for John Forsythe), and instead featured many
well-known European film stars who were involved in two different
love triangles. The unwieldy, overdone plot with far too many characters
(and their motivations) to keep track of, was actually tri-fold -
beginning with the defection of a Soviet KGB agent to Washington
DC, then a prolonged espionage and love-story adventure amongst Cuban
revolutionaries (in Harlem, NY and in the Havana area) and Soviet
missiles being brought into Cuba, and thirdly the investigation in
Paris into a French spy ring of traitorous NATO diplomats known as "Topaz"
(the film's MacGuffin).
The plot of the over-long, boring and episodic film
(with a hastily-written screenplay by Samuel A. Taylor) was fairly
complex, signified by the fact that there were three vastly-different
endings shot for the film. Universal demanded that Hitchcock
release the film theatrically (in France and the US) with its preferred
ending - an off-screen suicide. Hitchcock's preferred ending (released
in the UK) was one in which the criminal conspirator escaped unpunished
from the Paris airport bound for Moscow.
The film was a financial failure (Hitchcock's third
flop in a row) - its budget of $4-6 million brought in weak
box-office revenue of only $3 million.
- the opening title credits sequence was backed by
images of a major Soviet military parade in Moscow's Red
Square in the USSR in 1962 - [Note: the May Day Parade
in the film was shot in 1967 during the 50th Anniversary
of the October Revolution]
- a title screen described: "SOMEWHERE IN
THIS CROWD IS A HIGH RUSSIAN OFFICIAL WHO DISAGREES WITH HIS GOVERNMENT'S
DISPLAY OF FORCE AND WHAT IT THREATENS. VERY SOON HIS CONSCIENCE
WILL FORCE HIM TO ATTEMPT AN ESCAPE WHILE APPARENTLY ON VACATION WITH HIS FAMILY"
- in Copenhagen in 1962, a
high-ranking, bureaucratic Soviet intelligence officer of the KGB,
Colonel Boris Kusenov (Per-Axel Arosenius), departed by foot from
the Soviet Embassy; he was accompanied by his wife
(Sonja Kolthoff) and teenaged daughter Tamara Kusenov (Tina Hedstrom);
in an attempt to avoid being followed - in a well-executed chase
sequence, they entered a Danish porcelain-art shop/gallery and
then split up; as her parents went in a different direction, the
daughter used a back office phone to call CIA intelligence agent
Michael "Mike"
Nordstrom (John Forsythe) in the city, who directed her to proceed
with her parents at 5:15 pm to the busy downtown Den Permanente
department store
- at the appointed time, US agents (including Nordstrom)
assisted the family to scramble into a black Rolls-Royce getaway
car while avoiding Soviet agents in pursuit [Note: Nordstrom
was reading a NY Herald Tribune newspaper with the headlines: "SOVIET
BOMB, BIGGEST, "DIRTIEST," SHOCKS
THE WORLD -- THE WHYS OF IT"]; the family was immediately
driven to an airport to board a USAF "Airlift" military
plane to Wiesbaden, Germany (and then would take a C135 to the Washington,
DC area); the ungrateful and obnoxious Kusenov complained to Nordstrom
about the rescue operation, calling it "very clumsy"; upon
the Kusenovs' arrival in the US, they were driven to a safe house
outside of the city
- meanwhile, a "very expert" and "dedicated" French
intelligence agent André Devereaux (Frederick Stafford),
working in the DC area was called into work at the French Embassy
to meet with two French colleagues - a French diplomat Renee d'Arcy
(George Skaff) and French officer (Ben Wright); he was notified
of news from Paris (not from the Americans) that the Russian Kusenov
had defected: "A
high Russian intelligence official has defected to the Americans," and
that the French government was being asked to find out where the
Kusenov family was being hidden; Devereaux was curious: "I
just wonder how Paris got the information"
- in the DC-area safehouse where the Kusenov family
was being hidden, haughty KGB officer Col. Kusenov was questioned
by US officials (including Nordstrom), who confirmed that four
classified, top-secret NATO documents had been leaked to him and
other Soviets; when asked if the word "TOPAZ"
meant something to him as a code word in intelligence matters,
he denied knowing anything about it
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French Agent André Devereaux
(Frederick Stafford) and His French Wife Nicole (Dany Robin) Living
in the DC Area
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- that evening, Nordstrom was invited to dine at
the home of his old friend André Devereaux; before they
met, André's complaining wife Nicole (Dany Robin) expressed her dissatisfaction and reluctance
with being in the US, and emphatically told her husband that she
was fearful for his safety: "You are French. You're not supposed
to be mixed up in this Cold War between the Americans and the Russians.
You are neutral"; after dinner, Nordstrom confided in Devereaux
that the Russian agent was detained in a safehouse outside Washington
- another newspaper headline in The Alexandria
Gazette announced the political backdrop: "CONGRESS
CONCERNED OVER RUSSIAN ACTIVITY IN CUBA"
- the next day during a further debriefing of Kusenov,
the Russian agent specified that there were about 5,000 Russian
military and civilian technicians now in Cuba: ("They came
bearing gifts from Russia to Cuba") - but dubiously denied
knowing any more details; he directed the US officials to learn
more by speaking to Cuban government revolutionary leader Rico
Parra (John Vernon), who had recently met with Soviet officials
and then flew to NYC to head up the Cuban delegation and attend
the opening session of the UN; the Castro-like Parra had negotiated
an alarming written "trade-pact"
agreement with imminent plans for the Soviets to ship in and presumably
supply Cuba with "offensive weapons" (Russian missiles
with nuclear warheads); Kusenov suggested that
Parra's compromised secretary Luis Uribe (Donald Randolph) had
access to the detailed informal documents ("aide-memoir")
regarding the trade-pact: ("It's all there for you to read
if you can obtain it...He can be bought")
- in the next brief sequence, Devereaux and his wife
Nicole arrived at the LaGuardia airport; inside the airport, they
were reunited with their son-in-law journalist
François Picard (Michel Subor) and his newlywed wife Michèle
(Devereaux) Picard (Claude Jade) who were
on their honeymoon from Paris for five days; Francois
was covering the opening of the UN in the city; a taxi took the
family to the St. Regis-Sheraton Hotel in downtown NY where
they had reserved adjoining rooms
- to Nicole's and Andre's surprise, Nordstrom greeted
them in the room with a bouquet of yellow flowers; Devereaux was
persuasively urged by Nordstrom to help him learn the contents
of a secret written agreement between Russia and Cuba; he was asked
to contact Cuban leader Parra's secretary Luis Uribe - a member of Cuba's
UN delegation that was in the city -- "Just one of your people
here to photograph those papers. Just a taxi ride to Harlem. That's
all we're asking. This Uribe can be bought"
- under pressure, Devereaux agreed to cooperate;
after Uribe was identified as one of the UN representatives in
town (from Francois' sketch book), Devereaux took a taxi into Harlem,
NY and visited the Martinique Flower Shop; he introduced himself
as a representative of the Franco-American Finance Co., and met
personally with one of his own operatives - ex-French secret agent
and Martinique native Philippe Dubois (Roscoe Lee Browne), who
was posing as manager of the flower shop; in an enclosed refrigerated
area for flowers (without audio), Devereaux spoke to Dubois and
recruited him to contact and bribe Cuban diplomat Luis Uribe -
the secretary to the visiting Cuban diplomatic official Rico Parra
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Sketch of Cuban Diplomat Luis Uribe - Rico Parra's Secretary
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The Martinique Flower Shop in Harlem, NY
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Philippe Dubois (Roscoe Lee Browne) - Flower Shop Manager
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- following orders, Dubois disguised himself as an Ebony
Magazine journalist, and the two proceeded to walk to Harlem's
nearby local Hotel Theresa where Parra's group
of Cuban revolutionaries were assembled together and had set up a
temporary or makeshift Cuban consulate-embassy; Devereaux observed
from across the street as Dubois entered the hotel and engaged in a
short discussion in the lobby with the corruptible Luis Uribe
(again without dialogue); after Uribe was bribed with
cash, Dubois met with him in his room's bathroom on an upper floor,
and was told that the documents were locked in a red leather case sitting
behind Parra's desk in his hotel room
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Parra Distracted By Having His Picture Taken by
Dubois on the Balcony
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Uribe Snatching the Locked Red Leather
Case Sitting by Parra's Office Desk
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- the two barged into Parra's hotel-room office
(on the same floor) after bypassing the Cuban leader's brawny,
red-haired Cuban bodyguard and right-hand man Hernandez (Carlos
Rivas) at the door; Dubois distracted Parra by convincing him to
have his picture taken out on the balcony as he waved to an enthusiastic
crowd outside, while in the tense scene, Uribe snatched the case
from behind the desk and took it to his room's bathroom; shortly
later, Dubois departed on the elevator but returned to the same
floor via the stairs and met up with Uribe in his room - to snap
photos of the seriously-damaging documents; the photos of documents
would confirm for Devereaux that the Soviets were planning to secretly
transport and set up missile bases (for nuclear weapons) in Cuba
- a few minutes later, Parra was back in his office
- where he found an important Cuban state document greased up and
illegible after being used as a wrapper for a hamburger and fries;
then, he happened to notice that his locked case was missing and
was told by his typing-assistant Fernando that Uribe had taken
it; Parra and Hernandez approached Uribe's room and kicked in the
locked door; Dubois and Uribe were caught taking photographs of
the serious-damaging documents on the bed; Dubois fled through
the window and was shot at by Parra; he safely landed on a Chock
Full o'Nuts awning, jumped down to the street, and fled down the
sidewalk and across the street
- during a chase after him led by Hernandez, Dubois
deliberately bumped into and knocked down bystander Devereaux in
the crowd who was observing the chase, and was able to transfer
the camera into his hands; Hernandez assisted Devereaux in getting
up: ("Sorry, Senor") and then continued the
pursuit; Dubois managed to escape from the Cubans and safely returned
to the flower shop, however, Uribe was undoubtedly executed for
his betrayal (off-screen) [Note: Later in the film, Parra described
Uribe's fateful trip: "The journey from which no traveller
ever returns"]
- the next day, as Devereaux prepared to fly to Cuba
to investigate further, his wife Nicole was resistant: ("Let
the Americans do their own dirty work"); he argued back: "I
have got to see what the Russians are up to in Cuba"; Nicole was also worried
about his suspected association and infidelity with the beautiful
female leader of a Cuban underground network
- the headlines of the October 22, 1962 New York
Times newspaper read: "Capital's Crisis Air Hints At Development
on Cuba; Kennedy TV Talk is Likely"
- once Devereaux arrived in Cuba (after flying through
Mexico City), he was driven up to the coastside mansion of the
beautiful, widowed Juanita de Cordoba (German actress Karin Dor);
before leaving his chauffeured car, Devereaux spoke to his assistant
about planning to meet up the following day in Havana; as Devereaux
walked into the mansion, he was greeted by his ex-mistress-lover
Juanita with Rico Parra's arm draped over her shoulder; Juanita
was obviously involved in a love triangle between Parra and Devereaux
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Juanita de Cordoba (Karin Dor) - Devereaux's
Ex-Mistress-Lover
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- after Parra departed and they entered the mansion,
the two kissed; Juanita was the widowed leader of the secret Cuban
counter-revolutionary, underground Resistance movement; she warned
Devereaux of the complicated political situation: "You picked
a hell of a time to come. Security is tight. This island is crawling
with Russians";
she agreed that Parra was her "faithful companion and protector" and
also her "landlord";
Devereaux alluded to Parra's secondary mission - he had come to
collect the "rent" from her in the form of sex; she
had apparently associated herself with her rival in order to gather
undercover information
- she wanted to know why - as a Frenchman
- Devereaux had become involved in their affairs: "The French
don't give a damn what the Russians do in Cuba"; he explained
that he was working for the Americans and was requesting help from
her organization, although she responded that most of her people
were now in hiding
- in her bedroom, the bare-chested
Devereaux presented Juanita (wearing a transparent nightgown) with
a gift-wrapped present of a Geiger counter (and tape recorder)
to detect if the Russians had brought in nuclear warheads; it would
be deployed on the streets in Havana where the Soviets were transporting
missiles in trucks at night; he also showed off a remote-controlled
camera that could take pictures from a half-mile away; Devereaux
also requested intel on the number of Soviet troop units and any
new types of aircraft; then, she approached him and he began to
remove her nightgown as they fell back onto the
bed and began to passionately make love
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- the scene abruptly ended as the two (now clothed)
- the next morning - briskly walked from her bedroom; he mentioned:
"It is not yet ten o'clock and we have done nearly a day's
work"; he was off to Havana to "behave like an innocent
commercial attache"; in Juanita's kitchen, her "boy" Tomas
(John Roper) and a cook had already followed instructions and placed
a camera and a long-distance lens inside two pieces of a thick
bread sandwich; everything was put into a picnic basket for two
loyal members of her domestic staff: Carlotta (Anna Navarro) and
Pablo Mendoza (Lewis Charles)
- the Mendozas posed as lunch picnickers on a grassy
hillside in order to obtain further photographs of the Soviet missiles;
they were within a half-mile of the harbor at Veriel where they
took photos of the missiles being unloaded from Russian boats; due
to noisy and aggressive seagulls stealing large discarded pieces
of bread from their lunch, the Mendozas were discovered on the
hillside and shot at by two guards as they fled to their car; their
attempt to pretend that their car had broken down by the side of
the road failed when dripping blood from Carlotta's bullet wounded
arm gave them away; the couple were arrested and detained
![](sshots/topaz37.jpg)
Camera and Lens Hidden in a Bridge Pipe
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Lens and Camera with Incriminating Film Within
a Chicken Carcass
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- shortly later, an unidentified rider on a horse
retrieved their camera and lens hidden inside a bridge pipe near
their abandoned car; in a Havana butcher shop, Juanita's cook retrieved
a canvas case and took it back to the mansion; she and Tomas recovered
the camera and lens (separately wrapped in plastic) that had been
put inside a chicken carcass; Tomas opened a secret pantry door
(hidden in a bookcase) to enter
into a makeshift photo processing dark-room where he removed the
incriminating film from the camera to begin developing the photos
- during a large mass rally that afternoon as Fidel
Castro (news footage) spoke to the crowds, Rico Parra's Cuban
guard Hernandez recognized Devereaux's face in the crowd, and he recalled
the incident in front of the Theresa Hotel in Harlem; Parra was joined
by his revolutionary followers with Juanita at his side
- that evening as Juanita dined in her mansion with
Devereaux, Parra arrived and spoke about
the fate of his ex-secretary Uribe who had been discovered "working
for the French" (and the Americans); Parra accused Devereaux
as being the Frenchman who was knocked over on the sidewalk as
another French spy (who had taken photos of documents) escaped;
Devereaux admitted he had been in Harlem on the night in question,
but denied anything further; the wary Parra made threats against
both Devereaux and Juanita: ("If it were not for her, if it
were not that it might involve her, you would disappear tonight.
You would be with Uribe")
- Parra went on to accuse Devereaux of spying on Soviet
activities in Cuba, and thus was blackening the reputation of
his revolutionary war lover Juanita; he suspected
that she might be involved in duplicitous and traitorous activites
with Devereaux; therefore, he ordered Devereaux to be expelled
immediately: ("She is a widow of a hero of the Revolution.
She is loved and honored in this country. You are an intelligence
agent. Your assocation with her can put her in great danger. I
want you out of the country on the next plane, early tomorrow morning.
And if you have been collecting information about what the Russians
are doing in Cuba to help us here, don't think for one minute you
will take it out of here - you will not. You will be searched at
the airport, completely. And if anything is found on you, you will
be arrested")
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Parra's Threat to Eliminate Suspected French Spy Devereaux
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Juanita's Reaction to Parra's Suspicions About Her
and Devereaux
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Deveraux Accused of Being a French Spy
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- Juanita refused Parra's order to
immediately take Devereaux back to Havana to pack his bags, and called
Parra "a damn fool" for making up such a false story, to have her
all to himself; she counter-threatened: "If you are doing him any
harm, I will raise such hell. And you know I can"; Parra left with
parting words: "Tomorrow morning"
- after spending the night with Juanita, Devereaux
packed for his return to Havana before leaving Cuba; Tomas brought
in Devereaux' typewriter in which he had hidden recorded tapes
activated by the geiger counter at 3 o'clock that morning on the
streets of Havana; the camera had recorded radiation from numerous
trucks covered with canvas (hiding nuclear warhead missiles);
to get the tape recordings out of the country, they were hidden
in the middle of the typewriter's inked-ribbon spool; Tomas also
added that information about Russian troops, the caves and the
installations could be found - miniaturized within a microdot
on the bottom of the typewriter's "period key"; further information
was concealed in Devereaux' razor-blade cartridges; Juanita also
handed Devereaux a slim book - something for him to read on the plane
- as they separated in her bedroom, Juanita forbid
farewells at the front door; Devereaux suggested help if she
ever needed to evacuate from Cuba, but Juanita vowed to never leave
her motherland: "I'll never leave here. I am Cuban. I love
my country. No matter what, I have to see it through"; they
kissed one last time
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The Tortured Mendozas: Carlotta and Pablo (A Recreation
of the Sculpture Known as the Pieta)
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Parra: "Who were you working for? Who sent you to
spy at Veriel?"
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Whispered Confession: "Juanita de Cordoba"
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- meanwhile, Parra was in the presence of the Mendoza
couple, who had been captured and brutally tortured [Note: they
were posed as the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus in
her lap in Michelangelo's famous sculpture Pietà];
Parra asked Carlotta who had asked her to spy on the
Soviet missiles being unloaded at the Cuban dock, and she was compelled
to whisper her confession into Parra's ear (seen in close-up): "Juanita
de Cordoba"
- Parra rushed to the mansion with a group of
uniformed Cuban soldiers in jeeps to confront Juanita about her betrayal;
she met them on the stairway as they raced to search her second-floor
bedroom; Parra ordered her to come down to his level; he grabbed
her arm as she attempted to run into the kitchen and pantry when
she heard Tomas and the cook being assaulted; he asked: "You know
some people named Mendoza?"; with a fearful reaction, she answered:
"Yes" - he claimed they had said some "terrible things" about
her, but he didn't want to believe them
Parra's Confrontation with His Lover Juanita
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- at that very moment, Parra's aide Muñoz (Roberto
Contreras) divulged what they had found in the hidden pantry room:
"A darkroom for cameras, for developing
pictures and all kinds of machinery to make them small. And it's
all true. They have been operating from this house"; a phone call
was made to the airport to alert the security officials to search
Frenchman Devereaux's luggage - and to specifically look for his
hollowed-out razor-blades; Parra was dismayed that his lover Juanita
had been working at cross-purposes with him: "So it is true. I
have to believe now" - and he asked why; she answered: "Because
you make my country oppressed"; he was upset by her betrayal: "To
fool me. To work against me"; he threatened to torture her like
the Mendozas, to force her to reveal the names of all of her counter-revolutionaries
The Remarkable Murder Sequence Shot From Overhead
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- as he hugged her and closely brought her into his
arms - he mentioned her gruesome torture: ("The things that
will be done to your body - this body"), but then there was
a gun-blast; he mercifully shot her in the abdomen - to save her
from excruciating pain and punishment; her head was flung backwards;
he lowered his gun in his right hand to his hip; during
the memorable murder sequence shot from overhead, Juanita collapsed
onto the black-and-white tiled floor as her purple dress billowed,
swelled and expanded outwards around her like a pool of purple blood
- Muñoz was called back by the Cuban authorities
at the Havana airport, who reported that they had searched Devereaux's
baggage to locate the alleged microfilm, but nothing had been found
in Devereaux's razor cartridges or anywhere else; they had to let
him go; as he had promised Juanita, before boarding his plane,
Devereaux called the mansion and learned from Muñoz that
Juanita was dead: "Something has happened. She is dead. Shot.
Señor Parra? He is gone"
- on his flight back to the US, the saddened Devereaux
opened the slim book of poetry gifted to him by Juanita and read
its dedication: "With all my love, Juanita, October 1962";
as his thumb felt the thin cover of the book, he realized the surface
was uneven; he took the book to the plane's restroom, doused the
cover in water, and peeled off the paper to reveal
thin strips of microfilm concealed underneath [Note: Devereaux
flew back to the US and arrived at Dulles Airport (VA) near Washington,
DC. However, Dulles Airport opened for commercial aircraft in mid-November
1962, 3 weeks after the Cuban Missile Crisis ended.]
- once Devereaux arrived home in DC with CIA agent
Nordstrom accompanying him, he hid the fact that he was shocked
that his unhappy wife Nicole had deserted him due to his alleged
affair with Cuban love interest Juanita; he made up the reasonable
excuse that Nicole wanted to spend more time with their daughter
Michele in Paris; while preparing a drink, the two were interrupted
by Devereaux's colleague from the French Embassy, diplomat
Renee d'Arcy; in private, d'Arcy curtly explained how protests
from the Cuban government over his recent activities there had
led to his immediate recall; he was ordered to return to Paris
and report to the Director-General; Devereaux mused: "The end of
Washington for me"; Nordstrom was sorry to see Devereaux go, since
his intel from Cuba provided strong confirmation of serious problems in Cuba
- before leaving, Nordstrom urged Devereaux to join
him at the safe-house, where Soviet intelligence
officer Boris Kusenov had made some startling revelations, during
Devereaux's absence, about leaks in Paris; Devereaux listened as
Kusenov again spoke about the existence of "Topaz" -
a code-name for a group of elite French intelligence agents who
were actually Soviet spies; the unknown but powerful leader of
the spy ring code-named Columbine; his second-in-command
was a top NATO official and economist named Henri Jarré (Philippe
Noiret); Jarré was the one who had directly leaked NATO
documents to Kusenov in the Soviet KGB
- Devereaux was faced with a dilemma - should he remain
in the US or return home to France to deal with the crisis, and
put his life in danger as he further investigated the feared French
intelligence leaks and the "Topaz" spy ring?; the US government
was readied to take action based on the intel about the Soviet
aid of missiles to Cuba; if there were any further leaks, it
would be disastrous and precipitate war (and France would be drawn
into the conflict); in three short days, a US delegation would
be arriving in Paris, and before that deadline, Devereaux was pressured
to uncover the "Topaz" spy ring at the risk of his own life
- after Devereaux arrived back in Paris via an Air
France plane, he immediately set up a meeting with his French colleagues
for a luncheon in an upper room of the upscale Chez Pierre's restaurant;
the topic of discussion was his mission for the Americans to Cuba;
Devereaux explained how he was reluctant
to pass on his intelligence gathering from Cuba to the French government,
due to the presence of leaks; Devereaux took a chance by provocatively
asking about the existence of a French spy ring known as "Topaz" that
was working for the Soviet Union; he claimed he wanted to "expose"
the ring, and admitted he had heard of "Topaz" in the US through
a Soviet KGB defector; Henri Jarré called
the news 'misinformation' - and stated that the Russian official
Kusenov had died a year earlier, and the person claiming to be
Kusenov was a fake "double agent"; Devereaux was very puzzled by
Jarré's reaction
- after the luncheon and later in the day, Henri
Jarré hailed a taxi and was delivered to the residence of Jacques
Granville (Michel Piccoli), the traitorous "Topaz" spy ring leader
who had also attended the luncheon; Granville reprimanded Jarré for
invading his privacy in his home, since he was imminently expecting
a "guest"; Granville also criticized Jarré for
his "foolish mistake" to lie about Kusenov's death because it could
easily be verified: "By tomorrow, he will know that we are lying," but urged him not to panic; when
Jarré kept suggesting that Devereaux needed to be eliminated,
Granville was dismissive: "How bloodthirsty you are. What, Devereaux
dead? A grieving widow? An official investigation?"
- as Jarré was leaving,
it was apparent that Granville was awaiting the arrival of Devereaux's
blonde wife Nicole, and was involved in an illicit romantic relationship with her
- that same evening at 8:30 pm, Devereaux'
son-in-law Francois Picard coincidentally arrived to conduct an
in-person newspaper interview at an upper-floor apartment of NATO
official Henri Jarré; he began to ask pointed questions about NATO's decision-making
and Jarré's access - as a civilian - to top-secret confidential
files and military secrets; Francois also asked permission to sketch
his subject; Jarré became
increasingly nervous when Francois asked directly why he had lied
about the death of Soviet defector Kusenov (who headed up the Russian
NATO desk) and his direct involvement in passing and leaking
NATO documents to Kusenov; Francois then admitted that he had
been dispatched by his father-in-law Andre Devereaux, to interrogate
him
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Francois' Phone Call to His Father-in-Law (and Michele) - Disconnected
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Francois' Sketch of Jarré ("Portrait of a Dead Traitor")
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Staged Suicide-Murder of Jarré
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- Jarré agreed to speak to Devereaux alone
if Francois phoned him to join them; during the call, it was suddenly
disconnected; alarmed, Devereaux and his daughter Michele rushed to Jarré's
place where they discovered that Francois had disappeared; Jarré was
found dead (a staged suicide); he had been thrown from
his 2nd floor window and landed on the roof of a parked car below
[Note: His murder had probably been ordered by Granville who was
worried that Jarré had jeopardized "Topaz's" existence
by his foolish and careless statements and risky behavior.]
- shortly later after Devereaux and Michele returned
home, Francois arrived (with a bloody but minor bullet-grazing
wound in his upper left arm) - and with Nicole listening, he explained
how he had been clubbed on the head (by two men Jarré had
let into his apartment) and then kidnapped, but he had escaped
from his captors' car; Devereaux theorized that the men were "Messengers
from Columbine, the head of Topaz"
- Francois also claimed how he had overheard a phone
number (Babylon 8583) that had been called; a tearful Nicole surprised
her family by admitting that the phone number belonged to Granville
- the leader of "Topaz": ("You
don't have to trace that number. It's a small house, hidden away
on the Left Bank. Jacques Granville. Horrible, horrible!!");
Devereaux was shocked that his friend Granville was a traitor,
and also his wife Nicole's lover; he was reminded from a photograph
on a shelf in their home that in the past during the Resistance
movement of WWII, the three of them - who were involved in the film's
second love triangle - had been compatriots
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Nicole's Admission of Granville's Phone Number
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![](sshots/topaz84.jpg)
Photo of Devereaux, Nicole, and Granville in the French Resistance
Movement During WWII
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- in the next scene at the Paris Airport, headlines
in a NY Herald-Tribune newspaper read: "U.S. Weighs New
Action as Cuba Speeds Buildup; Bombing of Missile Bases Held a
Possibility"; CIA agent Nordstrom arrived in the US President's plane (with an entourage)
at the airport to attend a NATO briefing about the Soviet missiles
in Cuba; on the tarmac, he spoke to Devereaux who reported that
Jacques Granville was the "Topaz" leader; he added that Granville
had formerly been a friend of his who had betrayed him
- at the start of the formal gathering of NATO officials,
Nordstrom inaudibly (as the camera rose up to the chandelier-level)
whispered his fears about Granville's presence to others, and the
French agent was uncomfortably dismissed from attending the meeting
- Revised Theatrical Ending: Granville entered
his residence - and as the camera remained outside in a freeze-frame,
a single shot rang out; after being exposed, Granville had apparently
committed suicide (off-screen)
- Alternate Ending (Hitchcock Preferred): the
next day, as Nicole and Devereaux (reconciled?) were boarding a
Pan American plane back to Washington, DC, they glanced over and
noticed an unpunished Granville climbing the stairs into a Soviet
Aeroflot flight to Moscow; Granville removed his hat and bid "Bon
Voyage" to them
nearby; Nicole reacted: "How can they let him get away like
this?",
and Devereaux responded: "I told you, my love, he doesn't miss
a trick. They have nothing against him. Anyway, that's the end of
Topaz"
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Alternate 'Airport' Ending: Unpunished Granville
Bidding "Bon Voyage" To Devereaux And Nicole As He
Boarded a Flight to Moscow
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- in the final thought-provoking epilogue sequence, a few days later,
an anonymous person on a bench on L'Avenue des Champs-Élysées
(near the Arc de Triomphe) was reading the headlines of the NY
Herald-Tribune newspaper - the major breaking news was that
Soviet Premier Khrushchev had agreed to dismantle the Cuban missile
bases and end the crisis ("CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS OVER - Khrushchev
Agrees to Scrap Bases"); a brief, super-imposed montage of images
revealed the lives of all of the characters who had died in revealing
the conspiracy (The Mendozas, Henri Jarré, and Juanita); before
leaving, the reader discarded and left the newspaper on the park bench
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Film's Epilogue - Newspaper Discarded on Park Bench
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![](sshots/topaz3.jpg)
Opening Title Credits - Accompanied by a Soviet Military Parade
![](sshots/topaz4.jpg)
US CIA Intelligence Agent Michael Nordstrom (John Forsythe)
![](sshots/topaz5.jpg)
![](sshots/topaz6.jpg)
Defecting Soviet Family: KGB Colonel Boris Kusenov and His Wife, and Daughter
![](sshots/topaz10.jpg)
News Headlines in a Local Newspaper: "Congress Concerned Over Russian Activity
in Cuba"
![](sshots/topaz11.jpg)
Hitchcock's Cameo - At the LaGuardia NY Airport
![](sshots/topaz12.jpg)
The Entire Devereaux Family - Reuniting in the NYC Airport (l to r): Son
in Law François, Daughter Michèle, André and Nicole
![](sshots/topaz13.jpg)
The Devereaux's In Their NYC Hotel Room
![](sshots/topaz15.jpg)
CIA Agent Nordstrom Urging Help From French Agent Devereaux in
NYC
![](sshots/topaz18.jpg)
Devereaux's POV of Hotel Theresa in Harlem, NY
![](sshots/topaz19.jpg)
Cuban Luis Uribe Being Bribed by Dubois in the Lobby of Hotel Theresa
![](sshots/topaz20.jpg)
Castro-Like Cuban Revolutionary Leader Rico Parra (John Vernon)
![](sshots/topaz24.jpg)
Dubois Snapping Photos of the Damaging Soviet-Cuban Documents
![](sshots/topaz25.jpg)
Cuban Hernandez Assisting the Knocked-Down Devereaux (With the Camera
Transferred from
Dubois): "Sorry, Senor"
![](sshots/topaz26.jpg)
Dubois' Camera in Devereaux's Possession
![](sshots/topaz27.jpg)
NY Times Headlines: October 22, 1962
![](sshots/topaz28.jpg)
(l to r): Juanita, Parra, and Devereaux at Juanita's Mansion
![](sshots/topaz34.jpg)
Remote-Controlled Camera Placed Inside a Thick Sandwich
![](sshots/topaz35.jpg)
The Mendozas Picnicking 1/2 Mile From Cuban Port of Viera
![](sshots/topaz36.jpg)
Taking Photos of Missiles Being Unloaded from Soviet Ship at a Cuban Dock
![](sshots/topaz39.jpg)
Carlotta's Bloody Wounded Arm - It Gave Her Away
![](sshots/topaz90.jpg)
![](sshots/topaz41.jpg)
Che Guevara and Fidel Castro (News Footage) at Massive Rally
![](sshots/topaz40.jpg)
![](sshots/topaz42.jpg)
Hernandez Alerting Parra to Devereaux's Presence in Rally Audience
![](sshots/topaz43.jpg)
Parra with Juanita at the Rally
![](sshots/topaz48.jpg)
Tomas Showing Devereaux Hidden Items in His Typewriter
![](sshots/topaz47.jpg)
Geiger-Counter Tape Recordings Hidden in Typewriter Ribbon Spool
![](sshots/topaz49.jpg)
Miniaturized Microdot On "Period Key"
![](sshots/topaz50.jpg)
Juanita's Gift of a Slim Book to Devereaux
![](sshots/topaz51.jpg)
Juanita's Goodbye to Devereaux: "I love my country"
![](sshots/topaz67.jpg)
Juanita: Dead on the Floor After Being Murdered by Rico Parra
![](sshots/topaz68.jpg)
The Dedication in Juanita's Gift of a Thin Poetry Book to Devereaux
![](sshots/topaz69.jpg)
Strips of Microfilm Concealed Under the Book's Cover
![](sshots/topaz70.jpg)
KGB Defector Boris Kusenov Divulging Revelations About French Spy Ring Code-Named
"Topaz" Leaking Documents
![](sshots/topaz72.jpg)
Devereaux's Luncheon-Discussion at the Chez Pierre Restaurant With His French
Colleagues
![](sshots/topaz73.jpg)
Henri Jarré (Philippe Noiret) - Second-in-Command
![](sshots/topaz71.jpg)
Jacques Granville (Michel
Piccoli) - the "Topaz" Spy Ring Leader
![](sshots/topaz74.jpg)
![](sshots/topaz75.jpg)
Arrival of Nicole Devereaux at the Home of Granville
![](sshots/topaz76.jpg)
Francois' Interview of Jarré In His Apartment About NATO Leaks
of Top-Secret Documents
![](sshots/topaz82.jpg)
![](sshots/topaz81.jpg)
Francois Injured After Being Kidnapped and Shot At by Members of "Topaz"
![](sshots/topaz85.jpg)
Headlines: "...Bombing of Missile Bases Held a Possibility"
![](sshots/topaz86.jpg)
Granville Dismissed From NATO Briefing Meeting in Paris
![](sshots/topaz87.jpg)
'Suicide' Ending: The Exterior of Granville's Residence Where a Shot Rang Out
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