50 - Topaz

    A difficult plot to explain.  A French intelligence agent working with the US government is sent on a mission to Cuba.  Upon his return, a KGB defector warns him of a spy ring in the French government.
    I've already covered about half of the movie there.  This is an unusual situation, where a good story doesn't make a good movie.  The problem is that this story spans so much geography, and political players, that it comes across as being much more convoluted.  For a movie that's about 2:22 long, this shouldn't be an issue, except that we feel like we're thrown into the situation with a bunch of people who already know what's happening.
    Hitchcock didn't do too well with this picture.  The music seems weirdly inappropriate for the subject matter.  There is at least one sequence that seemed like he was repeating his approach from Rear Window.  He still has serious problems with shooting outside.  And I was particularly annoyed with the stock footage that he used.  Maybe this stuff looked more acceptable when a production was universally grainy.
    There are still a few good sequences.  One of his opening shots is really beautifully done, if a little rough, when the camera follows a family out of their house and over a fence.  And the shot when a lady in a dress is shot is wonderfully handled.  But otherwise, this movie is probably the weakest one I've seen from Hitchcock.