TORN CURTAIN might just be Alfred Hitchcock's most uneven movie, but even uneven can be totally gripping in the master's hands. For the first hour this is a ho-hum slice of Cold War hokum, a very poor show compared to the same era's grittily realistic THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD. Paul Newman is an acceptable leading man but Julie Andrews in particular is quite dreadful, a gaping hole where a warm-hearted and spirited female lead should be; imagine Grace or Doris in this! Then, after an extended farmhouse set-piece, the film gets a lot more interesting and starts to resemble a Hitchcock thriller in the classic mould: chases, bravura shots and set-pieces, and locations used to their utmost to add to the tale. The suspense builds to an excellent extended bit on a bus (like the SPEED of its day) before a fine ballet scene (shades of THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH's climax) and an ending that never lets up. It's one I look forward to rewatching - once you get past that oh-so-slow and bland first half.
Review of Torn Curtain
