Peter Bianchi

Not so very well known in the lexicon of Hitchcock films, this is a Cold-War story from 1966, with an eye towards a more “realistic” 007-type “spy” thriller (Note Hitchcock's "Marnie" with male lead Sean Connery came out in 1964) where high tension keeps the viewer nervous - maybe too nervous - throughout, even though we KNOW stars Paul Newman (a US nuclear scientist) and Julie Andrews (his assistant and fiancé, not to mention the star of 1964's "Mary Poppins") are gonna make it in the end. Scripted as a series of nerve-wracking scenes, after a relatively brief introduction / “set-up” (where “Hitch” appears in a Copenhagen hotel lobby with of all things a baby on his lap ... poor kid), there is early in the film the gruesome and drawn-out murder of an East German security officer who catches Newman making contact with a farmer and his wife who are friendly to the West. Newman’s object is to convince the East Germans he is defecting while in fact trying to obtain nuclear secrets from “Professor Lindt” played by Ludvig Donath who is just one of many excellent character actors (most of whom are of eastern or central European background). But the body is discovered whereupon the stars start looking over their shoulders and then “make a run for it”. Look for the wonderful Lila Kedrova’s performance as Countess Luchinska (a polish noble desperate to get to the US) that is sadly humorous and pathetic at the same time; the striking Prima Ballerina and actress Tamara Toumanova (she, “discovered” by Balanchine, in effect named “Kukla” of Kukla, Fran and Ollie fame) who betrays the Americans on the run (but who ends up the butt of a little comic relief at the end); and the very prolific Ludwig Donath as “Herr Jacoby”, the leader of an underground organization (who fans of the Original Star Trek will recognize from “A Taste of Armageddon” first aired February, 1967, just after the movie’s 1966 release). Shot in color, we get a Hitchcockian moving and frightening look at the Big Brother culture of East Germany before the Wall came down. Good story, excellent performances by the stars AND the supporting cast, this film is well worth the price of admission if you want to be on the edge of your seat for two hours and eight minutes.