Torn Curtain (Universal 1966, Paul Newman, Julie Andrews)

Middling Cold War Hitchcock features one of his starriest casts. Paul Newman plays a nuclear physicist who goes undercover in East Germany to recover a secret formula. Once behind the Iron Curtain, he and fiancee Julie Andrews have to get out alive. Just okay Hitchcock, but that’s better than most.

Torn Curtain marked the rupture of one of cinema’s most important collaborations, between director Alfred Hitchcock and composer Bernard Herrmann, who had done seven films together, including such classics as Vertigo (1958) and Psycho (1960).

production details
USA | Universal | 128 minutes | 1966

Producer and Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Director of Photography: John F. Warren
Editor: Bud Hoffman
Music: John Addison
Script: Brian Moore
Art Direction: Frank Arrigo

cast
Julie Andrews as Sarah Sherman
Paul Newman as Michael Armstrong
Günter Strack as Dr. Karl Manfred
Hansjörg Felmy as Heinrich Gerhard
Ludwig Donath as Prof. Gustav Lindt
Wolfgang Kieling as Hermann Gromek
Mort Mills as Pi
Carolyn Conwell as Farmer’s Wife
Gisela Fischer as Dr. Koska
Norbert Schiller as Prof. Gutman
David Opatoshu as Herr Jacobi
Lila Kedrova as Countess Kuchinska
Tamara Toumanova as Ballerina