|
''Topaz'' is a 1969 American espionage thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Based on the 1967 Cold War novel ''Topaz'' by Leon Uris, the film is about a French intelligence agent who becomes entangled in the Cold War politics of the events leading up to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and later the breakup of an international Russian spy ring in France. The story is closely based on the 1962 Sapphire Affair, which involved the head of French Intelligence SDECE in the United States, and spy Philippe Thyraud de Vosjoli—a friend of Leon Uris〔—who played an important role in "helping the U.S. discover the presence of Russian offensive missiles in Cuba".〔 The film stars Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin, John Vernon, Karin Dor, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret, Claude Jade, Michel Subor and John Forsythe. ==Plot== In Copenhagen in 1962, a high-ranking Soviet intelligence officer, Boris Kusenov (Per-Axel Arosenius), defects to the West with his wife and daughter after a chase through the streets to the US embassy. In Washington DC, CIA agent Mike Nordstrom (John Forsythe) debriefs him and learns that Russian ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads are to be placed in Cuba. Needing physical evidence of the missiles, he contacts an old friend, French agent André Devereaux (Frederick Stafford), at his house in Georgetown. Nordstrom discloses Kusenov's name to Devereaux, asking him to bribe Luis Uribe, a member of Cuba's U.N. delegation, to provide photographs of documents confirming the missile bases in Cuba (knowing that Uribe hates the United States and would never cooperate with an American agent). Devereaux decides to accompany his daughter Michèle (Claude Jade) on her honeymoon with journalist François Picard (Michel Subor) as a reason to go to New York City. His wife Nicole (Dany Robin) is worried and tries to dissuade him. In New York City, Devereaux entrusts a familiar contact, a recently retired French-Haitian agent named Philippe Dubois (Roscoe Lee Browne), with executing the operation. Uribe is the secretary to Cuban official Rico Parra (John Vernon), who is in New York to appear at the United Nations and staying at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem to show solidarity with the African American community, which the Cuban Communists and their Soviet masters frequently propagandize as "the masses". Dubois, taking the identity of a black journalist from ''Ebony'' magazine, sneaks into the hotel, which is seething with visitors and surrounded by an enthusiastic mob. He bribes Uribe to take the documents from Parra's office to photograph, but Parra realizes the plans are gone and catches Dubois photographing the documents. While being chased and shot at by Cuban revolutionaries, Dubois purposefully bumps into Devereaux—who was watching events from the other side of the street—and slips the camera into his hand. A Cuban guard helps Devereaux to get up, stares at him, and lets him go. Dubois escapes from his Cuban pursuers, melting into the crowd around the hotel. Dubois' photos confirm that the Soviets are secretly transporting and placing missiles in Cuba. Devereaux, ignoring his wife's fear and accusations of infidelity, jets off to Cuba to find out more details. He catches up with his mistress, Juanita de Cordoba (Karin Dor), who is a widow to a wealthy "hero of the Revolution". As leader of the local underground resistance network, Juanita works undercover to collect information as Parra's lover. Upon his arrival, Devereaux finds Parra leaving Juanita's mansion, and Parra indicated he was just in New York City, but the visit was routine and uneventful. During a scene of intimacy in the mansion, Devereaux asks Juanita to take photos of the missiles as they are unloaded from Russian boats at the harbor. Juanita instructs her loyal domestic staff to help take the photos. Carlotta and Pablo Mendoza pose as picnickers on a hill overlooking the harbor and photograph the unloading of Soviet missiles. They are discovered when hungry seagulls descend upon their lunch and give their position away. The two are able to hide the incriminating film in the railing of a bridge. Soon after, Parra's man, during a mass rally and lengthy speech by the "''líder máximo''", recognizes Devereaux's face from the incident in front of the hotel. Parra, who has heard from the maimed and tortured Carlotta Mendoza that Juanita is their leader, confronts Juanita and, hugging her in his arms, shoots her to save her from being tortured to death. Her dress spreads beneath her collapsing body like a purple bloodstain on the black-and-white pavement tiles. At the Havana airport, Devereaux is searched thoroughly at the departure gate, but the Cuban authorities are unable to find the carefully hidden microfilms, which provide crucial information for the CIA about Soviet activities in Cuba. When Devereaux arrives back in Washington DC to deliver the microfilm to Nordstrom, he finds his home empty: his wife has left him due to his Cuban love affair and returned to Paris. At this point, the film changes course as Devereaux is also recalled to Paris, but before he leaves, he is informed by Kusonov (in Nordstrom's protection) about the existence of a Soviet spy organization called "Topaz" within the French intelligence service. He is given the name of one certain member, NATO official Henri Jarré (Philippe Noiret), who leaked documents to the KGB. When he arrives in Paris, Devereaux attempts to get to the bottom of the leak, while his daughter Michèle wants to reconcile her parents. He invites some of his old friends and colleagues, including Jarré, to a lunch at a fine restaurant under the pretext of helping Devereaux prepare for his inquiry. While Jarré eats, Devereaux tells the others about Topaz in order to provoke some reaction. Jarré answers that all this is a piece of misinformation, since he knows that Kusenov, the Russian official, in fact died a year ago. Soon after, Jarré begins to panic, and visits the man who is the leader of the spy ring, Jacques Granville (Michel Piccoli), who answers the door in his night gown, "waiting for somebody." Granville tells Jarré that it was a mistake to say that Kusenov was dead, as the Americans will just check and realize that Jarré is lying. As Jarré is leaving Granville's house, Devereaux's wife arrives to meet Granville. As they kiss, we see a photo on a stand of Devereaux, Nicole, and Granville, who were old friends from their days together in the French Resistance. Devereaux sends his son-in-law, François, to interview and extract information from Jarré. François calls Devereaux from Jarré's home, but the call is cut short. Devereaux and Michèle rush together to Jarré's flat and find him dead, a staged suicide as if Jarré had jumped out of the window; François has disappeared. Devereaux and Michèle return to Nicole's, and a short time later François arrives. After being clubbed and kidnapped, he recovered and managed to escape from his captors' car. He has overheard a phone number and shows a sketch of Jarré. Nicole, who was staring at the window then turns around and tells her family, with tearful eyes, that the phone number is Granville's, so he must be the leader of the Topaz organization. Granville is exposed and then commits suicide (in the USA and French versions) or flees to the Soviet Union (in the British version). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Topaz (1969 film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|