This Cold War thriller stars Paul Newman as US rocket scientist Michael
Armstrong at a convention in Norway with his assistant/fiance Sarah (Julie
Andrews).  There is some great mystery, as we can see that he has an
alterior motive for being there - one that he keeps from his fiance.  Sarah
notices that he is acting bizarrely, and she gets curious and starts
investigating.  She discovers he's going to East Berlin (behind the Iron
Curtain), not Stockholm like he had told her.  Surely he can't be a
defector... can he?  Sarah decides to follow him and ends up in Communist
Germany, where the story becomes clearer to us.

The movie starts out with a lot of intrigue, and the story is interesting,
but I found as the movie went on, and as we become privy to everyone's
motives, the film loses steam.  The last half is slow and boring.  However,
I thought the acting was great, the different camera angles and quick
closeups were good (except for that one of Newman falling down the stairs -
oof!).  However, there were also some absurdities (igniting a lighter in a
room full of gas?).  And it really bothers me how much blue screen Hitchcock
used.  The scene where Michael and Sarah are eating at an outdoor cafe.  The
waiters/clientele/tables in the background were all on blue screen.  It was
annoying because it would jump up & down ever-so-slightly, but since the two
main actors in the foreground did not move, it was very noticeable.  I know
Hitchcock wanted complete control over his environment, but I think his use
of blue screen will cause his films to age more so than they should.
Anyway, that's a comment on most Hitchcock films.  For this one in
particular, the second half just did not live up to the first half, and it
left me disappointed.
 
 
 

Quality: 5.0  Visuals: 5.5  Intensity: 5.0 
OVERALL RATING: 4.8