Torn Curtain

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Year Released: 1966
Rating: 2.0

Not good Hitchcock - Torn Curtain, compared to his other "thrillers" (including Topaz), doesn't even have any forward momentum. Paul Newman is a double agent on mission behind the Iron Curtain to find some anti-missile information (a McGuffin) and Julie Andrews plays his barely-there fiancé (she knows little to nothing about Newman's character - it must have been a quick courtship). There are two really good moments - the murder at the farm (which is wonderfully shot and edited - Hitch uses the lack of a score to heighten tension) and the bus ride near the end that uses rear-projection effectively. It's all very flat and monotonous - and Newman has never been less charismatic (though I grant that his part isn't that well written).