Torn Curtain Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Torn Curtain Blu-ray Movie Review

"How does it feel to play the part of a dirty defector?"

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown November 10, 2012

A man confronts his accuser atop the Statue of Liberty, where one false move will spell death. A wolf in sheep's clothing allows the beast lurking within to bear its teeth. A housemaster slowly, oh so slowly, pieces together the heinous crime perpetrated by two former students. A woman searches for clues in a suspected murderer's apartment just as the man returns home. Four people work to keep the demise of a fellow smalltown resident a secret from a local deputy. An assassin's gun slides out from behind a curtain as an ordinary man races to thwart his plot. An airplane buzzes then roars past as a man dives for cover. The hiss of a shower masks the approach of a madman with a knife in his hand. Countless birds gather on a jungle gym as a woman smokes a cigarette nearby. A husband barges into his new wife's bedroom and has his way with her as she retreats into a near-catatonic state. A physicist discovers killing a man isn't as easy as it might seem, wrestling with his victim right up until the violent end. A purple dress billows out beneath a dying woman like spilled blood. A serial killer retrieves his pin from a woman's grasp, one dead finger at a time. A fake psychic tries to squirm out of a thief's vice-like grip as he pushes a syringe closer and closer. Be it drama, horror or comedy, psychological stunner, monster movie or international spy thriller, is it any mystery that filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock was known as the Master of Suspense? Is it any wonder his movies still hold hypnotic sway over filmfans all these years later?

A world-famous scientist goes undercover to get top-secret information and ends up running for his life...

Hitchcock latched onto singular ideas and erected films around them. Torn Curtain's most famous scene -- Paul Newman's undercover scientist Michael Armstrong's battle to the last brutal breath with East German security officer Hermann Gromek (Wolfgang Kieling) -- was born out of the director's irritation with glossy Hollywood death scenes, which he deemed too easy, too quick and too tidy. The film, though, never quite eclipses its violent centerpiece, and for numerous reasons. Newman is quiet but magnetic; co-star Julie Andrews, whom Universal thrust upon Hitchcock, is serviceable but feels out of place. Their chemistry, meanwhile, is anything but. Brian Moore's script doesn't help. It's an overworked, over-plotted Cold War paranoia piece, and it lacks palpable momentum, gripping stakes and a strong third act. Worse perhaps is the fact that the story shifts so jarringly from Armstrong's fiancée Sarah (Andrews) to the man himself. Either perspective could have made for a more cohesive film. As it is, each one competes with the other and neither one gels when the two finally come together. As a spy thriller it lurches. As an exercise in suspense it doesn't go for the kill consistently or frequently enough. As an international drama it loses steam and falters too often to accomplish everything Hitchcock set out to do. Torn Curtain isn't a bad Masterpiece Collection offering by any means. It just isn't one of the legendary filmmaker's masterpieces.

Torn Curtain Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

In the middle of the Masterpiece Collection's more baffling, issue-ridden presentations -- The Birds, Marnie, Frenzy and Family Plot -- comes Torn Curtain and its carefully tailored 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer. The movie may not be the greatest, but the image delivers and looks better than it ever has before. There are a few small problems (some errant noise and print blemishes), but nothing in the way of the debilitating nonsense that's yet to come. Colors and contrast, though intentionally subdued, are dialed in nicely, with well-saturated, lifelike skintones, vivid splashes of red, natural shadows and satisfying black levels. Detail is excellent as well. While a prevailing softness limits the end result, edges are cleanly defined, many a fine texture is showcased beautifully, and noise reduction and other digital techniques are used judiciously and transparently. As it stands, it's a filmic presentation, a striking rejuvenation and altogether an unexpected surprise.

Torn Curtain Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hitchcock did as much with sound as he did with visuals, and Torn Curtain, for all its faults, is a masterclass in subtle sound design that elevates otherwise routine genre scenes into something far more unnerving. Or distressing. Serene. Exciting. Intense. Whatever Hitchcock chose to deploy. Thankfully, Universal's two-channel DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix doesn't deviate from its source; it only makes it that much more effective. Dialogue is clean, clear and perfectly prioritized, John Addison's punctuates the soundscape nicely, and every effect, however hushed or deliberately delicate, has been drawn out of hiding for all to hear. (Armstrong's struggle with Gromek is a highlight made all the more gruesome by way of the all too clear lossless audio.) The verdict? No complaints from me.

Torn Curtain Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Torn Curtain Rising (SD, 32 minutes): "Ordinary and sluggish." That was just one of many criticisms leveled at Torn Curtain upon its original release, and "Rising" doesn't attempt to sidestep such harsh reactions. Instead, it tackles the film's reception head on, detailing its troubled development, rushed shoot, soundstage and location challenges, Hitchcock's resistance and uncertainty in casting Julie Andrews, his clashes with Paul Newman, filmmaking techniques that defied current trends, and Hitch and composer Bernard Herrmann's falling out. And yet the documentary retains a respect and appreciation for the movie and delivers a compelling argument for Curtain's value, even in the wake of classics like Vertigo and Psycho.
• Scenes Scored by Bernard Herrmann (SD, 14 minutes): View scenes with music cues and arrangements from Bernard Herrmann's original score (among them the murder sequence), composed before he was replaced by John Addison.
• Production Photographs (SD, 22 minutes): Movie posters, vintage ads, production photos and more.
• Theatrical Trailer (SD, 3 minutes)

Torn Curtain Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Newman did his best despite a contentious relationship with Hitchcock, and Torn Curtain's second act is a solid film in its own right. It's what comes before and after -- a dull, rote spy thriller -- that spoils things. Universal's Blu-ray edition is far more satisfying at least. It offers one of the more refined AV presentations in the Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection box set (thanks to an excellent video transfer and impressive DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track) and it has a small but respectable supplemental package to boot. Ultimately, Torn Curtain will mainly be remembered for its Armstrong-v-Gromek pursuit and showdown. The rest of the movie underwhelms.