The fizzles of October

Topaz

(1969)

For the first 30 to 45 minutes, I was pleasant surprised by this take on the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, and it certainly was fun to range from Moscow (stock footage) to Copenhagen to Washington to New York to Havana (sound stage) to Paris, but the last 6 or 7 hours got kinda draggy. I suspect this could still be pretty gripping if the Hitchcock estate were to hire a good editor. And any editor could get it under 2 hours and improve it significantly.

This is the antepenultimate of the zillion Hitch films I've watched over the past 14 months or so, by the way. Actually, just counted: after I've screened Family Plot and Frenzy (in that order, opposite their release order, because I already know I like the necktie-murder flick, and I want to be sure to finish on a high note), I'll have seen 42 Hitchcock features, including his last 34. Golly!