* DesignatedHero: Mostly because he's played by a weak actor (Frederick Stafford who appeared in many European B-Films) but even otherwise, the film's "hero" is an adulterous and duplicitious ManipulativeBastard who is so incompetent that he endangers his allies and his family.
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Roscoe Lee Browne's character and the entire Harlem segment is highly regarded, for its suspense and the set design. Especially interesting in that Dubois is one of just two prominent black characters in Hitchcock's films (Joe in ''Film/{{Lifeboat}}'' is the other one).
** Creator/JohnVernon's Cuban officer is considered a sympathetic TragicVillain in the vein of Claude Rains in ''Notorious''.
** Michel Subor as François (Devereaux's son-in-law) recovers from WhatHappenedToTheMouse syndrome and returns for some strong moments late in the film, including delivering the script's best line.
--->"I've been shot--[[OnlyAFleshWound just a little]]."
* EvilIsCool: As usual in Hitchcock, the villains are pretty cool especially when played by the likes of Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret and John Vernon.
* HarsherInHindsight: The "airport" ending shows Devereaux getting on a plane. Frederick Stafford ended up dying in a 1979 midair collision.
* OneSceneWonder: Roscoe Lee Browne as Andre's New York contact who steals the missile plans.
* PoorMansSubstitute: Frederick Stafford is pretty clearly emulating Creator/SeanConnery, who was Hitchcock's first choice to play Devereaux. Stafford was in fact one of the many actors who played the title character in the ''Film/OSS117'' films, which was one of the many [[FollowTheLeader followers]] of the Connery-era ''Film/JamesBond'' films.
* SignatureScene: The Harlem sequence and Juanita's death (especially the overhead shot) are the scenes that are considered its big "Hitchcock" moments.
* SoOkayItsAverage: Despite its reputation as arguably Creator/AlfredHitchcock's worst film, it's not actually particularly bad in and of itself, it just doesn't live up to the rest of Hitchcock's impressive filmography.
* SpecialEffectsFailure: Two really poorly-done ChromaKey shots late in the film--the DrivingADesk scene in a convertible, and Nordstrom meeting Devereaux on an airport tarmac.
* SpiritualSuccessor: After not being happy with ''Film/TornCurtain'', Hitchcock decided to make another attempt at a film that had the same scope as a Film/JamesBond movie but was more realistic and serious in depicting how spying actually works. Like ''Torn Curtain'', ''Topaz'' starts out with a character defecting to the other side of the Cold War in Copenhagen (there it was an American going to East Germany, here it's a Soviet going to America).
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