Line #28 Film/TornCurtain


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/torn_curtain.jpg]]
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3	''Torn Curtain'' is a 1966 political {{thriller}}, directed by Creator/AlfredHitchcock and starring Creator/PaulNewman and Creator/JulieAndrews.
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5	Michael Armstrong (Newman) is an esteemed American physicist and rocket scientist. He is supposed to attend a scientific conference in Copenhagen, but instead heads for East Berlin. Apparently defecting to East Germany. He is soon followed by Sarah Sherman (Andrews), his assistant and fiancée. She is very reluctant in doing so but remains loyal to him.
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7	The defection is actually a ruse. Armstrong wants to meet Gustav Lindt (Ludwig Donath), the chief scientist in the East German military, to establish the extent of the Eastern Bloc's knowledge on anti-missile systems. He supposedly has a way to exit the country at will. Stasi, the East German state security service, has a very different view on the matter. Armstrong and Sherman are about to find out that entering East Germany was easy. Leaving East Germany is another matter entirely.
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9	Generally viewed as a letdown after Hitchcock's remarkable decade-and-a-half run, faulted for an unengaging script and a lack of chemistry between Newman and Andrews (one writer observed that in their scenes together they seem like they're characters from two entirely different films). But it's still intriguing as Hitchcock's reaction to the Franchise/JamesBond series (which borrowed a lot of its style from his own ''Film/{{North by Northwest}}''), and for its colorful European setting and characters.
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12	!!Troped Curtain:
13	* AlliterativeName: Sarah Sherman.
14	* AntiVillain: Karl Manfred, Michael's East German contact, holds Armstrong in high regard as a scientist and doesn't seem totally happy to be aiding the Stasi as they keep tabs on Michael.
15	* ATeamFiring: When the bus is stopped, an East German soldier fires into the fleeing crowd with a fully automatic rifle, and we're later told only one person was even grazed.
16	* BadassLongcoat: Gromek's leather overcoat.
17	* BavarianFireDrill: Michael shouts "Fire!" in a crowded theatre as a distraction to escape from the East German police. It's believed to be the only reason why the film was rated R before 1984.
18	* BreakHerHeartToSaveHer: Michael does this to Sarah (in a way) to keep his secrets from her at the beginning of the film.
19	* CaptainObvious: Upon being told that Michael is going to East Berlin, Sarah points out "But--that's behind the Iron Curtain!" Even the film's writers hated that line but Hitchcock refused to change it, probably because it functions as a semi-TitleDrop.
20	* CityOfSpies: East Berlin; not just the Stasi but [[DeepCoverAgent Deep Cover Agents]] working against the Commies.
21	* CoolOldLady: Countess Kuchinska, a little eccentric but [[spoiler: she sacrifices her own chance to get to America by helping the heroes get away.]]
22	* CreatorCameo: Hitchcock holding a baby on his knee in the lobby of the hotel in Copenhagen, while the score briefly plays the "Funeral March of a Marionette" riff.
23	* EurekaMoment: Lindt has one upon realizing [[spoiler: he's been giving up his secrets while learning nothing from Armstrong in return.]]
24	* FakeDefector: Michael Armstrong uses defection to East Germany as a cover for helping America in the UsefulNotes/ColdWar.
25	* FauxAffablyEvil: Gromek tries to ingratiate himself to Armstrong by noting that he lived in New York for a while, and expresses fondness for American culture, but he's too ObviouslyEvil for it to really work.
26	* GracefulLoser: When [[spoiler: Countess Kuchinska is unable to get away along with Michael and Sarah. She sadly notes her disappointment, but apparently doesn't blame the couple.]]
27	* HiddenInPlainSight: Professor Lindt's anti-missile equations are on a chalk board for any and all to see. Makes sense since he was working at a (supposedly) secure facility were only authorized personnel would be allowed inside.
28	* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Michael justifies his risky, reckless scheme by saying it will help America and ultimately help eliminate the nuclear threat, but he has to lie to his fiancée, then betray his East German hosts to accomplish it. Then he has to help cover up a killing.
29	* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Averted with Michael, who teaches at the University of Chicago and got his doctorate at Caltech.
30	* {{Jerkass}}: The Ballerina.
31	* MacGuffin: [[spoiler: The Soviet Union's anti-missile system equations.]]
32	* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Michael and Sarah are frequently referred to as "the Americans," with Sarah even sponsoring someone's American citizenship - no one ever questions Creator/JulieAndrews's undisguised English accent.
33	* PlotBasedVoiceCancellation: Michael revealing to Sarah that he's a FakeDefector is depicted via a distant SilenceIsGolden long shot.
34	* RasputinianDeath: Hermann Gromek, the first Stasi agent Armstrong attempts to kill, takes a good long while to go down, including spending most of the climactic fight with a butcher knife sticking out of his chest. Hitchcock's main goal with the film was to show how hard it could really be to kill someone.
35	* RealityHasNoSubtitles: None of the spoken German is subtitled, but it's usually obvious what's being said.
36	* LaResistance: Pi, the underground anti-Communist network that Michael works with.
37	* SilkHidingSteel: The seemingly-simple farmer's wife seems quite knowledgeable about how to kill people and hide bodies. Presumably she's also a Pi agent with an intelligence background.
38	* TheStoolPigeon: The driver of TheTaxi who took Michael to the farm[[note]]Played by Peter Lorre Jr., who ''wasn't'' Creator/PeterLorre's son, but a guy named Eugene Weingand who changed his name to capitalize on his resemblance to Lorre[[/note]] informs the Stasi about the whole incident when he sees a news story about Gromek's disappearance.
39	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: It turns out that killing someone isn't as easy as it looks in the movies. This was a deliberate choice by Hitchcock because a number of spy thrillers at the time made killing look effortless.

Context Film / TornCurtain