Topaz (1969 film)

Topaz is a 1969 American espionage thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Based on the 1967 Cold War novel Topaz by Leon Uris, the film is about a French intelligence agent who becomes entangled in the Cold War politics of the events leading up to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and later the breakup of an international Russian spy ring in France. The story is closely based on the 1962 Sapphire Affair, which involved the head of French Intelligence SDECE in the United States, and spy Philippe Thyraud de Vosjolia friend of Leon Uriswho played an important role in helping the U.S. discover the presence of Russian offensive missiles in Cuba. The film stars Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin, John Vernon, Karin Dor, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret, Claude Jade, Michel Subor and John Forsythe.

In New York City, Devereaux entrusts a familiar contact, a recently retired FrenchHaitian agent named Philippe Dubois Roscoe Lee Browne, with executing the operation. Uribe is the secretary to Cuban official Rico Parra John Vernon, who is in New York to appear at the United Nations and staying at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem to show solidarity with the African American community, which the Cuban Communists and their Soviet masters frequently propagandize as the masses. Dubois, taking the identity of a black journalist from Ebony magazine, sneaks into the hotel, which is seething with visitors and surrounded by an enthusiastic mob. He bribes Uribe to take the documents from Parras office to photograph, but Parra realizes the plans are gone and catches Dubois photographing the documents. While being chased and shot at by Cuban revolutionaries, Dubois purposefully bumps into Devereauxwho was watching events from the other side of the streetand slips the camera into his hand. A Cuban guard helps Devereaux to get up, stares at him, and lets him go. Dubois escapes from his Cuban pursuers, melting into the crowd around the hotel.Dubois photos confirm that the Soviets are secretly transporting and placing missiles in Cuba. Devereaux, ignoring his wifes fear and accusations of infidelity, jets off to Cuba to find out more details. He catches up with his mistress, Juanita de Cordoba Karin Dor, who is a widow to a wealthy hero of the Revolution. As leader of the local underground resistance network, Juanita works undercover to collect information as Parras lover. Upon his arrival, Devereaux finds Parra leaving Juanitas mansion, and Parra indicated he was just in New York City, but the visit was routine and uneventful. During a scene of intimacy in the mansion, Devereaux asks Juanita to take photos of the missiles as they are unloaded from Russian boats at the harbor. ........

Source: Wikipedia