'Torn Curtain' Rising

After watching Torn Curtain on the DVD, I had to then watch this chronicle of the making of it and the not-so-great reactions of both director Alfred Hitchcock and star Paul Newman to the script. They both had problems with it with Newman, especially, wondering about his character's motivations. This was the film that contributed to Hitch's breakup with usual collaborator composer Bernard Herrmann as the latter didn't follow his boss' instructions to the letter, possibly because of some mixup. The DVD provided some of Herrmann's scores on another bonus track and this documentary plays both Herrmann's and replacement composer John Addison's cues for the killing scene though Hitch eventually decided neither score would be used for that sequence. Another cut sequence involved the killed person's brother who was played by the same actor. Those scenes were only available as stills as it seems the actual sequence on film no longer exists. While the written narration acknowledges this particular film isn't a classic on the order of North By Northwest or other like films in Hitch's filmography, it says it's still entertaining enough of which I somewhat agree.

This is one of the two featurettes on the DVD of Torn Curtain, and the only of the two that is an actual behind-the-scenes(the other is about the music of Bernard Hermann) documentary(note that it gives away the ending) of the film. It consists of clips of the movie(at times quite humorously and ironically edited), still pictures, portions of the script and narration(I don't know the guy, but he does quite well). This goes into the camera-work, cutting, many of the key elements of the picture, Hitchcock's methods(at the time considered to be out-dated, as the medium saw the rise of a new generation), his recent box-office failures and his sardonic wit(the letter he wrote Newman is priceless… the only way it could possibly be better would be to hear him read it aloud himself, which is of course impossible if no recording exists… R.I.P., you cinematic genius who was hilarious to boot), as well as, of course, the situation surrounding the production, with all its problems. This is a very informative 32 and a half minutes. There is disturbing content in this. I recommend this to any fan of the master of suspense. 7/10