``Torn Curtain'' Hitchcock's ambitious attempt at a spy thriller *Note! Contains spoilers.

A spy movie inspired by a true story

Torn Curtain is inspired by the true story of British diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald MacLean, who defected to the Soviet Union. They were part of a spy group called the Cambridge Five (so-called because all members studied at Cambridge University), and secretly passed sensitive information to the Soviet Union. But Hitchcock was interested not in such political maneuvers, but in the fact that Donald MacLean's wife had followed her husband into exile in the Soviet Union.

"I got a hint from the case of two British diplomats, Burgess and MacLean, who abandoned their homeland and went into exile in Russia. Burgess was single, but MacLean had a wife. How did Mrs MacLean feel? I wondered what she must have felt when her husband betrayed his country and sold himself behind the Iron Curtain.'' (*)

The 1960s was a time of flourishing spy films, including the first James Bond movie, Dr. No (62), and John le Carré's The Spy Who Returned from the Cold (1965). It's not hard to imagine that Hitchcock, a master of thriller films, embarked on this project with a heavy heart, saying, ``007 and le Carre are the best! I've made a really funny spy movie!''

“Torn Curtain” (c)Photofest / Getty Images

Surprisingly, the person Hitchcock asked to write the script for this film was Vladimir Nabokov, known as the author of `` Lolita .'' When director Stanley Kubrick adapted this work into a film, Nabokov wrote the scenario himself, demonstrating his extraordinary talent as a screenwriter. However, political thrillers were too different from his field, so he politely declined the offer.

Brian Moore, a novelist who has been nominated for the Man Booker Prize three times, was ultimately chosen as the scriptwriter. He moved to Hollywood and wrote the script, but Hitchcock was dissatisfied with it and hired new actors Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall to completely rewrite it. They were busy revising lines even during filming.

After much painstaking efforts, ``Torn Curtain'' was finally formed as a spy thriller.

Conflict with Paul Newman