Torn Curtain movie storyline. Professor Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman) is heading to Copenhagen, Denmark to attend a physics conference accompanied by his assistant and fiancée Sarah Sherman (Dame Julie Andrews). Once arrived however, Michael informs her that he may be staying for awhile and she should return home.
She follows him and realizes he’s actually heading to East Germany, behind the Iron Curtain. She follows him there and is shocked when he announces that he’s defecting to the East after the U.S. government cancelled his research project. In fact, Michael is there to obtain information from a renowned East German scientist. Once the information is obtained, he and Sarah now have to make their way back to the West.
Torn Curtain is a 1966 American political thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Paul Newman, Julie Andrews, Lila Kedrova, Hansjörg Felmy, Tamara Toumanova, Ludwig Donath, Wolfgang Kieling, David Opatoshu, Gisela Fischer, Carolyn Conwell, Arthur Gould-Porter, Gloria Govrin, Lili Garner. Written by Brian Moore, the film is set in the Cold War. It is about an American scientist who appears to defect behind the Iron Curtain to East Germany.
About the Story
In 1965, Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman), a US physicist and rocket scientist, is traveling to a conference in Copenhagen with his assistant and fiancée, Sarah Sherman (Julie Andrews). Armstrong receives a radiogram to pick up a book in Copenhagen; it contains a message which says, “Contact π in case of emergency.” He tells Sherman he is going to Stockholm, but she discovers he is flying to East Berlin and follows him. When they land, he is welcomed by representatives of the East German government. Sherman realizes that Armstrong has defected, and is appalled that, given the circumstances of the Cold War, if she stays with him, she will likely never see her home or family again.
Armstrong visits a contact, a “farmer” (Mort Mills), where it is revealed that his defection is in fact a ruse to gain the confidence of the East German scientific establishment, in order to learn how much their chief scientist Gustav Lindt (Ludwig Donath) and by extension, the Soviet Union, knows about anti-missile systems.
Armstrong has made preparations to return to the West via an escape network, known as π. However, he was followed to the farm by his official guard, Hermann Gromek (Wolfgang Kieling), an East German security officer. Gromek realizes what π is and that Armstrong is a double agent, and as Gromek is calling the police, a tortuous fight scene commences that ends with Gromek being killed by Armstrong and the farmer’s wife (Carolyn Conwell). Gromek and his motorcycle are then buried. The taxicab driver (Peter Lorre Jr., uncredited) who drove Armstrong to the farm, however, sees Armstrong’s picture in the newspaper reports him to the police.
Visiting the physics faculty of Karl Marx University in Leipzig, Armstrong’s interview with the scientists ends abruptly when he is questioned by security officials about the missing Gromek. The faculty try to interrogate Sherman about her knowledge of the American “Gamma Five” anti-missile program, but she refuses to cooperate and runs from the room, even though she has agreed to defect to East Germany. At this point, Armstrong secretly confides to her his actual motives, and asks her to go along with the ruse.
Armstrong finally goads Professor Lindt into revealing his anti-missile equations in a fit of pique over what Lindt believes are Armstrong’s mathematical mistakes. When Lindt hears over the university’s loudspeaker system that Armstrong and Sherman are being sought for questioning, he realizes that he has given up his secrets while learning nothing in return. Armstrong and Sherman escape from the school with the help of the university clinic physician Dr. Koska (Gisela Fischer).
The couple travel to East Berlin, pursued by the Stasi, in a decoy bus operated by the π network, led by Mr. Jacobi (David Opatoshu). Roadblocks, highway robbery by Soviet Army deserters, and bunching with the “real” bus result in the police becoming aware of the deception, and everyone fleeing.
While looking for the Friedrichstraße post office, the two encounter the exiled Polish countess Kuchinska (Lila Kedrova) who leads them to the post office in hopes of being sponsored for a US visa. The group are spotted by a member of the public and Kuchinska trips the guard, allowing Armstrong and Sherman to escape to their next destination.
Torn Curtain (1966)
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Paul Newman, Julie Andrews, Lila Kedrova, Hansjörg Felmy, Tamara Toumanova, Ludwig Donath, Wolfgang Kieling, David Opatoshu, Gisela Fischer, Carolyn Conwell, Arthur Gould-Porter, Gloria Govrin, Lili Garner
Screenplay by: Brian Moore
Production Design by: Hein Heckroth
Cinematography by: John F. Warren
Film Editing by: Bud Hoffman
Set Decoration by: George Milo
Art Direction by: Frank Arrigo
Music by: John Addison
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: July 14, 1966 (United States)
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