Topaz (1969)

Topaz (1969)

In Hitchcock's slow-paced and plodding Cold War-era political espionage spy-thriller featured the themes of intrigue, betrayal, and deceit - it was set on the eve of the two-week Cuban Missile Crisis (October 14 - 28, 1962), and told about the efforts of a French intelligence agent to investigate and break up an international Soviet spy ring that was passing NATO secrets to the Russians and aiding the Soviets in planning to install missiles in Cuba. It was based on author Leon Uris' best-selling 1967 novel Topaz - a retelling of a real-life spy incident that had occurred in France during the Presidency of Charles de Gaulle.

The film's locales included Copenhagen, Harlem, Cuba (actually California), and Paris. The film had no American actor stars (except for John Forsythe), and instead featured many well-known European film stars who were involved in two different love triangles. The unwieldy, overdone plot with far too many characters (and their motivations) to keep track of, was actually tri-fold - beginning with the defection of a Soviet KGB agent to Washington DC, then a prolonged espionage and love-story adventure amongst Cuban revolutionaries (in Harlem, NY and in the Havana area) and Soviet missiles being brought into Cuba, and thirdly the investigation in Paris into a French spy ring of traitorous NATO diplomats known as "Topaz" (the film's MacGuffin).

The plot of the over-long, boring and episodic film (with a hastily-written screenplay by Samuel A. Taylor) was fairly complex, signified by the fact that there were three vastly-different endings shot for the film. Universal demanded that Hitchcock release the film theatrically (in France and the US) with its preferred ending - an off-screen suicide. Hitchcock's preferred ending (released in the UK) was one in which the criminal conspirator escaped unpunished from the Paris airport bound for Moscow.

The film was a financial failure (Hitchcock's third flop in a row) - its budget of 4ドル-6 million brought in weak box-office revenue of only 3ドル million.

• the opening title credits sequence was backed by images of a major Soviet military parade in Moscow's Red Square in the USSR in 1962 - [Note: the May Day Parade in the film was shot in 1967 during the 50th Anniversary of the October Revolution]
• a title screen described: "SOMEWHERE IN THIS CROWD IS A HIGH RUSSIAN OFFICIAL WHO DISAGREES WITH HIS GOVERNMENT'S DISPLAY OF FORCE AND WHAT IT THREATENS. VERY SOON HIS CONSCIENCE WILL FORCE HIM TO ATTEMPT AN ESCAPE WHILE APPARENTLY ON VACATION WITH HIS FAMILY"
• in Copenhagen in 1962, a high-ranking, bureaucratic Soviet intelligence officer of the KGB, Colonel Boris Kusenov (Per-Axel Arosenius), departed by foot from the Soviet Embassy; he was accompanied by his wife (Sonja Kolthoff) and teenaged daughter Tamara Kusenov (Tina Hedstrom); in an attempt to avoid being followed - in a well-executed chase sequence, they entered a Danish porcelain-art shop/gallery and then split up; as her parents went in a different direction, the daughter used a back office phone to call CIA intelligence agent Michael "Mike" Nordstrom (John Forsythe) in the city, who directed her to proceed with her parents at 5:15 pm to the busy downtown Den Permanente department store
• at the appointed time, US agents (including Nordstrom) assisted the family to scramble into a black Rolls-Royce getaway car while avoiding Soviet agents in pursuit [Note: Nordstrom was reading a NY Herald Tribune newspaper with the headlines: "SOVIET BOMB, BIGGEST, "DIRTIEST," SHOCKS THE WORLD -- THE WHYS OF IT"]; the family was immediately driven to an airport to board a USAF "Airlift" military plane to Wiesbaden, Germany (and then would take a C135 to the Washington, DC area); the ungrateful and obnoxious Kusenov complained to Nordstrom about the rescue operation, calling it "very clumsy"; upon the Kusenovs' arrival in the US, they were driven to a safe house outside of the city
• meanwhile, a "very expert" and "dedicated" French intelligence agent André Devereaux (Frederick Stafford), working in the DC area was called into work at the French Embassy to meet with two French colleagues - a French diplomat Renee d'Arcy (George Skaff) and French officer (Ben Wright); he was notified of news from Paris (not from the Americans) that the Russian Kusenov had defected: "A high Russian intelligence official has defected to the Americans," and that the French government was being asked to find out where the Kusenov family was being hidden; Devereaux was curious: "I just wonder how Paris got the information"
• in the DC-area safehouse where the Kusenov family was being hidden, haughty KGB officer Col. Kusenov was questioned by US officials (including Nordstrom), who confirmed that four classified, top-secret NATO documents had been leaked to him and other Soviets; when asked if the word "TOPAZ" meant something to him as a code word in intelligence matters, he denied knowing anything about it

• that evening, Nordstrom was invited to dine at the home of his old friend André Devereaux; before they met, André's complaining wife Nicole (Dany Robin) expressed her dissatisfaction and reluctance with being in the US, and emphatically told her husband that she was fearful for his safety: "You are French. You're not supposed to be mixed up in this Cold War between the Americans and the Russians. You are neutral"; after dinner, Nordstrom confided in Devereaux that the Russian agent was detained in a safehouse outside Washington
• another newspaper headline in The Alexandria Gazette announced the political backdrop: "CONGRESS CONCERNED OVER RUSSIAN ACTIVITY IN CUBA"
• the next day during a further debriefing of Kusenov, the Russian agent specified that there were about 5,000 Russian military and civilian technicians now in Cuba: ("They came bearing gifts from Russia to Cuba") - but dubiously denied knowing any more details; he directed the US officials to learn more by speaking to Cuban government revolutionary leader Rico Parra (John Vernon), who had recently met with Soviet officials and then flew to NYC to head up the Cuban delegation and attend the opening session of the UN; the Castro-like Parra had negotiated an alarming written "trade-pact" agreement with imminent plans for the Soviets to ship in and presumably supply Cuba with "offensive weapons" (Russian missiles with nuclear warheads); Kusenov suggested that Parra's compromised secretary Luis Uribe (Donald Randolph) had access to the detailed informal documents ("aide-memoir") regarding the trade-pact: ("It's all there for you to read if you can obtain it...He can be bought")
• in the next brief sequence, Devereaux and his wife Nicole arrived at the LaGuardia airport; inside the airport, they were reunited with their son-in-law journalist François Picard (Michel Subor) and his newlywed wife Michèle (Devereaux) Picard (Claude Jade) who were on their honeymoon from Paris for five days; Francois was covering the opening of the UN in the city; a taxi took the family to the St. Regis-Sheraton Hotel in downtown NY where they had reserved adjoining rooms
• to Nicole's and Andre's surprise, Nordstrom greeted them in the room with a bouquet of yellow flowers; Devereaux was persuasively urged by Nordstrom to help him learn the contents of a secret written agreement between Russia and Cuba; he was asked to contact Cuban leader Parra's secretary Luis Uribe - a member of Cuba's UN delegation that was in the city -- "Just one of your people here to photograph those papers. Just a taxi ride to Harlem. That's all we're asking. This Uribe can be bought"
• under pressure, Devereaux agreed to cooperate; after Uribe was identified as one of the UN representatives in town (from Francois' sketch book), Devereaux took a taxi into Harlem, NY and visited the Martinique Flower Shop; he introduced himself as a representative of the Franco-American Finance Co., and met personally with one of his own operatives - ex-French secret agent and Martinique native Philippe Dubois (Roscoe Lee Browne), who was posing as manager of the flower shop; in an enclosed refrigerated area for flowers (without audio), Devereaux spoke to Dubois and recruited him to contact and bribe Cuban diplomat Luis Uribe - the secretary to the visiting Cuban diplomatic official Rico Parra

• following orders, Dubois disguised himself as an Ebony Magazine journalist, and the two proceeded to walk to Harlem's nearby local Hotel Theresa where Parra's group of Cuban revolutionaries were assembled together and had set up a temporary or makeshift Cuban consulate-embassy; Devereaux observed from across the street as Dubois entered the hotel and engaged in a short discussion in the lobby with the corruptible Luis Uribe (again without dialogue); after Uribe was bribed with cash, Dubois met with him in his room's bathroom on an upper floor, and was told that the documents were locked in a red leather case sitting behind Parra's desk in his hotel room

• the two barged into Parra's hotel-room office (on the same floor) after bypassing the Cuban leader's brawny, red-haired Cuban bodyguard and right-hand man Hernandez (Carlos Rivas) at the door; Dubois distracted Parra by convincing him to have his picture taken out on the balcony as he waved to an enthusiastic crowd outside, while in the tense scene, Uribe snatched the case from behind the desk and took it to his room's bathroom; shortly later, Dubois departed on the elevator but returned to the same floor via the stairs and met up with Uribe in his room - to snap photos of the seriously-damaging documents; the photos of documents would confirm for Devereaux that the Soviets were planning to secretly transport and set up missile bases (for nuclear weapons) in Cuba
• a few minutes later, Parra was back in his office - where he found an important Cuban state document greased up and illegible after being used as a wrapper for a hamburger and fries; then, he happened to notice that his locked case was missing and was told by his typing-assistant Fernando that Uribe had taken it; Parra and Hernandez approached Uribe's room and kicked in the locked door; Dubois and Uribe were caught taking photographs of the serious-damaging documents on the bed; Dubois fled through the window and was shot at by Parra; he safely landed on a Chock Full o'Nuts awning, jumped down to the street, and fled down the sidewalk and across the street
• during a chase after him led by Hernandez, Dubois deliberately bumped into and knocked down bystander Devereaux in the crowd who was observing the chase, and was able to transfer the camera into his hands; Hernandez assisted Devereaux in getting up: ("Sorry, Senor") and then continued the pursuit; Dubois managed to escape from the Cubans and safely returned to the flower shop, however, Uribe was undoubtedly executed for his betrayal (off-screen) [Note: Later in the film, Parra described Uribe's fateful trip: "The journey from which no traveller ever returns"]
• the next day, as Devereaux prepared to fly to Cuba to investigate further, his wife Nicole was resistant: ("Let the Americans do their own dirty work"); he argued back: "I have got to see what the Russians are up to in Cuba"; Nicole was also worried about his suspected association and infidelity with the beautiful female leader of a Cuban underground network
• the headlines of the October 22, 1962 New York Times newspaper read: "Capital's Crisis Air Hints At Development on Cuba; Kennedy TV Talk is Likely"
• once Devereaux arrived in Cuba (after flying through Mexico City), he was driven up to the coastside mansion of the beautiful, widowed Juanita de Cordoba (German actress Karin Dor); before leaving his chauffeured car, Devereaux spoke to his assistant about planning to meet up the following day in Havana; as Devereaux walked into the mansion, he was greeted by his ex-mistress-lover Juanita with Rico Parra's arm draped over her shoulder; Juanita was obviously involved in a love triangle between Parra and Devereaux

• after Parra departed and they entered the mansion, the two kissed; Juanita was the widowed leader of the secret Cuban counter-revolutionary, underground Resistance movement; she warned Devereaux of the complicated political situation: "You picked a hell of a time to come. Security is tight. This island is crawling with Russians"; she agreed that Parra was her "faithful companion and protector" and also her "landlord"; Devereaux alluded to Parra's secondary mission - he had come to collect the "rent" from her in the form of sex; she had apparently associated herself with her rival in order to gather undercover information
• she wanted to know why - as a Frenchman - Devereaux had become involved in their affairs: "The French don't give a damn what the Russians do in Cuba"; he explained that he was working for the Americans and was requesting help from her organization, although she responded that most of her people were now in hiding
• in her bedroom, the bare-chested Devereaux presented Juanita (wearing a transparent nightgown) with a gift-wrapped present of a Geiger counter (and tape recorder) to detect if the Russians had brought in nuclear warheads; it would be deployed on the streets in Havana where the Soviets were transporting missiles in trucks at night; he also showed off a remote-controlled camera that could take pictures from a half-mile away; Devereaux also requested intel on the number of Soviet troop units and any new types of aircraft; then, she approached him and he began to remove her nightgown as they fell back onto the bed and began to passionately make love

• the scene abruptly ended as the two (now clothed) - the next morning - briskly walked from her bedroom; he mentioned: "It is not yet ten o'clock and we have done nearly a day's work"; he was off to Havana to "behave like an innocent commercial attache"; in Juanita's kitchen, her "boy" Tomas (John Roper) and a cook had already followed instructions and placed a camera and a long-distance lens inside two pieces of a thick bread sandwich; everything was put into a picnic basket for two loyal members of her domestic staff: Carlotta (Anna Navarro) and Pablo Mendoza (Lewis Charles)
• the Mendozas posed as lunch picnickers on a grassy hillside in order to obtain further photographs of the Soviet missiles; they were within a half-mile of the harbor at Veriel where they took photos of the missiles being unloaded from Russian boats; due to noisy and aggressive seagulls stealing large discarded pieces of bread from their lunch, the Mendozas were discovered on the hillside and shot at by two guards as they fled to their car; their attempt to pretend that their car had broken down by the side of the road failed when dripping blood from Carlotta's bullet wounded arm gave them away; the couple were arrested and detained

• shortly later, an unidentified rider on a horse retrieved their camera and lens hidden inside a bridge pipe near their abandoned car; in a Havana butcher shop, Juanita's cook retrieved a canvas case and took it back to the mansion; she and Tomas recovered the camera and lens (separately wrapped in plastic) that had been put inside a chicken carcass; Tomas opened a secret pantry door (hidden in a bookcase) to enter into a makeshift photo processing dark-room where he removed the incriminating film from the camera to begin developing the photos
• during a large mass rally that afternoon as Fidel Castro (news footage) spoke to the crowds, Rico Parra's Cuban guard Hernandez recognized Devereaux's face in the crowd, and he recalled the incident in front of the Theresa Hotel in Harlem; Parra was joined by his revolutionary followers with Juanita at his side
• that evening as Juanita dined in her mansion with Devereaux, Parra arrived and spoke about the fate of his ex-secretary Uribe who had been discovered "working for the French" (and the Americans); Parra accused Devereaux as being the Frenchman who was knocked over on the sidewalk as another French spy (who had taken photos of documents) escaped; Devereaux admitted he had been in Harlem on the night in question, but denied anything further; the wary Parra made threats against both Devereaux and Juanita: ("If it were not for her, if it were not that it might involve her, you would disappear tonight. You would be with Uribe")
• Parra went on to accuse Devereaux of spying on Soviet activities in Cuba, and thus was blackening the reputation of his revolutionary war lover Juanita; he suspected that she might be involved in duplicitous and traitorous activites with Devereaux; therefore, he ordered Devereaux to be expelled immediately: ("She is a widow of a hero of the Revolution. She is loved and honored in this country. You are an intelligence agent. Your assocation with her can put her in great danger. I want you out of the country on the next plane, early tomorrow morning. And if you have been collecting information about what the Russians are doing in Cuba to help us here, don't think for one minute you will take it out of here - you will not. You will be searched at the airport, completely. And if anything is found on you, you will be arrested")

• Juanita refused Parra's order to immediately take Devereaux back to Havana to pack his bags, and called Parra "a damn fool" for making up such a false story, to have her all to himself; she counter-threatened: "If you are doing him any harm, I will raise such hell. And you know I can"; Parra left with parting words: "Tomorrow morning"
• after spending the night with Juanita, Devereaux packed for his return to Havana before leaving Cuba; Tomas brought in Devereaux' typewriter in which he had hidden recorded tapes activated by the geiger counter at 3 o'clock that morning on the streets of Havana; the camera had recorded radiation from numerous trucks covered with canvas (hiding nuclear warhead missiles); to get the tape recordings out of the country, they were hidden in the middle of the typewriter's inked-ribbon spool; Tomas also added that information about Russian troops, the caves and the installations could be found - miniaturized within a microdot on the bottom of the typewriter's "period key"; further information was concealed in Devereaux' razor-blade cartridges; Juanita also handed Devereaux a slim book - something for him to read on the plane
• as they separated in her bedroom, Juanita forbid farewells at the front door; Devereaux suggested help if she ever needed to evacuate from Cuba, but Juanita vowed to never leave her motherland: "I'll never leave here. I am Cuban. I love my country. No matter what, I have to see it through"; they kissed one last time

• meanwhile, Parra was in the presence of the Mendoza couple, who had been captured and brutally tortured [Note: they were posed as the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus in her lap in Michelangelo's famous sculpture Pietà]; Parra asked Carlotta who had asked her to spy on the Soviet missiles being unloaded at the Cuban dock, and she was compelled to whisper her confession into Parra's ear (seen in close-up): "Juanita de Cordoba"
• Parra rushed to the mansion with a group of uniformed Cuban soldiers in jeeps to confront Juanita about her betrayal; she met them on the stairway as they raced to search her second-floor bedroom; Parra ordered her to come down to his level; he grabbed her arm as she attempted to run into the kitchen and pantry when she heard Tomas and the cook being assaulted; he asked: "You know some people named Mendoza?"; with a fearful reaction, she answered: "Yes" - he claimed they had said some "terrible things" about her, but he didn't want to believe them

• at that very moment, Parra's aide Muñoz (Roberto Contreras) divulged what they had found in the hidden pantry room: "A darkroom for cameras, for developing pictures and all kinds of machinery to make them small. And it's all true. They have been operating from this house"; a phone call was made to the airport to alert the security officials to search Frenchman Devereaux's luggage - and to specifically look for his hollowed-out razor-blades; Parra was dismayed that his lover Juanita had been working at cross-purposes with him: "So it is true. I have to believe now" - and he asked why; she answered: "Because you make my country oppressed"; he was upset by her betrayal: "To fool me. To work against me"; he threatened to torture her like the Mendozas, to force her to reveal the names of all of her counter-revolutionaries

• as he hugged her and closely brought her into his arms - he mentioned her gruesome torture: ("The things that will be done to your body - this body"), but then there was a gun-blast; he mercifully shot her in the abdomen - to save her from excruciating pain and punishment; her head was flung backwards; he lowered his gun in his right hand to his hip; during the memorable murder sequence shot from overhead, Juanita collapsed onto the black-and-white tiled floor as her purple dress billowed, swelled and expanded outwards around her like a pool of purple blood
• Muñoz was called back by the Cuban authorities at the Havana airport, who reported that they had searched Devereaux's baggage to locate the alleged microfilm, but nothing had been found in Devereaux's razor cartridges or anywhere else; they had to let him go; as he had promised Juanita, before boarding his plane, Devereaux called the mansion and learned from Muñoz that Juanita was dead: "Something has happened. She is dead. Shot. Señor Parra? He is gone"
• on his flight back to the US, the saddened Devereaux opened the slim book of poetry gifted to him by Juanita and read its dedication: "With all my love, Juanita, October 1962"; as his thumb felt the thin cover of the book, he realized the surface was uneven; he took the book to the plane's restroom, doused the cover in water, and peeled off the paper to reveal thin strips of microfilm concealed underneath [Note: Devereaux flew back to the US and arrived at Dulles Airport (VA) near Washington, DC. However, Dulles Airport opened for commercial aircraft in mid-November 1962, 3 weeks after the Cuban Missile Crisis ended.]
• once Devereaux arrived home in DC with CIA agent Nordstrom accompanying him, he hid the fact that he was shocked that his unhappy wife Nicole had deserted him due to his alleged affair with Cuban love interest Juanita; he made up the reasonable excuse that Nicole wanted to spend more time with their daughter Michele in Paris; while preparing a drink, the two were interrupted by Devereaux's colleague from the French Embassy, diplomat Renee d'Arcy; in private, d'Arcy curtly explained how protests from the Cuban government over his recent activities there had led to his immediate recall; he was ordered to return to Paris and report to the Director-General; Devereaux mused: "The end of Washington for me"; Nordstrom was sorry to see Devereaux go, since his intel from Cuba provided strong confirmation of serious problems in Cuba
• before leaving, Nordstrom urged Devereaux to join him at the safe-house, where Soviet intelligence officer Boris Kusenov had made some startling revelations, during Devereaux's absence, about leaks in Paris; Devereaux listened as Kusenov again spoke about the existence of "Topaz" - a code-name for a group of elite French intelligence agents who were actually Soviet spies; the unknown but powerful leader of the spy ring code-named Columbine; his second-in-command was a top NATO official and economist named Henri Jarré (Philippe Noiret); Jarré was the one who had directly leaked NATO documents to Kusenov in the Soviet KGB
• Devereaux was faced with a dilemma - should he remain in the US or return home to France to deal with the crisis, and put his life in danger as he further investigated the feared French intelligence leaks and the "Topaz" spy ring?; the US government was readied to take action based on the intel about the Soviet aid of missiles to Cuba; if there were any further leaks, it would be disastrous and precipitate war (and France would be drawn into the conflict); in three short days, a US delegation would be arriving in Paris, and before that deadline, Devereaux was pressured to uncover the "Topaz" spy ring at the risk of his own life
• after Devereaux arrived back in Paris via an Air France plane, he immediately set up a meeting with his French colleagues for a luncheon in an upper room of the upscale Chez Pierre's restaurant; the topic of discussion was his mission for the Americans to Cuba; Devereaux explained how he was reluctant to pass on his intelligence gathering from Cuba to the French government, due to the presence of leaks; Devereaux took a chance by provocatively asking about the existence of a French spy ring known as "Topaz" that was working for the Soviet Union; he claimed he wanted to "expose" the ring, and admitted he had heard of "Topaz" in the US through a Soviet KGB defector; Henri Jarré called the news 'misinformation' - and stated that the Russian official Kusenov had died a year earlier, and the person claiming to be Kusenov was a fake "double agent"; Devereaux was very puzzled by Jarré's reaction
• after the luncheon and later in the day, Henri Jarré hailed a taxi and was delivered to the residence of Jacques Granville (Michel Piccoli), the traitorous "Topaz" spy ring leader who had also attended the luncheon; Granville reprimanded Jarré for invading his privacy in his home, since he was imminently expecting a "guest"; Granville also criticized Jarré for his "foolish mistake" to lie about Kusenov's death because it could easily be verified: "By tomorrow, he will know that we are lying," but urged him not to panic; when Jarré kept suggesting that Devereaux needed to be eliminated, Granville was dismissive: "How bloodthirsty you are. What, Devereaux dead? A grieving widow? An official investigation?"
• as Jarré was leaving, it was apparent that Granville was awaiting the arrival of Devereaux's blonde wife Nicole, and was involved in an illicit romantic relationship with her
• that same evening at 8:30 pm, Devereaux' son-in-law Francois Picard coincidentally arrived to conduct an in-person newspaper interview at an upper-floor apartment of NATO official Henri Jarré; he began to ask pointed questions about NATO's decision-making and Jarré's access - as a civilian - to top-secret confidential files and military secrets; Francois also asked permission to sketch his subject; Jarré became increasingly nervous when Francois asked directly why he had lied about the death of Soviet defector Kusenov (who headed up the Russian NATO desk) and his direct involvement in passing and leaking NATO documents to Kusenov; Francois then admitted that he had been dispatched by his father-in-law Andre Devereaux, to interrogate him

• Jarré agreed to speak to Devereaux alone if Francois phoned him to join them; during the call, it was suddenly disconnected; alarmed, Devereaux and his daughter Michele rushed to Jarré's place where they discovered that Francois had disappeared; Jarré was found dead (a staged suicide); he had been thrown from his 2nd floor window and landed on the roof of a parked car below [Note: His murder had probably been ordered by Granville who was worried that Jarré had jeopardized "Topaz's" existence by his foolish and careless statements and risky behavior.]
• shortly later after Devereaux and Michele returned home, Francois arrived (with a bloody but minor bullet-grazing wound in his upper left arm) - and with Nicole listening, he explained how he had been clubbed on the head (by two men Jarré had let into his apartment) and then kidnapped, but he had escaped from his captors' car; Devereaux theorized that the men were "Messengers from Columbine, the head of Topaz"
• Francois also claimed how he had overheard a phone number (Babylon 8583) that had been called; a tearful Nicole surprised her family by admitting that the phone number belonged to Granville - the leader of "Topaz": ("You don't have to trace that number. It's a small house, hidden away on the Left Bank. Jacques Granville. Horrible, horrible!!"); Devereaux was shocked that his friend Granville was a traitor, and also his wife Nicole's lover; he was reminded from a photograph on a shelf in their home that in the past during the Resistance movement of WWII, the three of them - who were involved in the film's second love triangle - had been compatriots

• in the next scene at the Paris Airport, headlines in a NY Herald-Tribune newspaper read: "U.S. Weighs New Action as Cuba Speeds Buildup; Bombing of Missile Bases Held a Possibility"; CIA agent Nordstrom arrived in the US President's plane (with an entourage) at the airport to attend a NATO briefing about the Soviet missiles in Cuba; on the tarmac, he spoke to Devereaux who reported that Jacques Granville was the "Topaz" leader; he added that Granville had formerly been a friend of his who had betrayed him
• at the start of the formal gathering of NATO officials, Nordstrom inaudibly (as the camera rose up to the chandelier-level) whispered his fears about Granville's presence to others, and the French agent was uncomfortably dismissed from attending the meeting
• Revised Theatrical Ending: Granville entered his residence - and as the camera remained outside in a freeze-frame, a single shot rang out; after being exposed, Granville had apparently committed suicide (off-screen)
• Alternate Ending (Hitchcock Preferred): the next day, as Nicole and Devereaux (reconciled?) were boarding a Pan American plane back to Washington, DC, they glanced over and noticed an unpunished Granville climbing the stairs into a Soviet Aeroflot flight to Moscow; Granville removed his hat and bid "Bon Voyage" to them nearby; Nicole reacted: "How can they let him get away like this?", and Devereaux responded: "I told you, my love, he doesn't miss a trick. They have nothing against him. Anyway, that's the end of Topaz"

• in the final thought-provoking epilogue sequence, a few days later, an anonymous person on a bench on L'Avenue des Champs-Élysées (near the Arc de Triomphe) was reading the headlines of the NY Herald-Tribune newspaper - the major breaking news was that Soviet Premier Khrushchev had agreed to dismantle the Cuban missile bases and end the crisis ("CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS OVER - Khrushchev Agrees to Scrap Bases"); a brief, super-imposed montage of images revealed the lives of all of the characters who had died in revealing the conspiracy (The Mendozas, Henri Jarré, and Juanita); before leaving, the reader discarded and left the newspaper on the park bench