did anyone notice some of similarities between Vertigo and Topaz?
1) Samuel Taylor worked with Hitchcock in both films
2) They both share subjects of doomed love
3) The use of colors in both films
4) a closely related villain
And also both film were box office failures.
Good points, all the way across.
I'd say it is interesting that
Samuel Taylor wrote "Vertigo" (with help) and "Topaz" (in its entirety after a Leon Uris script was scrapped.) One "great," one "bomb."
Ernest Lehman wrote "North by Northwest" and "Family Plot." One "great" and one "underacheivement."
Goes to show you: nobody's perfect.
Hitchcock told the press that he intended "Topaz" to reflect "Notorious", with an emphasis on love rather than chases ala "North by Northwest." But "Notorious" is actually closer to "Vertigo" than it is to "North by Northwest," anyway.
So maybe Samuel Taylor was the right man for the "Topaz" job...
P.S. "Topaz" is a bomb to the rest of the world. Me, I heart Topaz. I watch it at least once a year, which I DON'T with most Hitchcocks.
Well, Hitchcock and Samuel Taylor didn't get enough time to work on the script. As you know, Some of the Scenes were written hours before the shooting.
If they had enough time to work on the script properly, then the film would have been a masterpiece.
That's not the case with Family Plot. They had far more time to work on the script. But Hitchcock was getting weaker.
For Example, Saboteur was a film that Hitchcock wanted to make like a biographical form. Hitchcock wanted to make a film on John Buchan's novel The Green Mantle (Richard Hannay's second novel). According to Hitchcock, the novel was probably inspired by strange personality of Lawrence of Arabia. But it didn't happen. So Hitchcock made the film more like a biographical form. Most of the film's plot takes place in the point of view of Barry Kane.
Due to the changes in the casting, Hitchcock did some changes in names and plot. That was not the case with masterpieces like North by Northwest, Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, and other great films.
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"Vertigo" did better than "Topaz," but not as well as many Hitchcocks on either size of it.
The increased box office of "Vertigo" over the years can be ascribed to two things (1)its place of honor as a Hitchcock masterpiece (which the fair-to-middling "Topaz" is not; and (2) the decision on Universal's part to re-release the film theatrically TWICE -- once in 1983 when "Vertigo" was allowed out of its ten-year purgatory by the Hitchcock estate and a second time in 1996 when it was restored. Add in the video and DVD attendant to those releases and..."Vertigo" is finally a big moneymaker!
People should actually be concerned about "Topaz." Because of its lowly status in the Hitchcock canon, Universal doesn't care much about restoring it...its one Hitchcock film that we could "lose" in the years to come if its negative is left to rot.
And remember:
New York Times critic Vincent Canby in 1969 wrote of "Topaz": "Alfred Hitchcock at his Best" and put the film on his "Ten Best" list for '69 and:
In 1969, Hitchcock won "Best Director" for "Topaz" (from the National Board of Review, possibly for his ignored earlier career.)
And:
I LIKE Topaz.