Topkapi (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Topkapi |
| Original title | Topkapi |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1964 |
| length | 115 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jules Dassin |
| script | Monja Danischewsky |
| production | Jules Dassin |
| music | Manos Hadjidakis |
| camera | Henri Alekan |
| cut | Roger Dwyre |
| occupation | |
| |
Topkapi is an American comedy film that was directed by Jules Dassin in 1964 . The feature film is based on the novel Topkapi (original title: The Light of Day ) by Eric Ambler .
action
The rich American Elizabeth Lipp is passionate about counterfeiting valuable pieces of jewelry and gemstones, but sometimes has them illegally obtained. Just like the emeralds on a valuable dagger that is on display in a showcase in the museum of the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul and is supposed to be stolen by their old friend, the Swiss master thief and gentleman crook, Walter Harper. In order to persuade Harper to plan the risky coup, Lipp has to use all of her seduction and persuasion skills.
Only amateurs are to be involved in the coup, because the crime would be quickly discovered through professionals, all of whom are known to the police. The English inventor Cedric Page is supposed to turn off the alarm system in the museum. Since pressure-sensitive sensors are installed in the floor of the exhibition rooms, the showcase can only be accessed through the roof. The two artists Hans and Giulio are supposed to take on this task, while the strong Hans rappels down the silent Giulio from above. The museum guards are to be distracted with smoke grenades . Since the beam of light from the neighboring lighthouse sweeps along the museum wall like a searchlight every 21 seconds , the experienced shooter Harper wants to shoot the lighthouse lamp with a rifle from the roof.
The rifle and the smoke grenades, hidden in a car, are supposed to be smuggled into Istanbul from the Greek city of Kavala by the unsuspecting and somewhat silly petty fraudster Arthur Simpson . During a check at the Greek-Turkish border crossing, the Turkish border officials found the rifle and the smoke grenades behind the door panel. Simpson is arrested and, during interrogation, accused by Turkish intelligence major Tufan of planning an assassination attempt during the upcoming festivities. Simpson can only avoid the threat of execution as a terrorist by pledging to cooperate with Tufan. He is supposed to complete his original assignment and thereby transmit all information about his clients to Tufan.
So Simpson delivers the car along with the keys and papers to the Hilton in Istanbul as agreed with Page , constantly observed by the Turkish secret service people. When Page is about to pick up the car, Simpson tries to engage him in a conversation for more information, but Page is able to get rid of him. A patrol officer advises him that the car may only be driven by the registered owner or by the person who brought the car into the country. Page has no choice but to keep Simpson as a driver.
The rest of the gang are preparing for the big coup in a villa and are initially amazed at the appearance of the Simpsons. In order not to arouse suspicion and to have Simpson still available as a driver, they innocently take him into the villa. Preparations are being meticulously continued under Harper's leadership . The gang visits the museum during normal opening hours and gets an idea of the situation. In doing so, they inconspicuously take wax prints of the door locks so that they can make duplicate keys. In the meantime, Tufan has the abandoned villa searched, but without result. The cautious Harper had Giulio hide all plans underwater in the adjacent Bosporus .
A few days before the planned showdown, Hans squeezes both hands in a door in the event of a mishap and thus fails to abseil from the roof, so that Simpson is supposed to act as a substitute. He is privy to the plans and reveals it in the face of tempting prize of 10,000 dollars unintentionally its cooperation with the Turkish secret service. Terrified, the gang members want to leave the country immediately, but Harper comes to the conclusion to change the plan and involve the secret service to their advantage. They decide not to touch the guns in the car, but to do something else and move the appointment forward to the same evening.
In the afternoon in the stadium at a large oil wrestling tournament , they can escape the shadow of the secret service and set themselves apart. Only Hans, now useless, and her car remain as a distraction. Immediately after the museum closes, Harper, Simpson and Giulio manage to get to the roof with their fake keys. You guide Simpson, who is afraid of heights, with difficulty over the palace roofs to the treasury with the showcase and wait for dark. In the meantime, Page and Lipp seek out the owner of a moving wax museum who has a replica of the valuable dagger in his inventory. They take the imitation with them in order to later exchange it for the real dagger and thus bring it out of Istanbul. Then they go into the lighthouse, distract the lighthouse keeper and manipulate the beam of light past Giulio when he is let down on a rope by clumsy Simpson, with some difficulty. Giulio opens a window, is lowered into the treasury and attaches a suction pad to a second rope on the display case. Harper pulls her up so Giulio can take the precious dagger and leave the fake dagger behind. The cabinet is carefully lowered again and Giulio gets back on the roof the same way. When he closes the window again, a bird invades unnoticed and is now trapped in the room.
The three burglars abseil from the roof, where the owner of the wax museum receives the valuable dagger, while the others meet again in the sports stadium. Harper knows that they should never leave the country unmolested. So they report to the Turkish secret service and pretend that they accidentally discovered the weapons in the car and that they wanted to report it immediately to prove their innocence. At that moment, the bird locked up in the treasury triggers the alarm. Informed by phone, the intelligence major now understand the background. With the self-satisfied remark “A little bird sang it to me”, he arrests the gang and the owner of the wax museum.
Finally, the gang members in prison clothes and with a disgruntled expression walk around the courtyard of a prison. Elizabeth Lipp whispers to the men in the neighboring courtyard that she has an excellent idea: There is a secret passage in the Kremlin to the Russian Crown Jewels . The group arrives in Moscow in the credits .
background
The film was shot in Greece , in the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul and in France . The premiere took place in France on September 2, 1964.
German version
The German dubbing was created in 1964 in the studio of Ultra-Film Synchron GmbH in Berlin under the direction of Josef Wolf .
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Elizabeth Lipp | Melina Mercouri | Gisela Trowe |
| Arthur Simon Simpson | Peter Ustinov | Alexander Welbat |
| Walter Harper | Maximilian Schell | Maximilian Schell |
| Cedric Page | Robert Morley | Erich Fiedler |
| Hans Fischer | Jess Hahn | Martin Hirthe |
| Gerven | Akim Tamiroff | Stanislav Ledinek |
Topkapi was first seen on German television on March 2, 1972 at 8:15 p.m. on ARD.
Reviews
- Lexicon of international film : "Entertaining mixture of crime comedy and self-persiflage based on the pattern of" Rififi ", which has noticeably worn out, but is still a pleasure thanks to the well-humored actors."
Awards
In 1965 Peter Ustinov received an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actor category. Since he was not present at the award ceremony, the award was accepted by Jonathan Winters .
At the Golden Globe Awards in 1965, Ustinov was nominated for Best Actor (Comedy) and Melina Mercouri for Best Actress (Comedy) .
Ustinov won a Laurel Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1965 . The film itself was nominated for Best Action Drama and came fourth.
The screenwriter Monja Danischewsky was nominated for a WGA award for the best screenplay in a comedy.
DVD release
- Topkapi . MGM Home Entertainment 2004
- Topkapi. Koch Media 2018, Blu-ray
literature
- Eric Ambler : Topkapi. Roman (Original title: The Light of Day ). German by Elsbeth Herlin and Nikolaus Stingl . (Revised new translation.) Diogenes, Zurich 1996, 305 pp., ISBN 3-257-20536-8
Web links
- Topkapi in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- Topkapi atRotten Tomatoes(English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas Bräutigam: Lexicon of film and television synchronization. More than 2000 films and series with their German voice actors etc. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-289-X , p. 362
- ↑ Topkapi. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 27, 2017 .
- ^ Peter Ustinov Wins Supporting Actor: 1965 Oscars.