Word: torning
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...Torn Curtain takes Hitchcock into new territory. With the first scene between Newman and Andrews, Hitchcock establishes their love affair as stabler and healthier than those in his previous films. The love scene is composed entirely of close-ups of them together. But almost immediately, by using out-of-focus camerawork and contrasting their points-of-view in his editing, Hitchcock begins to separate them visually, to put strain on the stability of their relationship...
...East Berlin to pry a formula from the brain of a Communist physicist, a formula necessary for the completion of Newman's own missile project. It becomes apparent that Hitchcock will use the nightmare world of East Berlin to test the lovers. Like many of his recent films, Torn Curtain is essentially a romantic character study, a realization that adds to the excellence of the first half of the film...
...Torn Curtain ultimately fails because the conflicts between Newman and Andrews are neatly resolved at the halfway mark. Once Newman has his formula, Torn Curtain becomes blatant chase melodrama. There is no more characterization and the emphasis switches from Newman and Andrews to the supporting characters involved in the escape from East Berlin: the leader of the Resistance bus, a Polish ex-countess with problems, a villainous ballerina...
...importance of the first half, however, cannot be overestimated, as it shows Hitchcock at a point of maximum control of his medium. Breaking new ground in color photography, he has filmed Torn Curtain without direct lighting. Instead, he has used reflected light, bounced off a white screen on the set. This reduces the color contrasts, putting much of the film into lush soft-focus, and almost eliminating unnecessary shadows...
...continues in Torn Curtain to experiment with visual romanticism: Julie Andrews is chastized by Newman on an airplane and as she lowers her head sadly, the camera while dissolving to the next scene begins to blur, as if tears were clouding the lens. Suddenly Hitchcock cuts sharply to the airplane door loudly opening, revealing the East Berlin airport. It is an unnerving return to reality, a visual refusal to give his heroine any means of escape...