Topkapi

What a lot of fun this film is. Melina Mercouri is a fullblooded femme fatale and she teams up with an elegant Swiss gentleman burglar (Maximilian Schell) for a daring jewel heist in Istanbul's Topkapi palace. A motley crew of further accomplices make up their gang: Robert Morley as the Englishman who can help them disable the security system, the mute acrobat Giulio, and hapless petty crook Arthur Simpson played by a scene stealing Peter Ustinov, whose endearing performance was deservedly rewarded with a best supporting actor Oscar.The setting in sunny Istanbul is glorious and, being filmed on location, the fillm uses the vistas and vibrant street life of the city to its fullest. The film may be dated, but it is nonetheless highly enjoyable.A few words about the DVD I bought: While the letterbox 1.66 : 1 ratio may not be perfect (it takes a lot of fiddling with the TV to get rid of the black edges on all four sides without distorting the proportions), the picture is surprisingly good with vibrant colours. The film is presented with the restored original Mono soundtrack, the sound quality is very good and all dialogue is clearly understandable. English subtitles are available. Also subtitles in various other languages (all advertised in the product description, plus Swedish and Greek). Also dubbed audio in German, French, Italian, Spanish. Run time: 1 hour 55 mins.

An odd transfer. Excellent 16.9 ratio, perfect picture, good sound and good Optional English subtitles, but the whole is placed in the middle of my screen, surrounded by black bars. On a big screen, it perhaps doesn't matter too much, and as I say, it's a fine picture, so, maybe it's OK, just unecessary in my view. The film? I am a bit surprised that a director like Jules Dassin with an admirable track record (BRUTE FORCE/NAKED CITY/NIGHT AND THE CITY and of course the stand alone classic RIFIFI), could fail to make this caper movie fun to watch. Is it the way he films his wife Mercouri - talking to the camera, laughing a lot oh a lot, and it isn't pretty, or the way the final robbery just drags on and on when it should be tense and edited in a tighter fashion. That's not to say the film doesn't have it's moments, but again that depends on how much you like Ustinov and the stars. I found it odd that Dassin films his wife very unflatteringly and there is little or no chemistry between her an Schell. Still the location filming is good, some of the robbery is good, but the bottom line is that it seems Dassin doesn't find comedy to be that easy. Still some thing here and there to enjoy and many will violently disagree with me about MM. Currently not cheap, which is, in itself a bit of a puzzle.

Topkapi is a great film and I was delighted to see that it is available as a DVD; however, in this version there are so many foreign-language dubbed soundtracks and subtitles to choose from (it seems to default to dubbed French and French subtitles! - what is it with the French and their insistence on permanent subtitles??!) I had a problem getting the English-language audio and no subtitles! After about 5 minutes negotiating the menus, I had what I wanted and can now enjoy the film

The previous reviewer has already highted the main problem with this release - the fact that it is region A locked, and therefore witll not be playable on Blu-ray players in the UK unless they have been modified to be multi-region. If like me you are in that fortunate position, then it is a major advance on the non-anamorphic DVD version and well worth getting.Although not benefiting from restoration, the pirture quality is pretty good, with no apparent fading and only slight speckling to indicate that it isn't taken from a negative. The highight of the film, as in Dassin's earlier film Rififi, is the heist itself - the four star rating reflects the fact that, for me the rest of the film doesn't reach this standard.

Almost put off by other review saying this Blu Ray wasn't any better than the standard DVD...Well I can tell you it is excellent...being an ex Cinema Projectionist of the sixties, I ran this film for two weeks so know what the 35mm print was like. Yes, there are scratches and marks, due to the limited techniques in those days, but the Blu Ray is an exact copy of those prints. The DVD was Letterbox 1:85-1 so lost a great deal of quality...the Blu ray is stunning! It is Region 'A' so needs a multi region Blu Ray player in this country...haven't got one...then go out and buy one fast!A pioneer film by the great Jules Dassin...lots of others have copied this ...ie Mission Impossible, Italion Job...but never as good. Peter Ustinov giving a pre Arfur Daley performance, deserving an academy award. One of my favourite movies...a joy!

As a classic crime caper film it was good in its day, but now seems tired and slow. Sad to see how such one-time gems are left by the wayside compared to modern filmmaking.

A delight from the 1960s that I have always enjoyed. It does move slowly and is terribly overacted but it is still a joy to watch. Peter Ustinov bumbles along beautifully but Melina Mercouri overacts outrageously. A enjoyable romp for anyone who likes caper movies with a touch of comedy, as a gang of incompetent crooks try to steal a jewelled dagger from Istanbul's Topkapi Museum.

Love this film, great cast Peter Ustinov, Maximillian Schell, Robert Morley. Good old fashioned museum heist no elaboratealarms or gun toting action. Love the wrestlers covered in oil. Some funny moments and great characters from the actors.