За кулисами «Рваной завесы»: История создания шпионского триллера Хичкока.

1966 espionage thriller movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock
As the original focus of the plot was on the female lead, the spy's girlfriend, the script was commissioned early in 1965 to Irish Canadian writer Brian Moore, who was known for successfully tackling female characters. His well regarded first novel, Judith Hearne, centers on an alcoholic Belfast spinster. In addition to this, Moore had adapted his own novel The Luck of Ginger Coffey into a film the previous year. and that he had "a profound ignorance of human motivation". To polish the dialogue and improve the script, Hitchcock hired British authors Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, known for their screenplays for Whistle Down the Wind (1961), A Kind of Loving (1962), and Billy Liar (1963), the latter based on the novel by Waterhouse. They worked rewriting some dialogue, on a day by day basis, as the film was shot. However, their contribution was restricted by the director's resistance to change and concern for detail. His notes to them were like these: "Scene 88. We should eliminate the floor concierge. My information is that they do not have these in East Berlin;

Hitchcock had to compromise in his casting choices. Initially, he wanted Eva Marie Saint, the blonde star of North by Northwest, for the female lead. Hitchcock also spoke in 1965 to Cary Grant about appearing in the film, only to learn that Grant intended to make just one more film and then retire. The director felt that the stars were ill suited to their roles, while their salaries of $750,000 took a big part of the film's $5 million budget. Principal photography of the film began on 18 October 1965, on Stage 18 at the Universal back lot in Los Angeles. The shooting schedule lasted three months, including a two week hiatus while Paul Newman recuperated from a chin infection. Filming was completed in mid February 1966. The working relationship between Hitchcock and Newman was problematic. Perhaps the best known scene is the fight to the death between Armstrong and Gromek, a gruesome, prolonged struggle. In conversation with François Truffaut, Hitchcock said that he included the scene to show the audience how difficult it can be to kill a man, because a number of spy thrillers at the time made killing look effortless. Alfred Hitchcock's cameo is a signature occurrence in most of his films. In Torn Curtain he can be seen (eight minutes into the film) sitting in the lobby of the Hotel d'Angleterre holding a baby. The music playing at this point is an adaptation of Funeral March of a Marionette, the theme for Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Steven Spielberg told James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio that as a young man he sneaked onto the soundstage to observe the filming, and remained for 45 minutes before an assistant producer asked him to leave. The production occurred during the 1965 Watts race riots, leaving Kieling disgusted with American society. As a result, after the film was released he defected to East Germany in real life, calling the United States "the most dangerous enemy of humanity in the world today" and guilty of "crimes against the Negro and the people of Vietnam."

The film had two scores. The first was written by Bernard Herrmann, a recurrent contributor to Hitchcock's work. Hitchcock and Universal asked Herrmann for a pop and jazz influenced soundtrack, and even hoped Herrmann might write a song for lead actress Julie Andrews to perform. However, the score Herrmann provided was not what Hitchcock and the studio wanted, and his revisions failed to satisfy them. Hitchcock and Herrmann ended their long time collaboration and John Addison was approached to write the score. Although the Addison score was issued commercially in 1966 (and has been re released), the Herrmann score has been re recorded and reissued several times, eclipsing that by Addison in terms of available versions. Recordings of Herrmann's original studio sessions exist, and have circulated online. Elmer Bernstein made the first commercial recording of the score with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on Warner Bros. Records in 1978. Esa Pekka Salonen recorded a suite from the film as part of a Herrmann album with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1996. Joel McNeely subsequently recorded an expanded version with the National Philharmonic Orchestra for Varese Sarabande Records in 2010. In the climactic scene involving the ballet at the East Berlin theatre, the music was excerpted from Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini.

Torn Curtain was released without any rating on 14 July 1966 (see original 1966 movie poster above). However, the film was given an "R" (for "Restricted") under the MPAA film rating system that took effect November 1, 1968. It was ultimately re rated PG in 1984.

After its premiere in 1966, the film was criticized, especially in terms of its production technology, as being old fashioned. The film was nevertheless a minor hit for Hitchcock, making $7 million in the United States alone. The film was not as well received by critics. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called the film "a pathetically undistinguished spy picture, and the obvious reason is that the script is a collection of what Mr. Hitchcock most eschews—clichés." Penelope Houston, writing for Sight & Sound, commented: "What went wrong here, one suspects, was something basic in the story line." The reviewer in Variety said: "Some good plot ideas are marred by routine dialogue, and a too relaxed pace contributed to a dull overlength," adding "Hitchcock freshens up his bag of tricks in a good potpourri which becomes a bit stale though a noticeable lack of zip and pacing." Richard Schickel, writing in Life, concluded: "Hitchcock is tired to the point where what once seemed highly personal style is now repetitions of past triumphs." Torn Curtain holds a 63% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 32 reviews with an average rating of 6.40/10.