5 Thoughts About TORN CURTAIN

1. This is not one of Hitchcock's best movies -- it suffers from an overly wholesome John Addison score, unconvincing process photography that's made even more pronounced on Blu-ray, and gauzy, star-filtered cinematography for stars who are much too young to have real need of it -- but it does contain some of his most memorable supporting characters. I mean the leather-jacketed, gum-chewing Hermann Gromek (Wolfgang Kieling), the careworn farmer's wife (Carolyn Conwell), the heartbreaking Countess Kuchinska (Lila Kedrova), and Professor Gustav Lindt (Ludwig Donath), one of the most persuasive scientists I've seen in any movie.

2. When Gromek prepares to make a call, moments before the savage attempt on his life, I hear a small amount of voice-over repair on Kieling's voice that I believe was performed by Paul Frees. And exact minute-and-second count may follow. I can't prove it, but I can hear it.

3. As a fan of Italian director Antonio Margheriti, I get a tremendous kick out of the moment when Dr. Michael Armstrong -- the astrophysicist played by Paul Newman -- defects to East Berlin and is quizzed by their officials about America's Gamma 5 project.

4. I never noticed him in this movie before, but that's the WEREWOLF IN A GIRL'S DORMITORY (Curt Lowens) who plays the road block official as our heroes are making their escape by bus. Lo and behold, his uncredited performance is noted on the IMDb.

5. I like to believe that, following their escape, Drs. Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman) and Sarah Sherman (Julie Andrews) did indeed marry and had a child together. He grew up to be Dr. Paul Armstrong (Larry Blamire) of the LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA films, following in his parents' footsteps as a scientist.