Topkapi

1964 · United States · 115 min

Director: Jules Dassin
Screenplay: Monja Danischewsky
Producer: Jules Dassin
Music: Manos Hatzidakis
Cinematography: Henri Alekan
Editing: Roger Dwyre
Production company: Filmways
Based on: The Light of Day

Awards: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; National Board of Review: Top Ten Films · 1 nominations

What the critics say

95 % Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews

Cast

Gilles Ségal

Titos Vandis

Despo Diamantidou

What it is about

Arthur Simon Simpson is a small-time hustler in Kavala, Greece, who makes a living reselling tickets and offering his services to tourists. His life changes when he meets Walter Harper and Elizabeth Lipp, two skilled thieves planning to steal a jewelled dagger from Istanbul's Topkapı Palace. Harper hires him to drive a car to the city, but at the border customs officers find hidden weapons in it, and Simpson finds himself caught between the gang and the Turkish police, who want him to inform on them. The film mixes heist plotting with broad comedy, following a man with no appetite for danger who is dragged into a scheme he cannot control.

How it was made

The film is loosely based on Eric Ambler's 1962 novel The Light of Day, though it streamlines the story considerably. The novel is narrated by Simpson and includes many flashbacks to his schooldays in England, which the film leaves out. Jules Dassin, who both produced and directed, said he had first planned to cast Peter Sellers as Simpson, but Sellers refused to work with Maximilian Schell; Dassin kept Schell and cast Peter Ustinov instead. Principal photography began on August 12, 1963, mostly in Istanbul, at sites including Topkapı Palace, Hagia Sophia and Dolmabahçe Palace, with one week in the Greek harbour of Kavala. Interiors were shot at the Billancourt Studios in Paris. Joe Dassin, the director's son, has a supporting role, and Gilles Ségal's acrobatics later inspired wire stunts used in Mission: Impossible. Henri Alekan handled the cinematography and Manos Hadjidakis composed the score.

Reception and legacy

Critics responded warmly, praising the film's pacing, its colourful Istanbul setting and its farcical tone, and above all Ustinov's performance, which earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, his second in that category after Spartacus. The National Board of Review also named it among the ten best films of the year. It grossed about $7 million at the US box office. Over time it has come to be seen as a reference point for comic heist films, and its mix of meticulous robbery and comedy of errors is often cited as its lasting strength.