alfred hitchcock's TORN CURTAIN (1966)

it's a shame that the modern thriller has so largely abandoned the pioneering Alfred Hitchcock did in its name throughout his career. even a minor Hitchcock like the brainy cold war thriller Torn Curtain (ranked as his 39th best film by IMDb!) presents at least three or four direct testaments to his preternatural skill for lacing scenes with suffocating suspense, no matter the surroundings. footsteps in a museum, an ersatz bus route, even a chalkboard equation showdown between two scientific minds - Hitchcock transforms each of them into scenarios as unbearably tense as they are goddamned entertaining. he doesn't cheat, or cut corners...we are always assured that he's in total control, using every situation to his advantage. the film is not perfect, of course; the logic and motivations, particularly as they pertain to espionage, are a little shaky, and a poignant but unnecessary encounter with a strange Polish woman stops the otherwise action-packed third act dead in its tracks. but there's still so much to learn, and so much to enjoy! even Hitchcock's non-canonical work looms over the genre his absence ruined.