Michel Piccoli

A group of men go to a villa in the French countryside where they resolve to eat themselves to death. Having organised a lavish gastronomic seminar right under everyone's noses, grizzled friends and members of the professional bourgeoisie--chef Ugo, a restaurant owner; international libertine Marcello, an Alitalia pilot; refined Michel, a successful television producer; and sheltered Philippe, a venerable magistrate--gather for a weekend of debaucherous fun at a Parisian villa. As truckloads of the finest meat and wine arrive, the four companions prepare for a Romanesque banquet; however, something is missing. And before long, three elegant prostitutes join the eclectic quartet of hungry epicures. Now the stage seems set for a magnificent, unrestrained, Bacchanalian feast. After all, the extravagant hedonists are bent on carrying out their morbid secret plan to the letter. But how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

The story is set in 1962 and opens with images of a Soviet military parade on the Red Square in Moscow, USSR. In Copenhagen, Denmark, a high-ranking Soviet intelligence officer defects to the West with his wife and daughter after a chase through the streets from the Soviet embassy to the US embassy. Upon arrival in Washington, DC, CIA agent Michael Nordstrom (John Forsythe) debriefs him and learns that Russian missiles are to be posted in Cuba. Nordstrom enlists the aid of his friend and French agent André Devereaux (Frederick Stafford), encouraging him to accompany his daughter Michèle (Claude Jade) on her honeymoon with journalist François Picard (Michel Subor) as a premise to get him to New York. André accepts, but his wife Nicole (Dany Robin) is worried for him. In New York City, André entrusts a familiar contact, a former French secret agent named Philippe Dubois (Roscoe Lee Browne), who currently runs a local flower shop in Harlem, to get hold of some seriously damaging papers concerning Soviet plans in Cuba from the visiting Cuban official Rico Parra (John Vernon playing a Fidel Castro-esq character). Parra is in New York to appear at the United Nations and stays at the Cuban consulate in Harlem at the local Hotel Theresa to show solidarity with "the masses". Dubois, taking the identity of a black journalist from Ebony, sneaks into the embassy (which is seething with visitors and surrounded by an enthusiastic mob), with a little help from a Cuban diplomat named Luis Uribe (Don Randolph), manages to take photos of some of the documents and then runs away, chased by Cuban revolutionaries. While cunningly dodging away, Dubois shams bumping into and overthrowing André Devereaux, who was watching events from the other side of the street, and slips the camera into his hand. A Cuban guard, named Hernandez (Carlos Rivas) helps André to get up, stares at him, and lets him go. Dubois manages to escape from his Cuban pursuers and returns to his job at working in his flower shop. After examining the photos, Devereaux confirms that the Soviets are secretly transporting and placing nuclear missiles in Cuba. Devereaux, unheeding of his wife's fear and jealousy, jets off to Cuba to find out more details. He catches up with his Cuban mistress Juanita de Cordoba (Karin Dor), widow to a former first-hour wealthy "hero of the Revolution", and herself now leader of the local underground resistance network: she acts undercover and collects information as Parra's lover. André, on arriving, finds Parra leaving Juanita's mansion. During a scene of intimacy in the mansion, Devereaux asks her to somehow take photos of the missiles as they are unloaded from Russian boats at the harbor. But Juanita's people, Mr. and Mrs. Mendoza, are arrested and tortured, while Parra's right hand man Hernandez, during a big mass rally held during a lengthy speech of the "leader màximo" recognizes André's face from the incident in front of the hotel. Parra, who has heard from the maimed and tortured Mrs. Mendoza that Juanita is their leader, leads a squad of Cuban soldiers to the mansion where he confronts Juanita and, hugging her in his arms, shoots her to save her from being tortured to death. In one of the film's most memorable shots, Juanita is seen from overhead, her dress spreading out on the floor like a bloodstain (although it is purple not red) on the big black-and-white pavement tiles, as she collapses. André is arrested is searched thoroughly at the Havana airport on departure, but the Cuban authorities are unable to find the carefully hidden microfilms, which provide crucial information for the CIA about Soviet activities in Cuba. André finds them hidden behind the cover of a book that Juanita gives him prior to leaving just before she is killed by Parra. At this point, the plot of the movie completely changes course. When André arrives back in Washington, he finds his home empty: his wife deserted him due to his Cuban love interest and returned to Paris. He is also recalled to Paris, but before he leaves, he is informed by Nordstrom about the existence of a Soviet spy organization called 'Topaz' within the French intelligence service. He is given the name of one certain member, NATO official Henri Jarré (Philippe Noiret), who leaked documents to the KGB. On arrival back in Paris, Andre attempts to get to the bottom of the leak, while his daughter Michèle wants to reconcile her parents. He invites some of his old friends and colleagues, including Jarré, to a lunch at a fine restaurant, "Chez Pierre". While Jarré eats, André tells the others about Topaz in order to provoke some reaction. Jarré answers that all this is a piece of misinformation, since he knows that the Russian official in fact died a year ago. But he begins to panic, and visits the man who is the leader of the spy ring, Jacques Granville (Michel Piccoli). But Granville, in his night gown, is "waiting for somebody". As Jarré is leaving Granville's house, a woman arrives. It is Nicole, André's wife, and as they kiss we see a photo on a stand: Devereaux, Nicole and Granville were old friends from their days together in the French Resistance. Devereaux sends his son-in-law François to interview and extract information out of Jarré. François calls Devereaux from Jarré's home, but the call is cut short. Devereaux and Michèle rush together to Jarré's flat, and find him dead having been thrown from his second floor window and landing on the roof of a parked car. François has disappeared. André and Michèle return to Nicole's, and a short time later François arrives: he was clubbed, but came to and managed to escape from his captors' car. He has overheard a phone number and shows a sketch of Jarré. Nicole, who was staring at the window then turns around and tells her family, with tearful eyes, that the phone number is Granville's, so he must be the leader of the "Topaz" organization. Devereaux goes to meet Agent Nordstrom and the Presidential entourage at Orly Airport, and to tell him about Granville. Nordstrom and company then tell the French they will brief them on the missiles in Cuba, but insist Granville not attend. The next morning, Devereaux and his wife, now obviously reconciled in mutual forgiveness, board a Pan Am flight back to Washington. And watch, she in revulsion, he in sardonic good humor, as Granville, bidding Devereaux "Bon voyage," boards an Aeroflot flight back to Moscow. "He never misses a trick," observes Devereaux. "But at least that's the end of Topaz." A few days later, the New York Herald-Tribune prints the news that Khruschev has agreed to dismantle the Cuban missile bases. An anonymous reader, sitting on a bench on l'Avenue des Champs-Élysées (with l'Arc de Triomphe in the background), reads the article. He then folds up the paper, sets it on the bench, and walks away. Note: The above is one of three endings for this film that Hitchcock shot. The DVD release has all three: 1. In which Granville boards a flight to Moscow in front of Devereaux, who shrugs and says, "Well, at least that's the end of Topaz." The final scene plays out as above. 2. In which, after the French authorities dismiss Granville from the meeting, we look down the street where Granville lives. A single shot rings out. We presume Granville has committed suicide. The final scene shows the headline about Khruschev withdrawing the missiles from Cuba, against a montage of those who lost their lives to achieve that result. But this time the passerby, instead of leaving the paper for others to read, puts it into a public trash basket. 3. In which Granville and Devereaux arrange and fight a duel with pistols. Granville, of course, loses when he is shot and killed by a Russian sniper who gets away. Devereaux claims that Granville was killed by his Russian handlers because he has outlives his usefullness to them. American TV networks, showing this film on their prime-time movie slots, typically showed the second ending. So also did various broadcast stations who acquired Topaz in syndication. But HDNet-TV, showing this film for its 2015 Alfred Hitchcock festival, showed the first ending.

In a nameless European country, Inspector Ginco (Michel Piccoli) takes every precaution to ensure that a $1,000,000 shipment of money reaches a local bank. Despite having decoy armored trucks, the real one containing the money is sidetracked to a marina where a masked career thief, known only as Diabolik (John Phillip Law) steals the whole truck by lifting up by an electric magnet and dropping it into the water, where he dives in and retrieves the money. In a long chase, Diabolik eludes the police by switching cars with his mistress and partner-in-crime, Eva Kant (Marisa Mell) who drives Diabolik back to his hideout, a remote cave in a mountain side which has miles of underground passageways, and their living quarters is a mod of various expensive designed bought with their ill gotten money. Having heard of the latest robbery by the masked thief, the Minister of the Interior (Terry Thomas) arranges for a press conference. But Diabolik and Eva sneak into the conference disgused as reporters where, using their flash bulbs on their camera, they set off some 'exhilarating gas'. When the Minister informs the press of this latest theft and preaching to the reporters that he is not to be made a fool of, the Minister is reduced to just that when the gas reduces everyone in the room to hysterical laughter, while Diabolik and Eva quietly leave unnoticed. Following the press conference, Inspector Ginco attempts to resign. But his boss (Claudio Gora) refuses to accept his resignation. Ginco reluctantly agrees to stay on the police force, and is subsequently put in charge of the current plan to put all criminals behind bars. With tireless precision, Ginco and his men clean up the city. Mobsters are put behind bars, and then executed. When a drug den is raided, the jaded hippies and drug addicted are carted off. Ralph Valmont (Adolfo Celi), the head of a large crime syndicate which is responsible for most of the murders and drug trafficking in the country, learns about the raid on one of his establishments, and makes contact with Inspector Ginco. In exchange for his life, Valmont promises to help Ginco capture Diabolik. When the visiting British finance minister and his wife are honored at a gala party in a large castle by the beach, the press, encouraged by Ginco, play up the wifes recent acquisition of a rare emerald necklace, which is to be unveiled at the celebration. Ginco knows that Diabolik will not pass up the chance to steal the valuable jewelry, so he and his men lay in wait all around the castle for Diabolik to show up. Diabolik does show up, by scaling the seaside wall of the castle to the living quarters of the finance minister's wife where he steals the necklace, and makes another clever escape by constructing a makeshift catapult, but tricks Gino and the police into thinking he used it to eject himself to safety, when he really hides underneath it and simply walks out of the castle dressed as a policeman. Meanwhile, Valmont and henchmen recognize Eva at an Esso filling station, and they kidnap her. After making contact with Diabolik though a local newspaper, he promises to hand over the emerald necklace in exchange for Eva. Valmont wants to meet Diabolik aboard his private airplane. The following evening, Diabolik meets with Valmont's henchmen who herd him aboard Valmont's plane which takes off. But it is revealed that this is all part of Ginco's plan for once the plane reaches a destined spot, Valmont is to release a trap door on his plane which will literally drop Diabolik into the inspector's lap. But the plan backfires greatly when Diabolik figures out what is going on and in the subsequent shoot-out aboard the plane, Diabolik frees Eva, and he and Valmont stuggle in which they fall through the trapdoor, but Diabolik leaves behind a bomb which explodes, killing all of Valmont's henchmen. The three of them parachute to safely on the ground near the police rendezvous spot where in a continuation shoot-out, Diabolik kills Valmont by shooting him before apparently committing suicide when Ginco and the police close in on him. Ginco is saddened by Diabolik's death for he never got the chance to really arrest him. But Diabolik is not dead. During the shoot-out he took a drug which slowed down his heart and matabolsim to the point where he appeared dead. At the mourge, Eva, disguised as a nurse, arrives and administrates the antidote. Diabolik awakens, and kills the coroner before making his escape. Unaware of Diabolik's most recent escape, Gino is puzzled over the missing emeralds. Upon reading Valmont's death certificate, an idea puzzles him. All totaled, there are eleven emeralds missing. Valmont died form eleven bullet wounds. Ginco realizes that Diabolik is clever enough to use the jewels as bullets, therby proving a very safe hiding place for them. Ginco runs over to the crematorium to inspect Valmont's ashes. Diabolik, disguised as Valmont's elderly brother, has already arrived to lay claim to his brother's ashes. When the morgue attendant begins to scoop the ashes into a urn, he is shocked to find the emeralds. But before he can do anything, Diabolik knocks him out, and makes his escape with the emeralds. As usual, Ginco arrives at the morgue missing Diabolik by a matter of seconds. With no other alternatives open, the police offer a $1 million rewards to anybody to is able to lead them to Diabolik, Ginco realizes the foolishness of this plan, but his superiors refuse to listen him because of his string of bad luck in trying to catch Diabolik. Soon after, Diabolik sends a note to the government saying: "in view of the bad use of the government is making of the public's money, I shall take steps to remove it from circulation." In a matter of days, he blows up all tax offices, federal banks, and treasury buildings to smithereens. The former Minister of the Interior, now working as the Minister of Finance, makes another comic appearance on television where he reveals that with the destruction of the tax offices, the tax records of all citizens have been destroyed. He employs everybody to come forward voluntarily and pay the tax they think they owe. His speech elicts nothing but more laughter from the TV viewers. With the government now strapped for money, Ginco decides to put one last plan into action. He has the entire gold reserve melted down into a 20-ton ingot so that it can make up for the lost taxes. Yet he realizes that Diabolik is going to attempt to steal it too. Rather than be outwitted again, Ginco has the container of the gold partially 'radio activated'. In this way, once it is stolen, he will he able to use radioactive detectors to lead them to Diabolik's hideout, and leading him to all of Diabolik's stolen goods. The next day, the ingot is duly stolen by Diabolik who sabatoges the train carrying it by blowing up a railroad bridge, in which the railroad car containing the large ingot falls into the river. Diabolik and Eve, donning wet suites, then use inflatable underwater balloons to transport the large container though an underwater passage to their hideout. At Diabolik's hideout, he dons a protective heat suit and plans to melt down the gold into gold bricks. But as he's doing so, Ginco and his men follow their radiation tracker devices to the underground lair and make their entry. For the first time, Diabolik is caught off-guard by the advancing police, but not entirely unprepared as he decides to flood the entire cavern therby destroying himself and everyone in it. But unaware that the ingot container is partly radioactive, Diabolik leaves his electric drill on the container in which the extreme heat from the drill makes the container glow red hot. Just as Diabolik is about to pull a lever to flood the cavern, the container explodes, showering him in molten gold. The police are finally delighted to have finally disposed of Diabolik, and allow reporters and the public into Diabolik's cave to put on display Diabolik. But Ginco is not at all pleased by the decision to display the body, which now is a picturesque gold statue for the general public. The police and workers begin to haul all the stolen appliances and loot out of the cave. Later when the cavern is now deserted and empty, Eva, who had earlier fled at Diabolik's instance, comes out wearing a black funeral dress to play her respects to her lover. Ginco appears and places Eva under arrest, but allows her for a few minutes alone with the body. When Ginco leaves for a minute, a distraught Eva catches sight of Diabolik's still exposed left eye. Amazingly, it winks at her. The protective suit he is wearing has prevented him from being burned alive, though he is now trapped in his gold shell. The inspector arrives to take her away. Soon after they leave, a diabolical laugh rings out in the dark, empty cave.