"If he gives you any trouble ..."

Why did Hitchcock see fit to leave out of 'Torn Curtain' the filmed
scene of Armstrong and Sherman meeting Gromek's brother in a factory?
Would it have slowed things too much (in a film that already has a
sequence -- the, what I call, Countess Kuchinska sequence -- that stops
the film's action dead in its tracks)?

Gromek is such an unusual character, in that even his superiors don't
trust or put much faith in him (to do his job right). Hence, Gerhard's
saying to Armstrong early on that he should talk to him (Gerhard) if
Gromek did anything troublesome or untoward.
Gerhard and his colleagues are seen to be cold, practical, efficient
and don't seem to be the types who would suffer fools gladly .. their
mistrust of Gromek then seems to tell us that maybe there's a real and
fallible human being beneath the tough black leather coat. And indeed,
Gromek does come across throughout (his time in) 'Torn Curtain' as a
bumbling, incessantly-talking oaf (who constantly attempts to light his
cigarette lighter in vain) .. his reminiscences of time spent living in
New York city ("on the corner of 88th and 8th") can only but endear him
to us.

Fergal #.

(I like the, what I see as a, reference to a critic's snide remark
concerning a previous Hitchcock film, "Have you still got that phrase
... 'its strictly for the birds'?")

sawakatoome wrote:

> Why did Hitchcock see fit to leave out of 'Torn Curtain' the filmed
> scene of Armstrong and Sherman meeting Gromek's brother in a factory?
> Would it have slowed things too much (in a film that already has a
> sequence -- the, what I call, Countess Kuchinska sequence -- that stops
> the film's action dead in its tracks)?

Apparently, if I remember Truffaut/Hitchcock correctly, that scene was
to have been saturated in sentimentality. We would have seen Gromek's
brother getting food (that he said his brother loved) together for
Armstrong to give him .. and Armstrong was to have looked increasingly
saddened and guilty because of his secret.

Looking at some of the stills that survive, we can see that Armstrong
was, on seeing the brother for the first time, to have looked
incredibly shocked .. his face virtually drained of blood.

I guess Armstrong (and Sherman to a lesser extent) really didn't count
on some of the actions and emotions they were to experience .. gruesome
murder, immense guilt and, with Kuchinska, empathy and sympathy.

Fergal #.