The plot is fairly substandard (the twists can be seen from a mile away, and it soon devolves into a chase film) and that acting is only so-so. Some of the secondary characters give just awful, over-the-top performances which contrast unpleasantly with the rather conservative performances by the leads. Every scene which focuses on Julie Andrews looks like it was shot through a layer of gauze (for no good reason, in my opinion). It lacks all of Hitchcock's normal mastery of suspense, horror, and cynicism. It is a tedious bore and none of the characters are developed well enough for you to care very much what happens to them. It barely deserves to be called a Hitchcock film.
If you want to see a much better film in the same vein and from the same era, try "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" (1965). "Torn Curtain" feels like a bad Le Carré knock-off as it is, you might as well get the real thing.
If you want to see a much better film in the same vein and from the same era, try "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" (1965). "Torn Curtain" feels like a bad Le Carré knock-off as it is, you might as well get the real thing.