Topkapi

Melina Mercouri introduces herself as a thief who doesn't hide the way she feels about the most wonderful emeralds… She wants to rob a dagger encrusted with fascinating gemstones…

One of her potential partners is her former lover Maximilian Schell, a very distinguished crook who fights at his best when he fights in a corner… Schell wants to pick his crew from amateurs with no police records, and strike the most protected fortress…

Peter Ustinov won his first Best Supporting Oscar for his amusing performance as the clever middle-aged 'nobody' who could have gone far but he always plays for small stakes…

Ustinov is the victim of circumstances, caught at the Turkish border with a riffle and six grenades… For that, his mission is to spy on the spies, and report to the Turkish security everything he overhears-no matter how trivial it may seem to him… The police gives him a chance to prove that he is not a terrorist… He accepts to work with them…

With a funny toy man who proposes to get into the palace museum without touching the floor; a mute acrobat who talks with his whole body; a mad muscle man who hates a drunken cook; a showman with no problems at the customs border; plus Islamic mosques; ancient streets; colorful bazaars; oiled wrestlers; talented belly dancers; and fable roofs; "Topkapi" overlooks both the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus, offering bright moments with a final suspense sequence in the 'Rififi' manner