Topkapi

One of the most entertaining heist films of all time. Full of original ideas, smartly written and joyfully directed. And, if all that wasn't enough, Peter Ustinov! He won his second Oscar as best supporting actor for this creation - an unsuccessful small time crook, intelligent enough to know that he's not intelligent enough - without country and without future. Ustinov soars. He is surrounded by a group of Euro-heavy weights, Melina Mercouri, Maximilian Schell, Robert Morley, Akim Tammiroff. The suspense, fun filled entrance to the Topkapi museum was stolen and disguised with a multi dollar budget by Brian De Palma and his accomplices in the first Mission Impossible without being able to duplicate the suspense, the fun, the humanity or the innocence of the proceedings. The locations are another treat, the music, the costumes and the honesty with which the dishonesty of the characters is portrayed. A true delight.