Yes, I know, the signs clearly said “No photos.” But this bejeweled dagger was one of the very first items that had fired my interest in Istanbul more than 40 years earlier. In Jules Dassin’s film, Topkapi (which provided the inspiration for both the TV and film versions of Mission Impossible), a bunch of clever thieves (and a few bumblers) plot the perfect heist, stealing this very dagger from a locked display case within the heavily guarded palace museum (whose floor is wired to sense intruders.) One of the first films to have a character (played by Melina Mercouri, aka Mrs. Dassin) speak conspiratorily to camera, it shows off the City of the World’s Desire and its environs beautifully -- from the Bosphorus mansion where the gang preps, to the mosque-filled view afforded from tiled rooftops high above the city, to the famed oiled wrestlers out west near Edirne. Even as a teenager, I knew I had to visit this palace someday. And I did, remembering the catchy Manos Hadjidakis film score as I entered. Hey, two amenable guards had posed for our cameras in the famed royal kitchens earlier that morning, so I decided I could risk snapping a shot of this pricey curio. Fortunately I wasn’t apprehended and thrown into a Turkish jail. I’d seen Midnight Express, too.
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Sandy, you've always known just when to break the rules. Your readers undoubtedly know that Topkapi was based on Eric Ambler's best novel THE LIGHT OF DAY. And they're probably willfully ignoring news that Hollywood intends to remake Topkapi with Pierce Brosnan, packaging it as the sequel to his remake of The Thomas Crown Affair.
ReplyDeleteThe only film I've ever seen which features the lines "Do you mind that I am a nymphomaniac?" (Melina Mercouri) and "Ah, candy floss!" (Robert Morley.
ReplyDeleteMidnight Express was a film that was made to look turkish people bad. You can search for the real guy who was areested in turkey on youtube and listen to the truth from himself.I've seen his interview and he says that movie wasn't really based on truth. All those guys in the movie who are pretending to be Turks are Armenians.
ReplyDeleteHaha they do not jail people when they break rules of culture/and historical herritage here in Turkey -unfortunatelly! You first must be a journalist against the government (like Balbay) or kinda Kemalist to be jailed my dear :)))))
ReplyDeleteIf you think the movie was good, you should read the book (not the same title), I think by Eric Ambler.
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