Danielle De Colombie To say that this is an Alfred Hitchcock movie made by Mark Robson is not a put down, it's just a fact of life. Look at the framing and you'll know immediately that we're not in Hitchcockian territory. But the the Hitchcockian ingredients are there even if not mixed or cooked at the wrong temperature, or something. Paul Newman, absolutely gorgeous and funnily enough he'll make a spy film with Hitchcock set in Sweden during the Nobels. Elke Sommer is like an imitation Hitchkcock ice blonde made in Germany. Diane Baker was the brunette in Hitchcock's Marnie and she's a real delight. Edward G Robinson, of course, always a pleasure but then Mr Robson casts Micheline Presle, Micheline Presle from "Devil And The Flesh" and ignores her. She is framed as if Robson didn't know who she was. Another unforgivable bit of business, Sergio Fantoni's Italian mamma. What was he thinking. All that aside. It's entertaining and Paul Newman can take me anywhere, anytime.

utgard14 In Sweden to be awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, author Andrew Craig (Paul Newman) jokes that fellow laureate Dr. Max Stratman (Edward G. Robinson) might be an impostor and no one would know. Turns out the joke is closer to reality than Craig realizes as Dr. Stratman has been replaced by a Communist lookalike. Craig becomes suspicious of the impostor and soon his suspicions put his life in danger.Mark Robson's enjoyable spy movie has Hitchcockian elements but doesn't quite reach the level of the master. The pieces are there, though. Newman's his usual charming self and has good chemistry with Elke Sommer and Diane Baker. Robinson's always great. It's a little overlong and the first hour could use a trim. Hitchcock would have jumped into the main plot a lot sooner, I think. But that's just one of the many differences between a decent director and a great one.

moonspinner55 Ernest Lehman, the writer of Alfred Hitchcock's "North By Northwest", was a terrific choice to adapt this Irving Wallace suspense tale...and though director Mark Robson may never be confused with Hitchcock, the overall look, pacing, and feel of "The Prize" are quite similar to "Northwest". Paul Newman plays a hard-drinking heel, a once-promising but now cynical, womanizing writer who has turned to detective stories to pay the bills; he nevertheless has been chosen as one of the recipients of the Nobel Prize for his literature, and sobers up just in time for some exciting adventures in Stockholm. He suspects that one of the other Prize winners is a ringer, with no one else on-screen in his corner (just Foreign Ministry worker Elke Sommer in his arms!). A handsome piece of work, the film does have minor deficiencies: the opening introductions are amusing but a bit pedantic, while an overlong sequence with Newman escaping killers by hiding out at a nudist convention lands with a thud (Cary Grant may have been able to pull this off, but Newman is still too callow). Supporting cast is first-rate, though Lehman tries to have it both ways with Diane Baker's mysterious character, and one ends up not understanding much about her actions or motivations. Newman, shuffling along with a bemused smile, has some nice moments with Sommer, while Edward G. Robinson does a fantastic actors' turn playing two sides of the coin. **1/2 from ****

Per Perald To avoid misunderstandings; amongst the several "writers privileges" in this movie (such as being able to hit the sea from Katarinahissen), the omission of the peace prize winner is actually accurate, as this prize is awarded in Oslo, in neighboring Norway. This has always been the case. Otherwise one might say that the plot seems a little "childish" today, except maybe among the "conspirationists" of our time. It is fun however, that the egalitarian social-democracy of Sweden in 1963 still had a nobility (and still does), as only Finland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium and the UK besides Sweden has a nobility de jure. Count Jakobsson is more than unlikely though, he should have been named Count af Jacobsfält or something.