I consider this film to be far from classic. I almost turned it off after the first few minutes. It starts with some horribly annoying credits. Then there is a bit where Melina Mercouri addresses the audience to explain where the final sequence of the movie will take place. This part feels like it was tacked on after filming.Then next portion of the film involves the setup for the final section. This part is uneven, but it does contain some humor.Finally, we get to the actual caper, a Mission Impossible-like, daring heist that plays out in real time, which I appreciate. The ending of the film feels unimportant.The best thing about this movie, besides the heist, is it seems like the cast is having fun. It's a great cast, even if they are somewhat underutilized. I know Mercouri's character is supposed to be sexy and mercurial, able to entice and seduce all the male characters, but I feel the character falls short in this area though, again, it seems like she is having fun.

This was the perfect bookend to Rififi, even though that was black & white and French while this one was very much colourful and Pan-European, but both were excellent tense Jules Dassin robbery thrillers.Scintillating plot has jewel heist from the Topkapi museum planned minutely by suave Schell in charge of an eccentric happy-go-lucky gang of thieves including sexpot Mercouri, mechanised Morley, and eventually the crown jewel of the film, Carbuncle (On The Behind Of Humanity) Ustinov. Akim Tamiroff was hardly used but was still unforgettable as the ferociously sentimental drunken cook. Things go wrong but all problems are got round by the brainwork of Schell. Favourite bits from so many: Ustinov's frozen face as the door opens on an ugly guy in the police interrogation room; the vivid humanity on display at the wrestling festival; clambering about in their suits but getting out onto the museum roof and getting into position for the robbery; the ingenious way of lifting the jewels. It's all intricately performed, the letdown being the hurried corny ending (definitely not a Good Idea) – but at least it was still jolly. An even bigger letdown was that there was no sequel!It's fantastic but faulty and bright and breezy but barmy, it led to 7 years of Mission Impossible on TV – which was good too though never as lighthearted as this masterpiece. And the closest this gets to sex is probably the scene with a belly dancer in the background, for violence you would have to make do with the scene of a door being slammed on someone's hands! You really can't go wrong if what you're looking for is 2 hours of inconsequential solid entertainment.

This buoyant and spry caper film is one of the best of the Sixties. Charmingly acted along with being excellently photographed and edited, ex-patriot noir director Jules Dassin displays the same adept style in outrageous color with the same suspense mastery evidenced in Riffifi over a decade earlier.Elizabeth Lipps (Melina Mercouri ) has an insatiable desire for men, diamonds and adventure. Enlisting international jewel thief Walter Harper (Maxmillian Schell) she sets her sights on making off with a valuable jade from the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul. Rather than work with pros Harper opts for amateurs to assist including the bumbling Arthur Simpson ( Peter Ustinov ) who from the outset is ill suited for the work. Aware they are being shadowed by the Turkish police the gang pushes forward with the plan.Topkapi is an excellent blend of comedy and suspense filled with wonderful performances, especially by the comically sympathetic Ustinov. In addition to the leads Robert Morely and Akim Tamiroff bolster the supporting cast while the exotic local of Istanbul serves the storyline well with its ornate museum, teeming street activity and an all day wrestling competition at a stadium. Dassin keeps the mood light most of the way leading up to the job at which time he grippingly builds the suspense with a heist scene that merits classic status. As breezy caper films go Topkapi is at the top of the heap.

A real masterpiece, important also for the images it offers of an Istanbul which does not exist anymore (nostalgia…)Who knows if they still practice that fascinating wrestling with oil…And those small traveling circuses, with distorting glasses and merry-go-rounds and sugar floss?The problem though, is the terrible English pronunciation of Melina Mercouri (let alone her teeth…)Her fictional name is "Elizabeth", she pronounces it "Elishabesh". When she wants to say "Sit here", she says "Shit here", which is not very beautiful…But Ustinov, Morley, Tamiroff (!) and the others… Wonderful