The Prize

The Prize is a 1963 American spy film and romantic comedy starring Paul Newman, Elke Sommer, and Edward G. Robinson. It was directed by Mark Robson, produced by Pandro S. Berman and adapted for the screen by Ernest Lehman from the novel The Prize by Irving Wallace. It also features an early score by prolific composer Jerry Goldsmith. Plot The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Andrew Craig, who is disrespectful of it, and seems more interested in women and drinking. Arriving in Stockholm for the award ceremony, he is delighted that Inger Lisa Andersson, whom he finds beautiful, has been assigned as his personal chaperone. At the hotel where all the winners are guests, Andrew is introduced to the physics laureate, Dr. Max Stratman, an elderly German-born American, who is accompanied by his niece Emily. The Nobel laureates for medicine are Dr. John Garrett and Dr. Carlo Farelli. Garrett thinks Farelli must have stolen his work rather than reaching the same result through improvisation as he claimed, and thus does not deserve half the prize. The chemistry winners are a married couple, Drs. Denise and Claude Marceau. Claude Marceau's mistress, Monique Souvir, is traveling with them and Denise feels neglected as a woman; later she asks Andrew to help by pretending to have an affair. That night, Max accepts an invitation to meet an old friend, Hans Eckhart, in a park. Eckhart asks him to publicly repudiate the U.S. and the prize, and defect to East Germany. When Max refuses, he is kidnapped by communist agents, while an impostor takes his place. Emily is told that the man is Walter, the father she thought was dead, and that he will be killed if she does not play along.