Topkapi is a 1964 American crime comedy directed by Jules Dassin and based on Eric Ambler's novel "The Light of Day" (1962). The film stars Melina Mercouri, Maximilian Schell, Peter Ustinov, Robert Morley, and Akim Tamiroff. Master-criminals Elizabeth Lipp (Mercouri) and Walter Harper (Schell) plan to steal the emerald-encrusted dagger from the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. They engage a group of specialists and then hire a small-time hustler Arthur Simon Simpson (Ustinov) for smuggling explosives and firearms that they need for the burglary. But Turkish Customs find the gun, hidden in a car, and Simpson who is accused in terrorism has to spy for the police.
The film won a 1965 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Peter Ustinov).
The following weapons were used in the film Topkapi:
In the opening scene in Paris Walter Harper (Maximilian Schell) holds a Star Model 1 pistol (this scene, set in night and mist, is very grainy, unlike most of the film).
Turkish police officers on the border checkpoint and in the Topkapi museum carry FN Model 1903 pistols. FN 1903 was adopted for the police in the Ottoman Empire in 1908, but it's unknown if these pistols were really still in service in 1960s.
Due to a continuty error, the Winchester Model 59 that is seen hidden in the car switches to a Remington Model 742 during the interrogation of Simpson.
Smoke grenades are smuggled in the car together with the Winchester gun. These grenades resemble AN/M8 HC smoke grenade but the fuze and the safety lever look somewhat different.
