Alfred Hitchcock Herrmann's score and replaced him with John Addison, Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. "Topaz" (1967), based on a Leon Uris novel, is partly set in Cuba. Both films received mixed reviews. Hitchcock returned to Britain to make his penultimate film, "Frenzy" (1972), based on the novel "Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square" (1966). After two espionage films, the plot marked a return to the murder-thriller genre. Richard Blaney (Jon Finch), a volatile barman with a history of explosive anger, becomes the prime suspect in the investigation into the "Necktie Murders", which are actually committed by his friend Bob Rusk (Barry Foster).
Themes and plot devices in Hitchcock films associated with violent behavior. In "The Lodger" and "Psycho", this association is the whole basis of the film. Biographers have noted how Hitchcock continued to challenge film censorship throughout his career, until he was allowed to show nudity in "Frenzy". Hitchcock had a dramatic preference for blonde women, stating that the audience would be more suspicious of a brunette. Many of these blondes were of the Grace Kelly variety: perfect, aloof ice goddesses, who also have a hidden red-hot inner fire. In "Vertigo" James Stewart forces a woman to dye her hair blonde. One of Hitchcock's earliest films, "" (1927),