Task: Story Composition
Input (English): Fact1: Topkapi fascinated by emerald-encrusted dagger of Sultan Mahmud I. Leaving Turkey Next cases, Fact2: Mercouri recruits Next cases her ex-lover Swiss master-criminal Walter Harper to plan theft of dagger, Fact3: Harper and Lipp hire small-time hustler Arthur Simon Simpson to drive car into Turkey to transport hidden explosives and firearms for use in burglary, Fact4: Simpson is permitted to drive it in Turkey, Fact5: gang members police headquarters to reveal discovery of weapons in car
Output (English): Elizabeth Lipp Melina Mercouri visits Istanbul, where she sees a traveling fair featuring replicas of treasures from the Topkapı Palace. Next she cases the Topkapi, fascinated by the emeraldencrusted dagger of Sultan Mahmud I. Leaving Turkey, she recruits her exlover, Swiss mastercriminal Walter Harper Maximilian Schell, to plan a theft of the dagger. They engage Cedric Page Robert Morley, master of all things mechanical; Giulio, The Human Fly Gilles Segal, a mute acrobat; and the burly Hans Jess Hahn, who will provide the muscle needed for the job. Harper and Lipp then hire smalltime hustler Arthur Simon Simpson Peter Ustinov to drive a car into Turkey to transport hidden explosives and firearms for use in the burglary. Turkish Customs search the car, find the firearms, and conclude that the gang are plotting an assassination. They then recruit Simpson to spy on Harper and Lipp. Page, picking up the car in Istanbul, is told a police ruse that only the importer Simpson is permitted to drive it in Turkey. While traveling with the gang, Simpson leaves notes for his police handlers, but most of his intelligence is worthless. Hans hands are injured in a scuffle with the drunken cook, Gerven Akim Tamiroff, and Simpson is engaged as a substitute, prompting him to confess that the police are watching them. Harper arranges to give the police the slip. That evening, Harper, Simpson, and Giulio steal the dagger and leave a replica in its place. Unnoticed by the thieves, during the robbery a bird flies through the window they entered and is trapped inside the room when the window is closed. The gang deliver the dagger to Joseph Joe Dassin, proprietor of the traveling fair display, who will smuggle it out of the country. The gang members then go to police headquarters to reveal their discovery of weapons in the car. The inspector asks Simpson to vouch for Harper and Lipps whereabouts that day. Simpson backs up their alibi; however, the inspector learns that the Topkapi alarm was triggered by the trapped bird. Simpsons notes to the police provide a connection between the gang and Josephs replicas of the Topkapi treasures. Ultimately, the gang is seen in a Turkish prison, where Lipp begins to tell them of her fascination with the Russian Imperial Crown Jewels in the Kremlin. The end title sequence shows them apparently escaped from jail some time later and walking in snow by a Russian city.