Arabesque ***½ (1966, Gregory Peck, Sophia Loren, Alan Badel, Kieron Moore) – Classic Movie Review 2912

Producer-director Stanley Donen in 1966 tries to repeat the success of his Charade (1963)with another sleekly handsome romantic pair (Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren) thrown into another jokey, escapist Hitchcock-style thriller plot, complete with spies, international intrigue, double cross and a MacGuffin.

Peck plays Professor David Pollock, an American don at Oxford and an expert in ancient Arabic hieroglyphics, thrown into a maelstrom of murder when he’s hired by Arab oilmen to puzzle out a hieroglyphic message. The very Italian Loren stars as beautiful spy Yasmin Azir, Alan Badel plays ruthless businessman Beshraavi and Kieron Moore is Arab Prime Minister Yussef Kasim.

The Middle Eastern Premier convinces Pollock to infiltrate Beshraavi’s organisation that wants to kill him in a plot to be found in a hieroglyphic code. Pollock needs the help of Beshraavi’s mistress Yasmin but she seems repeatedly to double-cross him.

Once again, it is shot (by cinematographer Christopher Challis) with bags of Swinging Sixties style and filmed at an ultra-quick pace that prevents any need for thought or reflection, and accompanied by a lively Henry Mancini score. The result, though entertaining, is at least one notch down from Charade because this time the yarn is so ridiculously inconsequential and the carefree mood sometimes forced.

And, OMG the irritation arising from those bizarre flashy Sixties visuals that get in the way of the actors and the story! The camera gets everywhere, even shooting from under a glass coffee table! Alternatively, you could find the fascinatingly arty cinematography wildly inventive and entertaining.

However, the sparkling stars and oozingly villainous Alan Badel (as Loren’s sadistically evil rich tycoon lover) keep it lingering happily in the memory. Stylish and excellent though Peck, Loren and Badel are, they can’t quite repeat the trick that Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn and Walter Matthau performed in Charade.

It’s not their fault by any means, it’s the script they’re working on. More specifically, it’s the truly preposterous plot, based on novel The Cypher by Gordon Cotler, with a screenplay by talented writers Julian Mitchell, Stanley Price and Peter Stone.

Also in the cast are Kieron Moore, Carl Duering, George Coulouris, Gordon Griffin, Harold Kasket, Ernest Clark, Duncan Lamont and John Merivale.

http://derekwinnert.com/charade-classic-film-review-683/

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2912

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com