Zarak ** (1956, Victor Mature, Michael Wilding, Anita Ekberg, Bonar Colleano, Eunice Gayson, Finlay Currie, Peter Illing, Yana) – Classic Movie Review 8012

Look what’s on the menu: ‘Pillage! Plunder! Passion! A SENSATION OF EXCITEMENT AND THRILLS!’

[Spoiler alert] An eclectic cast stars in director Terence Young’s interesting if run-of-the-mill 1956 action adventure thriller Zarak, about a British expedition to capture bandits on the mountainous frontier between British India and Afghanistan in the 1860s, when a notorious Afghan outlaw called Zarak Khan (Victor Mature) eventually saves the life the British officer-in-charge, Major Ingram (Michael Wilding), but loses his own in the process.

Mature, born on 29 January 1913 in Louisville, Kentucky, of an Italian dad (Marcello Maturi) and Swiss-German mom, makes a swarthy if unlikely Afghan as Zarak, while Swedish sexpot Anita Ekberg (Miss Sweden in 1950) is partly undressed for the heat as Salma, the youngest wife of Zarak’s father, Haji Khan (Frederick Valk), who has him flogged after he kisses Salma. Zarak just escapes with his life thanks to the intervention of Finlay Currie as the elderly Mullah, prompting him to become an outlaw in the first place.

Peter Illing is a superb bad guy as Ahmad the nomad and the British are as stiff-lipped as usual (apart from the many of them who are playing Afghan locals) under the watchful eye of director Young and second unit director Yakima Canutt, former stuntman supreme and friend of John Wayne.

The great Yana sings her biggest hit ‘Climb Up the Wall’, which is regarded as one of the top 30 British popular songs of the Fifties. She was a household name in 1955-1960 Britain, but her fame faded quickly after that, and by the Eighties she was working at Boots the Chemists in Marylebone High Street, London.

Also in the cast are Bonar Colleano as Zarak’s brother Biri, Bernard Miles as the one-eyed Hassu, Eunice Gayson, André Morell, Eddie Byrne as Zarak’s brother Kasim, Patrick McGoohan as moor Larkin, Harold Goodwin, Alec Mango as merchant Akbar, Oscar Quitak as Youssuff and Conrad Phillips.

Zarak is directed by Terence Young, runs 99 minutes, is made by Warwick Film Productions, is released by Columbia Pictures, is written by Richard Maibaum, is shot by John Wilcox, Ted Moore and Cyril Knowles, is produced by Irving Allen, Albert J Broccoli and Phil C Samuel, is scored by William Alwyn and is designed by John Box.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 8012

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