Arabesque (1966)

Director:

Stanley Donen

Writers:

Gordon Cotler (novel)
Julian Mitchell (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

5 May 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Ultra mod, ultra mad, ultra mystery

Plot:

Story of international intrigue involving a university professor, an Arab prime minister, a ruthless businessman, a beautiful spy, and hieroglyphics.

Plot Keywords:

Professor | Code | Arab | Spy | Double

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 4 nominations

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Prof. David Pollock
Sophia Loren	...	Yasmin Azir
Alan Badel	...	Beshraavi
Kieron Moore	...	Yussef Kasim
Carl Duering	...	Hassan Jena
John Merivale	...	Maj. Sylvester Pennington Sloane
Duncan Lamont	...	Webster
George Coulouris	...	Ragheeb
Ernest Clark	...	Beauchamp
Harold Kasket	...	Mohammed Lufti

Also Known As:

Stanley Donen's Arabesque (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:A (1966) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 | USA:Unrated | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Ascot, Berkshire, England, UK

Company:

Stanley Donen Films

Trivia:

None of the actors featured in the movie are Arabic.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the beginning of the chase at the end of the movie, David rips the sides of Yasmin's skirt about halfway so that she can ride the horse. In following shots both sides of her skirt are ripped much higher.

Quotes:

David Pollock: This isn't your house. This is my house, and you weren't invited, so go away!
Yasmin Azir: I didn't even know if you were alive, but I came to warn you anyway.
David Pollock: Warn me about what?
Yasmin Azir: Nazim's men. They are on their way here to get the cipher back. You've got to get away.
David Pollock: Now slow down a minute. Aren't you the same Miss Azir who just stood there while your friends tried to kill me?
Yasmin Azir: Oh David! You don't think I enjoyed that?
David Pollock: Oh! Well! So long as you didn't enjoy it!

Movie Connections:

Featured in A Conversation with Gregory Peck (1999)

Goosey Goosey Gander

Someone's given ancient history professor Gregory Peck a message with a Hittite inscription on it and all he gets out of it is that fabled nursery rhyme. Of course there's a good deal more to the message and that's what he and Sophia Loren are jetting all around London trying to solve.

There's a lot of players involved here, Sophia as a Mideast general's daughter, Alan Badel as an Arab oil millionaire, Kieron Moore as a revolutionary. They're all after the meaning of that message, it could upset the balance of power in the Middle-east circa 1966.

In a role originally intended for Cary Grant before he announced that Walk Don't Run would be his final film, Gregory Peck ably fills the role of the debonair professor with a disarming quip for all occasions. My guess is that Cary Grant retired because he was getting on in years and he realized it himself in his last film where he's the old matchmaker not the leading man. Peck was ten years younger and cinematically speaking that showed.

He and Sophia made a real good team together, too bad they didn't do more features. Stanley Donen directed it in the sophisticated style of his acclaimed Charade. I remember seeing this at a drive-in movie on a double bill with Tobruk. This was far better.

And given the ever festering global sore in the Middle-East, Arabesque is actually rather timely.