LouHomey From my favorite movies..

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Uriah43 "Professor David Pollock" (Gregory Peck) is an expert on ancient hieroglyphics and while teaching in London is approached by a man named "Maj. Sylvester Pennington Sloane" (John Merivale) to meet with his boss who is a Middle Eastern shipping magnate by the name of "Nejim Beshraavi" (Alan Badel). Essentially, Beshraavi wants Professor Pollock to interpret some ancient Hittite hieroglyphics which were written on a small piece of paper. At first Professor Pollock refuses but when asked personally by Arab Prime Minister "Hassan Jena" (Carl Duering) reconsiders and then accepts Beshraavi invitation to meet him at his house. It's there that he also makes the acquaintance of Beshraavi's mistress, "Yasmin Azir" (Sophia Loren) who then proceeds to get him involved in one extremely dangerous scenario after another. Now rather than reveal any more of this film and risk ruining it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a fairly decent espionage thriller for the most part. I especially liked the performances of both Gregory Peck and the lovely Sophia Loren. Having said that, although I really liked some of the humorous quips tossed around by Gregory Peck, others seemed to really fall flat and weakened the overall effect. In any case, I liked this movie and rate it as slightly above average.

Spikeopath Arabesque is directed by Stanley Donen and collectively adapted by Julian Mitchell, Stanley Price and Pierre Marton from Gordon Cotler's novel The Cypher. It stars Gregory Peck, Sophia Loren, Alan Badel, John Merivale and Harold Kasket. A Panavision/Technicolor production with music by Henry Mancini and cinematography by Christopher Challis.Hieroglyphics expert David Pollock (Peck) is thrust into a world of shifty political intrigue involving a Middle Eastern Prime Minister, a beautiful spy and a sinister rich businessman.There's quite a bit wrong with Arabesque, with white actors made up as Arabs, a scatter-gun plot, weak finale, a barely threatening villain and Peck is no action hero! Yet if you can just run with it, to enjoy being in the company of the stars? Then there's fun to be had here.Part comedy, part thriller mystery, Arabesque zips along at a decent clip and Donen inserts memorable scenes along the way. From a wonderful shower sequence to chase me perils at a Zoo and a building site, there's truly a great will of spirit involved in the production. Donen also at times chooses to shoot the movie through a kaleidoscopic prism, and uses canted angles to accentuate David Pollock's confusion. These are nice touches, as is Mancini's Eastern flavoured musical arrangement.Peck may be no action hero type actor but his sense of fun here, and his all round classy charm, makes it very easy to root for him. Loren looks fabulous, a real sex-bomb pouting away with a glint in her eye. Not all of the Christian Dior costumes suit her character, but Loren, herself seemingly having a great old time of it, comes through the picture with flying colours. Elsewhere the performances are merely adequate, with Badel's villain coming off like a weak Peter Sellers clone!So a mixed bag for sure and the shadow of Donen's wonderful Charade three years earlier looms large at times, but it's an enjoyable enough ride while it lasts. 7/10

Armand is it good ? is it bad ? really, I do not know. the presence of Sophia Loren and Gregory Peck, precise pieces from Hitchcock style, the romance crumbs and the ball of adventures does a not boring result. sure, it can be version for Charade or soft Bond slice but, in fact, it remains itself. charming, not always credible, a little crazy, with few nice exotic drops, chain of masks and noble feelings, smart and ironic, pink and serious, authentic show from good times. it is a kind of meeting with an old friend. a delight and entertainment like cherry jam from a lost age. so, final verdict - it is really inspired story. is it enough ?

writers_reign Despite being a great admirer of Gregory Peck I didn't enjoy this as much as some of the people who have written here. Time and again Peck was given lines clearly written for Cary Grant and you could actually hear Grant delivering them, his distinctive voice superimposed over Peck's. Given his clout - two decades as an A-list star and a very recent Oscar- winner as Best Actor I'm surprised he didn't press for a re-write with dialogue tailored for himself. The sixties were, of course, the time of lsd 'trips' and 65 per cent of the camera-work looks as though the operator was 'tripping', shooting through any and everything that was reflective. The plot is very much Boy's Own Paper and for reasons best known to the Producers they signed Mr. Mahogany Keiron Moore to play a part best describes as '2nd villain', with Alan Badel copping the 'Villain-in-Chief role. It moves at a fair clip and the sloppy writing allows for 'once- out-of-the-well' situations about every fifteen pages. Worth watching but not revisiting.