Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Whitech It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

chrisrushlau Racism is implicit in this movie: the cast and crew must have smelt the coming rebellion against French colonial rule. All the Arab characters were played by Europeans, albeit the main Arab role, "Thank-you", was played by an Indian-Englishmen, who'd gone to Oxford, was probably the most educated person on the set. He seemed to be heavily made up, with skin darkening, which reminds me that the English in India sometimes referred to Indians as "blacks" (one of the nicer terms). There was one name in the cast, "Abdie", whom I cannot remember, who was played by "Massoud". Well, how did the audience like it? How did the audience react to little Jasmine and her brother with their donkey? How did these two "desert Arabs" come to speak English? Racism is a sort of romance, where at the end the romantic ones slaughter those about whom the romance is written. That's the plan, anyway. In actual life, usually it is the racist-romantics who get slaughtered, or at least lose their empires. Can we say that the plot, concerning an ancient Roman, "Marcus Manelius", a looter of a city of the other ancient empire in the region, Carthage, successor to Phoenecia, warns us of the fate of all empires? Is that the actual message of the movie with Van Heflin's gentle humor?

Irie212 Imagine if Indiana Jones and Dr. Belloq from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK had gone on their archaeological quest in the real North Africa-- i.e., Hollywood characters filmed inside a creditable documentary. That's the GOLDEN MASK-- well, without the whip and the Nazis.Van Heflin plays a writer who is "along for the ride" on an archaeological quest with a rather stuffy British archaeologist (Eric Portman). They head to North Africa, in search of the priceless eponymous mask which legend says is in the lost tomb of a Roman emperor in Djemila (ancient Cuicul, now a UNESCO site).That's the plot-- with the addition of Wanda Hendrix as the love interest-- but never mind, because the plot is not what makes this movie worth watching. The director, Jack Lee, even said, ""was a piece of old hokum, made almost entirely on location. It was quite fun, but it was all cliché stuff, with goodies and baddies and all those spahis riding around chasing bandits." He's got a point, but who cares? What makes the movie-- whose alternate title is SOUTH OF ALGIERS-- fascinating is the location:It was indeed filmed largely in and around Algiers by D.P. Oswald Morris (Oscar for FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and multiple BAFTA awards), who pointed his camera at Algerian people, scenes and moments such as tribal dancers, including a male belly dancer in the street, a cavalry charge by desert soldiers in flowing robes, camel traders, hardscrabble oases, stretches of wild open road through the desert ("When it rains," says a character called Thankyou, "there is no road"), sites from antiquity including ruins at Djemila and Carthage (Tunis), and more. Much more.In fact, forget RAIDERS. The film that THE GOLDEN MASK really reminded me of is GRASS: A NATION'S BATTLE FOR LIFE, the unforgettable Merion C. Cooper (KING KONG) silent documentary that follows the harrowing trek of 50,000 nomads, with their livestock and belongings, from northern Turkey to western Iran in the early 1920s. Nothing against RAIDERS (which I've seen multiple times, it's such fun), but GOLDEN MASK is like RAIDERS in a real world of tribal cultures. And that's a combination that's hard to beat.

utgard14 Writer Nicholas Chapman (Van Heflin) teams up with archaeologist Dr. Burnet and his pretty daughter (Eric Portman, Wanda Hendrix) to search for golden mask of Moloch. Two thieves (Jacques Brunius and Charles Goldner) try to sabotage the expedition to get the mask for themselves. Tomb-raiding adventure film is very dry and very dull. Forced romance between Van Heflin and a girl young enough to be his daughter doesn't help. Partially shot on location in Algiers but there's still plenty of poor rear projection effects. Ultimately, it's an avoidable film that is lacking adventure or suspense -- two prerequisites for movies of this type.

gstevens-2 This movie has not been seen anywhere for several years (that I am aware of. The story deals with an archaeologist's passion to find a fabulous golden mask thought to be buried in a Roman tomb. The hunt begins in Rome and ends in the sands of Africa.The pursuers of the mask range in character from good to evil. The movie rather reminded me of the movie,Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Both are in black and white, dealing with greed and the consequences of greed.The flavor of this movie was interesting to me. The rather bleak desert locations were more than made-up for by the depiction of the local tribes and their customs. Unfortunately for this movie, the background music was seriously overdone, almost detracting from it. I find this to be the case often with early European movies. However, if you enjoy treasure hunts and ancient history somewhat fictionalized, this is a treasure hunt movie worth seeing. I'd like to see it again.