Arabesque

Stanley Donen tries to reproduce the success of his 1963 Cary Grant-Audrey Hepburn thriller romance. Charade, complete with a Henry Mancini score, in this spoof spy movie about a professor of Egyptology (Gregory Peck) who gets involved with a lot of Arab world baddies and a hot wench (Sophia Loren) in their employ.

The best that one can say about the result is that it typifies what passed for mainstream entertainment in the mid-1960s. The upside is that we get lots of groovy period style in wardrobe and set design, the downside is that, the occasional good line of dialogue aside, its attempts at tongue-in-cheek jauntiness appear hopelessly inane, something which Donen’s flashy direction can do nothing to disguise.

Peck is quite effective as the put-up don but he can’t carry this kind of fol-de-rol the way Grant could and Loren serves no purpose other than to bring some pulchritude to the proceedings. The less said the better of the nuggeted-up Caucasians (Carl Duering, Alan Badel and Kieron Moore) posing as Arab types. Retro-buffs will enjoy the modish datedness, most other will not.

 

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