Arabesque

"Ultra Mod. Ultra Mad. Ultra Mystery."

1966 1h 45m EN

😐

6.3

MID

★6.3TMDB · 194

ThrillerComedyMysteryAction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When a plot against a prominent Middle Eastern politician is uncovered, David Pollock, a professor of ancient hieroglyphics at Oxford University, is recruited to help expose the scheme. Pollock must find information believed to be in hieroglyphic code and must also contend with a mysterious man called Beshraavi. Meanwhile, Beshraavi's lover, Yasmin Azir, seems willing to aid Pollock -- but is she really on his side?

“Ultra Mod. Ultra Mad. Ultra Mystery.”

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Cast

Gregory Peck
Prof. David Pollock
Sophia Loren
Yasmin Azir
Alan Badel
Nejim Beshraavi
Kieron Moore
Yussef Kasim
Carl Duering
Prime Minister Hassan Jena
John Merivale
Maj. Sylvester Pennington Sloane
Duncan Lamont
Webster
George Coulouris
Ragheeb

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Stanley Donen
Writers: Peter Stone, Julian Mitchell, Stanley Price
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.8M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

60 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Stanley Donen, shot by Christopher Challis. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Henry Mancini. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Frederick Wilson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren and Alan Badel carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Ultra Mod. Ultra Mad. Ultra Mystery.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0060121 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Stanley Donen directs. Christopher Challis behind the camera. Henry Mancini scores. Frederick Wilson cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $4.8M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
260 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Stanley Donen, shot by Christopher Challis. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Henry Mancini. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Frederick Wilson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren and Alan Badel carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Ultra Mod. Ultra Mad. Ultra Mystery.".
8IMDB entry: tt0060121 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 10 themes, including "london, england", "spy", "professor", "body double".
10Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Christopher Challis
Original score: Henry Mancini
Editing: Frederick Wilson
Costume design: Yves Saint Laurent
Makeup / hair: W.T. Partleton
Runtime: 105 min · 1h 45m
Status: Released
Budget: $4,800,000
Original language: EN
IMDB: Arabesque (1966)

Also by

Stanley Donen

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-09-25
★ 7/10
Swell! 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
JPV8522021-09-06
★ 7/10
Fun little espionage-romance-thriller featuring the wonderful duo of Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren. Gets a bit confusing and still don't quite understand the point of the cipher to begin with, but has some thrilling scenes and a solid finale. Nothing terribly memorable and certainly has shades of Charade (same writer and director) released three years prior, yet still worth checking out. 3.5/5
CinemaSerf2024-09-02
★ 6/10
This is quite an enjoyable romantic thriller that brings out the best in both Gregory Peck - as the hapless academic and Sophia Loren as the duplicitous girlfriend of our baddie Alan Badel. The premiss is a shade too convoluted - the professor is recruited to help track down and decipher an hieroglyphic scroll that may prevent the assassination of a Middle Eastern Prime Minister. There are loads of red herrings and a pithily paced dialogue - that reminded me of one of the better episodes of "The Man from UNCLE" - to help keep us amused as he navigates the waters of international political intrigue; and manages to fall in love a bit too. It's not the most original storyline you'll ever watch, but there is much more for Loren to get her teeth into; and though Badel overacts shockingly as "Beshraavi" - there is still plenty of clues and counter-clues to bamboozle the best of us!