There’s nothing like a little kidnapping now and then to keep the circulation going. When a plot against a prominent Middle Eastern politician is uncovered, David Pollock (Gregory Peck), a professor of ancient Arab 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 (Alan Badel). Meanwhile, Beshraavi’s stunningly beautiful lover, Yasmin Azir (Sophia Loren), seems willing to aid Pollock – but is she really on his side? … Follow that car!/All my life I have waited for someone to say that! Pollock was a role conceived for Cary Grant after Charade, but he was retiring and it went to Gregory Peck instead and a huge amount was spent on rewrites – utilising the talents of Pierre Marton aka Peter Stone (and Julian Mitchell and Stanley Price) once again but even he can’t make Peck deliver humour like Grant and Peck never finds that sweet spot between danger and jokes that Grant made his own in North By Northwest. The beautiful woman this time is the awesome Loren who is the mistress of Badel and she plays it like a bewitching basilisk. Since it’s Peter Stone – a writer who is terrific at issues of identity and suspense – there is cross and double cross and code and it’s espionage so there’s tension to burn if you can decipher the plot. It really is quite a lot of hieroglyphics but it’s also one of the most incredibly lovely films ever shot, with the glory going to British cinematographer Christopher Challis who gives great colour and there are lots of wacky angles a la the mod style of the era, supposedly to camouflage the production issues. This is like a recurring dream I used to have. If you hate going to the optician best avoid the first ten minutes. It’s the last film of John Merivale, Vivien Leigh’s last companion, and the debut of legendary stuntman Vic Armstrong. There’s another fabulous titles sequence by Maurice Binder and it’s scored by Henry Mancini with some interesting sax and trombone work. Gorgeous entertainment directed by the inimitable Stanley Donen around Oxford, Ascot, Carlton Gardens, Regent’s Park, Trafalgar Square, Gatwick, Waterloo, Eton, London Zoo, Caerphilly and Berkshire. Boy, every time I try to listen to you someone either hits me over the head or tries to vaccinate me
mondomovies 