Arabesque

1966 105 min ★ 6.3 Thriller, Comedy, Mystery, Action

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?

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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

Ernest Clark

Beauchamp

Harold Kasket

Mohammed Lufti

Details

Director

Stanley Donen

Screenplay

Peter Stone

Tagline

"Ultra Mod. Ultra Mad. Ultra Mystery."

Status

Released

Original Language

EN

Budget

$4,800,000

Production

Universal Pictures, Stanley Donen Films

Reviews

J

John Chard

September 25, 2014

★ 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) i...

J

JPV852

September 6, 2021

★ 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**

C

CinemaSerf

September 2, 2024

★ 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 o...